144 THE CEARA RUBBER TRE^ 



deep. The bed should be watered regularly in order to 

 keep the soil moist. 



Germination is frequently slow, especially with fresh 

 seed, and it is sometimes sought to accelerate it by soak- 

 ing the seed in water ; by filing through the hard seed- 

 coat at the narrow end of the seed before sowing ; or by 

 placing the seeds in a hot bed and transferring them to 

 the nursery bed as soon as germination has begun. With 

 reference to the first plan, however, a series of experi- 

 ments made in German East Africa showed that soaking 

 the seed in water for varying periods had no influence 

 on the rate of germination. If the filing method is 

 adopted care must be taken that the embryo of the seed 

 is not damaged ; the seed-coat should be only just filed 

 through. It is stated that seed which has been kept 

 for one or two years germinates quite readily and gives 

 good results. 



The seedlmgs are planted out when they are from a 

 few inches to 2 ft. high, and the transplanting should 

 always be done when the ground is moist after rain. 

 Stumping the larger seedlings is not necessary, but is 

 adopted by some planters, tiie stems being cut back to 

 about 10 in. A plant is placed in each of the prepared 

 holes and the soil pressed firmly round the roots. 



The plantation will require weeding for the first two 

 or three years, and during this period catch crops, con- 

 sisting of cotton, maize, beans, sesame or ground nuts, 

 are sometimes grown between the rows if the trees 

 are planted sufficiently widely. In Nyasaland it is 

 thought that the trees benefit by being thoroughly 

 cultivated up to the fomth year, as a very marked 

 improvement has been observed in the results given by 

 such trees. 



In some cases cultivated Ceara trees show a tendency 

 to branch low down, and when this occurs, early pruning 

 is necessary in order to obtain a good erect stem for 

 tai)ping. 



Cost of Establishing Plantations. — The following esti- 

 mate has been given of the cost of establishing Ceara 

 plantations in the East Africa Protectorate. The ex- 

 pense of clearing will vary with the nature of the land, 

 and the estimate assumes that t lie site is fairly free from 

 timber. 



