RUBBER PLANTING 73 



TABLE XVI 



Stagbrook Rubber Co. Crop of dry rubber in Ibs. 



More than half the total crop was harvested in the 

 last two months of the year. 



Some relation can also be traced between the yield 

 and the rainfall at different seasons in any given year. 

 It seems clear however that the variation at Henaratgoda 

 is also affected by .other factors. The highest yields are 

 obtained in November, December and January, just 

 before the time of leaf fall. There is then a rapid 

 falling off, and the yield remains low until August, that 

 is to say during the whole time of the formation and 

 ripening of the fruits. This is what would naturally be 

 expected on general principles, although the differences 

 are perhaps less marked than we might have been led 

 to anticipate. Whatever the function of rubber may be, 

 there can be no doubt that its formation constitutes a 

 tax on the food supplies of the tree, whilst the latex 

 removed in tapping contains other materials of possible 

 nutritive value. We should expect the available sup- 

 plies of food material to be greatest just before the fall 

 of the leaves, since these are engaged up to the last in 



