21 



In the Kalutara District. 



Along- the Neboda road one cannot help being inter- 

 ested in the rocky hillsides and low-lying hills, over 

 which young rubber saplings are abundantly planted. 

 Here and there we found one or two rubber estates inter- 

 planted with tea, and a few of them mixed with cocoa- 

 nuts. For many miles the rubber trees on either side of 

 the road are young, being only one to two years old, 

 but they are planted over very extensive areas. About 

 four miles from Neboda there are some older patches, 

 together with rubber and tea interplanted with Albizzias. 

 On most estates we were agreeably surprised to find a 

 large number of fairly good sized trees which had not 

 been even marked for tapping. We saw several paddy 

 fields which a couple of years ago had been drained and 

 planted up with Para rubber; the trees were doing well, 

 as also were those in a few deeply-drained swamps. One 

 or two estates appeared to have suffered from want of 

 labour, the weeds telling the tale against many of the 

 hardworking planters in the district. The majority of 

 the estates appeared to be closely planted, lo ft. by lo ft., 

 12 ft. by 12 ft., and 15 ft. by 15 ft. being the distance 

 commonly adopted. A few were planted 20 ft. by 10 ft. 

 and 20 ft. by 20 ft. 



The system of tapping varied; the basal Y and spiral 

 system, the half-herring-bone, full herring-bone, V, and 

 full spiral systems were all seen in Kalutara. Many 

 planters in that district are of an inventive frame of 

 mind, and very confident of the methods which they have 

 adopted in the past; they continue very much on their 

 own lines, and generally with satisfactory results. A 

 case of one planter who has thrown over his own patents 

 and adopted his neighbour's methods will be dealt with 

 later. 



Independence among Planters. 



One of the striking features in the Kalutara district is 

 the tenacity with which several members stick to their 

 own ideas or the original methods they adopted. I will 

 not mention names; the following tabulation will afford 

 instruction on the point to which I refer : — 



