TREES THAT COUNT MANIHOT GLAZIOVII 55 



trees should be allowed to remain all round the plan- 

 tation as a wind-screen. 



Weeding is generally regarded as a troublesome 

 and expensive factor in the management of planta- 

 tion rubber, but in the case of the Manihot it never 

 need cause a moment's anxiety. Where the tree is 

 planted at the proper distances (not less than 500 to 

 the acre) weeds find existence a terrible struggle, and 

 after a short season's effort they give it up. Of 

 course there will always appear a certain amount of 

 undergrowth, which is desirable, as it conserves the 

 soil in the rainy season, and when cut down provides 

 splendid top-dressing or mulch for the free-feeding 

 roots of the tree itself, which also relishes a moderate 

 manuring now and again with slaked lime just before 

 the rainy season commences. 



Interplanting, especially in the case of the 

 Manihot, should be avoided. The tree is intolerant 

 of a surrounding subsidiary crop, and, even if this 

 were not the case, interplanted rubber never yet paid 

 the cost of the labour expended upon it. 



When the trees have attained an age of two years 

 they should be individually measured and gauged, both 

 as to height approximately and girth actually. If the 

 trees have gone on the right way they will show a 

 minimum height of 15 feet and a girth of at least 

 1 6 inches three feet from the base. But in the main the 

 plantation will present a mass of stalwart Manihots 

 25 to 30 feet high and possessing an average waist 

 girth of 1 8 inches. In the third year the tree 

 will produce its seed abundantly, and when the 

 trunk shows a measurement of anything between 



