RUBBER PLANTING 119 



Erythrina lithosperma. This may be planted alternately 

 in the rows of rubber, and can be conveniently raised 

 from cuttings after a stock has been obtained from seed. 

 The best cuttings are stout branches five or six feet 

 long and three or four inches in diameter. These are 

 planted like so many posts, and develop into good 

 sized trees in little more than a year. Care must there- 

 fore be taken that their growth is not allowed to interfere 

 with that of the rubber. The green branches are 

 pollarded at suitable intervals and mulched as already 

 described in the case of smaller plants. The shelter 

 afforded by the dadaps is often valuable while the 

 rubber is young, and their presence tends to draw up 

 the latter into tall saplings and to check branching 

 close to the ground. 



Shade and Wind Belts. 



Rubber requires no permanent shade, and indeed few 

 trees would be tall enough to afford it. The protection 

 of dadaps, as already described, is often valuable in the 

 early stages of growth, and this is specially the case in 

 wind-swept situations. The interplanted dadaps afford 

 an excellent protection from the wind, but they should 

 not be allowed to top the rubber for too long a period. 

 Dadaps or similar trees may also be grown con- 

 veniently in belts across the direction of the prevailing 

 winds in cases where interplanting is considered 

 undesirable. They may also be introduced where a 



