RUBBER. 



THE CULTIVATION OF HEVEA BRASILIENSIS IN 

 UGANDA. 



By SAMUEL SIMPSON, B.Sc. 

 Director of Agriculture, Uganda. 



HEVEA is by far the most popular of all the rubbers 

 amongst the planters in this country, and it has been 

 mainly planted along with coffee as a catch-crop. The 

 area under Hevea only is comparatively small, but as 

 the mixed crops of rubber and coffee attain the age of 

 6 or 7 years the coffee is gradually cut out, so as to 

 leave the whole of the area entirely free for the growth 

 and development of the rubber trees. 



Para rubber grows well in height, but slowly in thick- 

 ness, for two or three years, when it thickens fairly 

 rapidly, and at 5 years old a girth measurement of 16 in. 

 3 ft. from the ground is common, and such trees can be 

 lightly tapped. 



In the Botanical Gardens, Entebbe, are to be found 

 the oldest Para trees in the country, and here tapping- 

 results have proved fairly satisfactory. 



Tapping was commenced on November 14, 1908, when 

 the only 7-year-old tree was tapped along with one 

 at 4 years old. Tapping was continued for a period of 

 fifty-nine days, and 47 and 4-3 oz. of dry rubber were 

 obtained from the trees respectively. It was then 

 estimated that i Ib. of dry rubber per tree could be con- 

 fidently expected from Hevea in Uganda. 



Further experiments were made on trees 4 years old 

 which were tapped forty-four times over a period of ninety 

 days, and the yield averaged 4^ oz. of dry rubber per 

 tree, whilst in a later experiment the same trees gave 



