CEYLON 133 



apply 840 pounds of superphosphates, mixed with other 

 artificial fertilizers, per acre during the first six years 

 of the plantation, and subsequently to continue this 

 treatment after the trees reach the tapping stage. 

 Green crops also are grown amongst young trees for 

 purposes of manuring, and this method has given some 

 excellent results. It remains to be seen how far 

 manuring will benefit the trees when further develop- 

 ment causes them to resume a forest character. 



/ The rubber industry in Ceylon owes its foundation 

 to seeds collected in 1876, by Mr. Wickham, in the 

 Amazon Valley. These were germinated at Kew, and 

 plants were then sent to Ceylon, and set out in the 

 gardens at Heneratgoda and Peradeniya. Seeds from 

 these trees were distributed freely to owners of estates 

 between 1881 and 1891 ; but the idea prevailed that 

 only marshy ground was suitable for their growth, and 

 therefore little interest was taken in their cultivation. 

 A few experiments, however, were made for planting 

 them on hillsides, and these proved of so successful a 

 character that the area rapidly increased. Between 

 1898 and 1904 a large number of tea plantations were 

 interplanted with rubber-trees, and from the latter date 

 the extension of existing plantations and the opening 

 up of new ones has been pushed forward with energy 

 and method. The industry to-day is firmly established 

 in Ceylon, and promises to become quite as staple and 

 valuable as the cultivation of tea, rice, cacao, or coco- 

 nuts. An indication of the permanent manner in 

 which it has taken root is seen in the small patches 

 of rubber-trees planted by many Sinhalese near their 

 houses and villages. 



In all the districts the trees are in a sound and 



