PREFACE 



DURING recent years interest in the Rubber- 

 planting industry has extended far beyond that 

 comparatively large section of the community, which 

 is engaged in trades more or less directly connected 

 with rubber. In fact nowadays this material enters so 

 intimately into the daily life of almost everyone, that 

 there will probably be few to whom the romance of 

 rubber entirely fails to make an appeal. In endeavour- 

 ing to make this book suitable for the needs of as 

 wide a circle of readers as possible, it has been the 

 aim of the author to combine an accurate account of 

 the scientific side of rubber planting with a certain 

 amount of practical information which may be of use to 

 the prospective planter. The space available in a book 

 of this kind only admits of treating the subject in the 

 form of an introductory outline, but it is hoped that 

 the information given will be found reliable as far as it 

 goes. 



The science and practice of rubber planting are alike 

 in their infancy, and in the immediate future important 



531 



