232 



THE CULTIVATION OP FICUS ELASTICA. 



By Claud Bald. 



This is another little pamphlet published by Thacker, SPINK 

 & Co., Calcutta, and illustrated by photographs. 



The author notes that the yield is not comparable to that obtained 

 from tropical rubbers and the time it takes to reach maturity renders 

 it prohibitive as an industry by itself but the cost of planting is so 

 small and the possible return so substantial that it is a really sound 

 investment for those who have available any suitable waste land. 

 Low lying land or land apt to become sodden, and climates subject 

 to long droughts he condemns, as also land too dry. He does not 

 recommend sowing the seed in beds, but in boxes covered with 

 glass plates, and this really appears to be the best method, though 

 if the boxes are shaded, the glass plates are not necessary. He 

 condemns the method of growing the trees through forest or shad- 

 ing them by other trees, and states its growth is retarded in pro- 

 portion to the amount of shade given. In the earlier planting 25 

 feet apart is considered sufficient but laiterly 35 feet has been the 

 rule, 40 or 50 feet would not be too much for a rubber forest. The 

 roots of a twelve year-old tree have been known to reach a radius 

 of 60 feet thus occupying a circle of ground 120 feet across. 



He quotes Mr. Gustave Mann as saying that the Government 

 trees would reach maturity in 50 years and might then be expected 

 to yield 10 lbs. rubber at each tapping. This is taken however, 

 only every second year, which consequently gives 5 lbs. per year per 

 tree, or at 41 to the acre, 35 feet by 35, 205 lbs. per annum. This 

 return does not come up to that of Para rubber by a very long way 

 and as is well known the Rambong rubber does not fetch so high 

 a price. 



DYES AND DYEING AMONGST THE SEA 

 DYAKS OP SARAWAK. 



By J. Hewitt. 



Not many years prior to the advent of Europeans to this country 

 woven cloth seems to have been little used by Dyaks and quite 

 possibly it was unknown to the majority of them : their scanty 

 garments and their blankets were made of the beaten bark of the 

 Tekalong (Artocarpus sp.) tree. Of late years however the primi- 

 tive bark cloth has been largely rejected in favour of the more 

 ashionable and more durable woven cloth with its ornate patterns. 

 Various vegetable fibres, e.g. the pine apple and the Lembah [Curcu- 

 ligo villosa and latifolia) have been utilised in cloth making but at 

 the present day their home-spun fibre is either that of the Kapas 

 {Gossypium herbaceum) or of the Kapok (Eriodendron anfractuo- 

 sum). 



