i;8 RUBBER AND 



general practitioner is relied upon for the treatment 

 of well-known complaints, but the scientific specialist 

 is called in where the cases are difficult to diagnose, so 

 it should be in the case of plant diseases. For every- 

 day work the planter is his own doctor, and a good 

 planter should be familiar with the nature and treatment 

 of the common diseases to which his crop is liable. 

 The recognition of new diseases and the devising of 

 appropriate remedies calls for scientific research by 

 highly qualified specialists. No community of planters 

 can regard itself as safe from the danger of new diseases 

 which does not maintain a properly equipped establish- 

 ment for research, headed by a scientific officer of the 

 highest possible qualifications. Probably in no branch 

 of commercial enterprise does the liberal treatment of 

 science pay better than in planting. 



Hitherto no disease of Hevea has assumed the 

 proportions of a serious epidemic, and we have no 

 reason for anticipating that a fate similar to that of 

 coffee in Ceylon awaits this industry in any country 

 where rubber is now cultivated. Minor ailments exist 

 however in some variety, and it behoves the planter as 

 well as the agricultural official to familiarise himself 

 with the known symptoms of disease and with the 

 simpler recognised remedies. He can then take 

 immediate steps to prevent the wide extension of 

 trouble from small beginnings ; serious trouble is only 

 likely to occur if unhealthy individuals are neglected. 

 As prevention is better than cure, an elementary 



