TREES THAT COUNT HEVEA BRASILIEXSIS 19 



it held only a short ten years ago. At that period 

 its status from every standpoint was apparently un- 

 assailable. But in the interval a great deal has been 

 learned about its great rival and relative the Manihot 

 Glaziovii, and also concerning the Castilloa and 

 other trees whose latex, when treated in an up-to- 

 date scientific manner, has proved to be equal to, if 

 not exceeding in many respects, that of the finest 

 forest-cured Para. But the Hevea for many reasons 

 will always be a favourite with the planters in the 

 old world, especially in such places as the Federated 

 Malay States, Borneo, and the Dutch East Indies. 

 Here the Hevea appears to have found a far 

 more congenial home than that afforded by the 

 varying altitudes and fickle soils of Ceylon, where 

 for some reason or other the Hevea is prone to 

 change its habits and customs, especially as to the 

 fall of the leaf and the phenomena of the flowering 

 period. It is nevertheless extremely doubtful 

 whether the Hevea in the Straits Settlements will 

 make such a good fight against the ravages of 

 disease as its neighbour in Ceylon and Southern 

 India is doing. Disquieting admissions have already 

 been made at many company meetings respecting 

 this danger, and planters should be warned in time. 

 Perhaps the most dreaded of these diseases is the 

 fungoid pest Helicobasidium, sp., which attacks the 

 roots and rapidly spreads by aid of strands of living 

 mycelium in the soil. The remedy is immediately to 

 destroy all the affected parts by burning, and then 

 to dig a trench round the tree a foot deep, into which 

 every particle of suspected soil should be buried and 



B 2 



