RUBBER PLANTING 35 



and the leaves on old branches are only three or four 

 inches in length. The fruits are little greenish-yellow 

 figs, half an inch long. They form one of the principal 

 foods of flying foxes. 



In tapping,' cuts are made on the aerial roots and 

 even on the horizontal branches at intervals of a few 

 inches. The tree has to be climbed twice, once for 

 tapping, and again a day or two later in order to collect 

 the rubber. The dried rubber is torn away from the 

 cuts and rolled together into a ball. Eight or ten 

 pounds is said to be obtainable from a tree at one 



tapping. 



Ficus elastica also occurs in Java and Sumatra, and 

 both here and in Assam considerable plantations of it 

 have been established. In the Dutch East Indies, 

 however, it is being rapidly ousted by Hevea as a 

 plantation rubber. 



Prior to the introduction of Hevea, the best rubber 

 of the Malay peninsula was obtained from species of 

 Willughbeia large woody climbers, with stems six or 

 eight inches in diameter. Other rubber-producing 

 plants occur, but none of these are any longer of 

 much economic importance. Some of the species con- 

 cerned extend eastward to Siam, Cambodia and Cochin 

 China. Among these another climber, Parameria 

 glandulifera, has been described as one of the most 

 prominent. Species of Willughbeia also occur in 

 Borneo, where they possess some economic importance. 

 In New Guinea rubber is obtained from a species of 



32 



