3^5 



RUBBER IN SARAWAK. 



The first Rubber trees planted in Sarawak were from seed im- 

 ported from the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, in 1881, by the Right 

 Reverend Bishop HOSE, and were almost, if not quite, the first seed 

 produced by the old trees, which as seedlings were obtained from 

 Kew in 1875. O ne of tnes e trees is still standing in the Bishop's 

 garden at Kuching and two more in the garden of the Resident. 

 The former measures 6 feet 4 inches in girth at three feet from the 

 ground and the others are nearly as large. The remainder of the 

 trees have disappeared. 



I could not find that any more were planted in this district till 

 about five years ago, when a small number were planted in the 

 Coffee Estate on the slopes of Mount Matang. This hill consists 

 exclusively of sandstone, and the soil on the slopes is very sandy 

 with masses of rock and boulders scattered over it. It has for some 

 time been planted with coffee, tea, rubbers and Mauritius hemp 

 (Fonrcroyd). The soil is hardly suitable for cultivation, but the Tea 

 and Coffee are still kept up and worked. The Mauritius hemp 

 seems the only plant in cultivation which thrives. The Para Rub- 

 ber trees, now five years old, are about the size of what one expects 

 of two year old plants or less, though perhaps a little thicker at 

 the base. Ficus eiastica does a little better at the base of the hill, 

 but many of the plants looked burnt and sickly higher up. Ceara 

 Rubber seemed worst of all, one would have thought that this plant 

 if any rubber plant would have thriven in the sterile sandy soil of 

 this hill slope, but it was wretched. Many of the trees had fallen, 

 others remained as dead stumps, or if alive bore only a few strug- 

 gling leafy branches. One may conclude perhaps, safely, that if 

 this sandy desert plant will not grow on these sandy sterile slopes 

 here, it cannot be expected to succeed in other parts of the Malay 

 region. Round Kuching, in the Cemetery and along the roads, a 

 good many Para rubber trees have been planted lately, and seem 

 to be doing fairly well, though it is too soon yet to form an opinion 

 of them. 



I visited the plantations at Perak where Mr. BALLINGALL kindly 

 showed me what had been done. The rubber plantation, an exten- 

 sive area, was on sandy hills with steep slopes, and was planted up 

 with a large number of young plants. These in the lower damper 

 spots were making very fair growth. But in some spots by the 

 streams which looked at first sight favourable, the plants had utterly 

 failed. Examination of the soil showed these spots were remarkably 

 sandy, confirming the opinion that Para rubber dislikes sandy soil 

 more than any other. On the tops of the hill ridges again the 

 young plants were obviously suffering from the wind to which they 

 were exposed. On a few slopes the plants though protected from 

 wind, and in fairly good soil appeared also not to thrive. This I 

 believe was due to underground water currents, especially as in one 

 or two of these slopes springs ran out at the base. 



Many people probably know that isolated trees on hill slopes 



