448 



tappings. The figures also prove that the small quantity of rubber 

 yielded per tree by our tappings must be considered the maximum 

 that can safely be extracted from them at present. Mr. Home's 

 estimate of 2 lbs. per tree made when forecasting the outturn of 

 1898-99 was evidently of too sanguine a nature for the compart- 

 ments as a whole. 



T 7. With the meagre information as yet at our disposal, it is no^ 

 safe to arrange for wark more than one year in 



Kiture operations. 1 tvt . c 'l. • j 



r advance. Next season, therefore, it is proposed 



to tap compartment 4 for the third year in succession, with the 

 object of verifying, in a more decisive manner, the results obtained 

 from the limited experiment mentioned in paragraph 16 and recorded 

 in the attached Statement €. But should the results of tapping 

 the first 100 trees of this compartment show conclusively that the 

 outturn is much smaller than on previous occasions, the work in 

 this area will at once be stopped. In addition, compartments 9, 10, 

 and 11 of the Charduar plantation, containing 251 acres and 3.490 

 trees, and the eastern block of the Khulsi plantation, containing 88 

 acres and 2,400 trees, will be tapped for the first time. The Char- 

 duar trees will be 19 and 20 years old and those at Khulsi 23 years 

 old, and it is expected that they will yield, at the rate of 9 lbs. per 

 acre a total of 3,051 lbs. of clean rubber fit for despatch to London. 

 Subsequent operations should be guided greatly by the result of 

 tapping compartment 4 for the third year in succession. If the out- 

 turn is poor, it will, I think, prove that, in the present condition and 

 age of the plantation, it is only less wrong to tap the trees two 

 years than three years in succession, and the practice should be 

 discontinued. As a tentative measure, under these circumstances, 

 three years' rest should be allowed to each area after having being 

 tapped over. On the other hand, if no bad results follow the re- 

 tapping of No. 4, compartments 1, 2 and 3 that were last tapped 

 in 1898-99, may be again operated on in 1901-1902, as well as com- 

 partment 4 for the fourth year in succession. 



18. In conclusion, the following deductions have been made 

 Conclusion ^ rom tne P°i nts brought out by the figures and ob- 



servations discusssed in the above report. In 

 some cases these observations still require more proof before they 

 can be formulated as rules for the guidance of future operations; 

 but it seems convenient and likely to be useful to attempt such 

 deductions as a means of attaining steadily, is gradually, to a correct 

 method of plantation management: 



(1) That in the present condition of the plantation, only about 



g\ lbs. of clean rubber per acre can be safely extracted 

 from the trees at one tapping (see paragraph 16). 



(2) That a densely-planted area does not necessarily yield more 



rubber per acre than an area of the same age in which 

 the trees are relatively much fewer (see paragraph 3). 



(3) That the outturn ofatreein rubber seems to be in propor- 



tion to its crown or lateral spread (see paragraph 15). 



