163 
boxes or flower pots, but it is most essential that the drainage of 
the soil be perfect, and that the earth never becomes soaking wet, 
whilst on the other hand it should Loon d be allowed to beco ome 
thoroughly dry, but be kept always 
3. As the seedlings are very bi i go they must be pend 
with great care, and drip from trees Ree th d bed mu 
guarded against ; ee soil Spe be kept loose, and open M 
mould is the best soil. 
n the baee. are 2-3 inches high they have formed 
already a little thickened root something like a small carrot, and 
properly dug nursery bed, well drained, and the seedlings should 
there be placed about one foot in lines also a foot from each other. 
9. After the exem have become 1-2 feet in height they are 
very hardy, an n be transplanted at any time of the year, but 
as the deer are very tanh after the leaves of the rubber trees, and 
to avoid the great expense of fencing in our plantation we have of 
late years transplanted the young trees a second time in nurseries 
giving them more room, say, 3-4 feet square each plant, and let 
them grow until 10 to 20 feet high, when they can be put om into 
, however, 
young trees down with their ack E dieti 
6. The seed of Ficus elastica, where the d'a grows naturally in 
the Paire germinates almost invariably in the forks of trees, 30 
to 40 feet and more above the surface of the ground, and the 
i e 6 to 10 years as 
young trees g 
epiphytes, after which the aerial roots reach the ground, and 
increase rapidity in size, until some of eh shack a girth of from 
4 to 6 feet; they are very numerous, and it is not uncommon at a 
ier age that they are thrown out also from the upper branches 
60 to 80 feet from the ground, being first as thin as whipcords, 
ut very soon increasing in size after they have reached the 
young rubber seedling first minated, is killed the more 
vigorous growing Ficus elastica, which in this respect resembles 
the w know Banyan tree, and is one of the est growing 
members of our mixed forest in Aj s an exceed- 
an elevation of 2,000 feet. Itis met with also at a higher elevation, 
' but not so sers and at 5,000 feet it is liable to be injured cr 
killed by fro 
1; "orem of Ficus elastica planted in the forks of trees in 
the forest are very difficult to attend to, and they in consequence 
often become dry about their roots, which retards their growth if 
it does not kill them ; for these reasons the rubber trees planted 
on the ground have grown much better in the Assam plantations, 
and the latter mode of planting has therefore been adopted almost 
exclusively ; they are not planted, however, on the ground in fie 
co n way but on small mounds, 3 to 4 feet high, of earth, an 
the cut-wood and rubbish close at hand, which suits the prie hen, 
habit of growth of this tree. 
25781 = L2 
