Method ot Cultivation. 



I have seen Para rubber cultivated alone in Java on 

 properties owned by Ceylon and Straits planters. On 

 many estates the Para has been interplanted among exist- 

 ing cultivation, such as cacao and coffee, or these pro- 

 ducts have been planted with or after the Para. Some 

 Para plantations are being catch-cropped with tapioca, 

 citronella, lemon grass or groundnuts. It is therefore 

 obvious that Java rubber planters do not rely entirely 

 on Para rubber, but sometimes prefer to adopt a mixed 

 cultivation, such as is seldom seen in any other country. 

 I like to see mixed products on the same ground for 

 obvious reasons; but I cannot help thinking that on many 

 estates in Java it is overdone. Where the same estate 

 has its Para rubber planted through or with nutmegs, 

 Liberian, Java and Robusta coffee, Ceara, Castilloa, 

 cacao, kapok, and other useful trees, the attention of the 

 manager is necessarily diverted to crops other than Para. 

 He will not cut out his nutmegs or kapok trees while 

 the Para saplings are young, and in the long run his 

 estate consists of too many products, few of which have 

 attained perfection; it is a natural consequence on over- 

 planted estates. 



The best Para estates I have seen in Java consist of 

 Para alone or Para with a crop of either coffee robusta, 

 cacao, or tapioca. One catch or inter-crop under the 

 rubber saplings is quite enough even on such phenome- 

 nally rich soil. The results obtained on Kalu Minggir, 

 Bantaradawa, and the Java Rubber Plantations certainly 

 justify one in advising one or other of these systems. 



A feature of all Ceylon estates along hill sides, and 

 even on flat ground, is the draining, the drains being 

 I to i^ ft. wide and deep, and running at right angles to 

 the slope. In East Java I never saw anything approach- 

 ing this, except on flat, swampy areas. The hill sides are 

 not drained on a regular system, a few water pits being 

 the only receptacles provided to collect the water and 

 prevent excessive wash. The soil is so rich that a little 

 wash may take place without seriously affecting the 

 development of the plants; but surely it is to the interest 

 of all parties to retain as much soil as possible under all 

 conditions. The draining of planted land sweetens the 



