82 



RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON 



acres of Hcrea, we drove by the coffee mill, and the coolie lines to the 

 extreme end of Lowlands, where the very last planting had been done. 

 This was in alluvial soil divided up into parallelograms by drains that 

 were four to five feet wide and from three to six feet deep. The soil 

 was wonderfully rich and was not planted with Hcrea seeds but three 

 foot stumps, as the seeds and the tender shoots have so many animal 

 and insect enemies that stumping is far more successful. These stumps 

 are nursery plants cut back into the brown, set out carefully and never 

 shaded. Not only is the top cut back, but the tap root is shortened a 

 bit to prevent doubling, and the laterals are also trimmed a little. 



This planting is done in any month of the year when the rains are 

 on. In preparing, the ground holes are dug fifteen to eighteen inches 



MR. BAILEY'S BUNGALOW, KLANG. 



in diameter and about the same number of inches deep, the hole being 

 left open for two weeks, after which a little of the surface soil is scraped 

 in. Then the plant is set and carefully covered in. The trees that are 

 ready for tapping are selected, not by their age but from their size. 

 For a general rule any Hevea that is thirty inches in circumference, three 

 feet from the ground, is large enough to produce rubber. In a planta- 

 tion in a good location in this part of the world, the trees mature about as 

 follows : At the " end of the fifth year about 25 per cent, will 

 be large enough to tap; at the sixth year there will be 50 per cent., 

 and at the seventh all of them should be big enough. 



