AND THE MALAY STATES 49 



FOURTH LETTER. 



RUBBER TREES AND TAPPING AT CULLODEN NIGHT TAPPING RUBBER CURING 

 HOUSE OIL FROM HEVEA NUTS COST OF PARA RUBBER AT COLOMBO ARAPOLA- 

 KANDA ESTATE SMOKING CEYLON RUBBER SUNNYCROFT ESTATE ENEMIES OF 

 THE HEVEA A TOUCH OF FEVER THE FOREST CONSERVATOR A PADDY FIELD 

 EXPERIENCE. 



AT the close of my first day at Culloden, when the sun had dropped 

 low enough to make it fairly comfortable in the open, at Mr. 

 Harrison's invitation, we started out to see the rubber. The 

 plantation is primarily for tea, the rubber having been planted later 

 through the tea and also in some of the valleys. The land is very rocky, 

 ironstone abounding, but there must -be something in the soil that 

 suits the Hevea, for it flourished wonderfully. The only place where 

 it did not appear to do well was in very low ground, where there wds 

 no drainage. The swampy portions of the land have, therefore, been 

 thoroughly drained; indeed, where some of the seven and eight year 

 old rubber now is there had once been a bog where cattle were wont 

 to get mired. The rubber on this soil, which was very rich, had some 

 three feet of drainage. Of course, it was to be expected that the Hevea 

 would grow in such soil as this, but I must confess that I was amazed 

 to see it flourishing far up on rocky hillsides, and sending its laterals in 

 all directions for food. The Hevea has proved itself, in Ceylon at least, 

 a most voracious surface feeder, and in this connection it is worth while 

 to examine the illustration of the uprooted tree held erect between two 

 cocoanut palms, with the laterals stretched right and left, showing a 

 growth longer than the tree trunk itself. The photograph from which 

 my illustration was made was taken by Mr. J. B. Carruthers, and is most 

 graphic. 



The tapping of the trees begins just as soon as it is light in the 

 morning, for through the middle of the day the latex does not flow 

 freely, but starts up again about four in the afternoon and is continued 

 until dark. The trees are tapped when they show a girth of two' feet, 

 without regard to their age. No ladders or supports are used in tapping, 

 as it wasn't found profitable to tap higher than a coolie can reach while 

 standing on the ground. The tool is a very simple V-shaped knife with 

 two cutting edges, and a single slanting cut about eight inches long has 

 been found to be best, a tin cup being placed under the lower end of 



