ioo RUBBER AND 



necessary, but the heavy shade of trees is to be 

 avoided, chiefly on account of the damage which may 

 be done by the drip from the leaves in wet weather. 

 The soil should be well dug and laid out into beds 

 of any convenient size. The most important point is 

 the allowance of ample space for the growth of the 

 plants. The seeds should be planted at a distance of 

 not less than 6x6 inches, and if possible three or four 

 times as many plants should be raised as will ultimately 

 be required, in order that the best specimens may be 

 selected for planting. 



The impossibility of selection is the chief objection 

 to the practice of planting seeds at stake, which is 

 sometimes adopted but is hardly to be recommended 

 on this account Another method widely employed in 

 the Federated Malay States consists in planting the 

 seeds in baskets, which are afterwards transferred to 

 the field bodily with the seedlings. To this method the 

 same objection will often apply owing to the insufficient 

 number of plants raised. Seedlings raised in baskets 

 can be planted out earlier than others, but the ad- 

 vantages of the method over that of stumping as 

 generally practised in Ceylon do not appear to be 

 conclusive, and it is decidedly more expensive. 



In planting the nursery, the seeds should be carefully 

 laid in the ground in a horizontal position and just 

 covered over with soil. If the seeds are planted with 

 the long axis vertical, germination is less satisfactory 

 and some of the seedlings are likely to be contorted and 



