94 



RUBBER AND 



the appearance of the Henaratgoda trees during the 

 first few years after their introduction, led to the 

 erroneous conclusion that on rubber estates in Ceylon 

 tapping could not profitably be begun until the trees 

 had reached an age of ten years at least. 



It is on rich alluvial soils in the moist low country 

 that the tree makes its most rapid growth and gives 

 its earliest and heaviest yields. The low-lying alluvial 

 soils of the Malay Peninsula and the light and fertile 

 volcanic soils of Sumatra have alike shown themselves 

 to be admirably suited for the growth of Hevea. Even 

 these soils would not be reckoned particularly rich 

 according to the ideas of farmers in a temperate 

 climate. Some idea of the relative proportions in 

 which the different constituents occur in different soils 

 may be obtained from the following table of analyses. 



TABLE XXV 



Analyses of Rubber Soils. 



Organic matter and 



combined water ... 24-080 



Nitrogen 0-667 



Potash 0-131 



Phosphoric acid ... 0*025 



Lime 0*284 



B 



5-12 



0-27 



0*26 



0*072 



trace 



7-8 



0-154 



0-046 



0-031 



0*040 



D 



4-20 



0-099 



0-274 



0-114 



2-468 



A is an alluvial clay from the Malay Peninsula, 

 analysed by Kelway Bamber. 



B is a Sumatran soil analysed by Schidrowitz. 



