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of bamboos upon which the sheets of rubber are hung to dry. and a 

 few pans of charcoal to hasten the process, and keep off mildew, 

 are Mr. STEPHENS' stock-in-trade. His latex shed is an attap build- 

 ing about 12' square, his drying-house an enclosed space under his 

 Bungalow, say 18' square. With this simple equipment and limited 

 accommodation, he is able to turn out rubber which, I venture to 

 think, will command the highest prices. The tapping coolies, with 

 their six months' training, are doing fast, and at the same time 

 most careful, work, and each man brings in two large pails of latex, 

 equal I should say, to about a kerosine oil tin full. Mr. STEPHENS 

 swears by the old " herring-bone" system of tapping, which he has 

 proved to give him the best results. He drives a small nail into 

 the foot of his tree, hangs his tin upon it, and leaves the tin there 

 until that particular tree is finished with. He says that perhaps he 

 gets more scrap in consequence, but then of course he is saved the 

 enormous cost of tin distribution and washing. His methods may 

 not be as clean as you would expect to see in a first class dairy, but 

 as he gets the best results at a minimum cost, I judge that his ex- 

 ample is well worth following. He taps as a rule from 5.30 until 

 11 A. M., and if he sends his coolies out in the afternoon, he finds 

 that they get only about Hrds as much latex. His trees are tap- 

 ped once every other day. Having been very short of labour, it 

 was impossible for Mr. STEPHENS to keep his weeds in hand, so he 

 set to work with scythes and now succeeds at a cost of about 50 cts. 

 an acre a month, in mowing his land so close that from the colour 

 of the coffee trees, which still grow amongst his rubber in some 

 fields, it is evident that not only do the latter in no way suffer from 

 the grass, but the remarkable freedom from white ants, which 

 Jebong enjoys, rather points to there being some truth in the theory 

 that the presence of grass keeps these mischievous insects away. 



This does not pretend to be at all an elaborate report upon Mr. 

 STEPHENS' work. It would take me much longer than I have time 

 for to treat the subject as it deserves, but I think that when a 

 planter does what Mr. STEPHENS has succeeded in doing, with a 

 force of (I may say) 50 coolies on an Estate of 380 acres opened, 

 and in face of difficulties which would have made many a good man 

 give up, it is about time that his fellow planters, at any rate, should 

 hear of it, and if they are wise and want to see for themselves what 

 can be done by a man who puts all his heart into his work, they 

 had better start for Jebong without waste of time, and they will not 

 onlv find that this account is in no way exaggerated, but they will 

 be given every opportunity of seeing a very fine Estate in the 

 bargain. 



1 am, Dear Sir, 



Yours faithfully, 



E. V. CAREY. 



The Editor, 



A <rriat1tnral Bulletin , 



Singapore. 



