THE MALAY PENINSULA 



213 



catch crop is to produce an uneven growth in young 

 plantations, and this adds considerably to the cost of 

 tapping when the trees begin to mature. 



As showing the detrimental effects of sugar-cane as 

 a catch crop, the following return, furnished by the 

 Penang Sugar Estates Company, is sufficient proof. 

 These young trees were grown for two years inter- 

 planted with sugar-cane, and their yield at seven and 

 eight years old is far below the average : 



These trees are planted on the average 20 feet by 

 20 feet, or, say, 108 to the acre. 



In the colony of Singapore and in the south of the 

 State of Johore a considerable area of rubber is inter- 

 planted with pineapples as a catch crop, the estimated 

 area being 12,000 acres for Singapore and 10,000 

 for Johore. The reason is that a pineapple canning 

 industry has been established in Singapore for some 

 years past, and has proved to be a profitable enter- 

 prise. From a rubber planter's point of view nothing 

 can be said in favour of this product as a catch crop ; 

 it exhausts the soil of both nitrogen and phosphates, 

 and the serrated edges of the leaves occasion constant 

 damage to the bark on the lower portion of the stems 

 of the rubber-trees. One can well understand, however, 

 the attractions of this cultivation for the Chinese 



