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Commersonia platyphylla, Forst (Sterculiacece). — A tree about 

 15 to 20 feet tall, with corymbs of white flowers and bristly fruit 

 known as Durian Tupai. Common in secondary jungle in 

 Singapore and elsewhere. The bark is tough, and an almost, if 

 not quite, identical species in Australia gives a bast valued by the 

 Aborigines as the best for making nets. It is a dark colored 

 tough fibre, but it is not used by natives here. 



PROFITS ON A SMALL RUBBER ESTATE. 



The following paragraph was published in a local paper on 

 April 19th under the title " Where is it ? " : — 



" The ' Ceylon Observer ' publishes t he following extract 

 from a letter dated somewhere in Malaya — no need to 

 specify— 7th February, 1905 : ' Unfortunately,' writes the 

 correspondent, ' I have only 5 acres of rubber yielding at 

 present. I get about $100 per acre a month profit from 

 them.' One is inclined to think ' If these things be done 

 in the green tree?' But present prices remind one that 

 there are places where angels fear to tread." 



I visited at Faster the plantation probably referred to in the 

 above paragraph. I have known the place from its commence- 

 ment. The seeds were procured from our Botanic Gardens at 

 Tanglin, and the young plants planted early in 1898, among old 

 Liberian coffee, 12 feet by 12 feet apart, making about 300 Para 

 rubber trees per acre. The land is low lying but not wet, and 

 has been under cultivation for many years, formerly with 

 gambier and afterwards with coffee. The soil is somewhat 

 sandy. The rubber trees are healthy, but not specially large 

 in size, the girth at 3 feet from the ground varying from 20 to 36 

 inches, the average being considerably under 30 inches. The 

 larger trees were tapped at five years old and afterwards, but from 

 July, 1904, onwards, the plantation has been regularly tapped 

 at the rate of 150 trees per month. The average return to end of 

 March has been 75 lbs. dried rubber per month, or say J lb. per tree. 



The monthly expenditure is $50, including wages of 4 coolies 

 employed in tapping, curing, weeding, etc., so that at last vear's 

 prices the profit exceeded one hundred dollars per month. " The 

 owner expects that this year, with increasing vield from the 1,500 

 trees and prices at $3 per lb., that the monthlv profit will amount 

 to two hundred dollars. 



There are no white ants, nor any trace of fungal or any other 

 disease on the trees. The figures speak for themselves. 



There have not been many cultivations which have returned 

 so large a profit on so small an expenditure. 



H. N. RIDLEY. 



