22 PARA RUBBER. 



Rate of Growth in India. 

 The following figures showing the dimensions of nine-year-old 

 trees in Mergui have been given by Colonel W. J. Seaton ; — 



In many parts of Southern India, Para rubber is being more or 

 less successfully grown up to 3,500 f^et above sea-level. Trees at an 

 elevation of 2,500 feet have attained a height of 18 feet in three years, 

 a circumference of 42 inches in 17 years, and nearly 60 inches in 22 

 years. 



On the Shevaroy Hills, at an elevation of 3,400 feet, Para rubber 

 trees are reported to be about 10 inches in circumference when 

 three years old; others are reported at 3,600 feet in the Nilgiris and 

 the Anamallais to be from 9 to 13 inches in circumference and 19 to 

 29 feet in height, when three and a half years old. On many of these 

 properties the rubber is used as shade for coffee, and from all accounts 

 the latter is thriving under the shade of Para and Castilloa rubber. 



The Para rubber trees in many parts of South India do not appear 

 to increase much more than 3 to 4 inches in circumference per year, 

 and a girth of 20 inches in 5 years would be considered good. 



Speaking in quite a general way it is fairly correct to say that the 

 average growth obtained in the good soils of the Straits, when the 

 rubber is grown as a single product, is better than that in Ceylon, 

 India, or in the Gold Coast, but that local areas in each country, 

 and especially in the drained black soils of Ceylon and along the 

 Malabar coast of India, show excellent growth of Para rubber. 



Leaf-fall. 

 The Para rubber tree is not evergreen. During the first two or 

 three years the young tree may retain its leaves and show a nett in- 

 crease in foliage at regular intervals. After the second or third year, 

 however, the tree annually drops its leaves, but quickly puts on a 

 fresh supply of young foliage. When growing under healthy con- 

 ditions the trees in Ceylon and the Straits usually drop their leaves 

 in February and March ; in badly-drained places the foliar change 

 is very irregular. The tapping ojjerations are believed, by many 

 persons, to change to a varying degree the periodicity of leaf -fall 

 and production. 



