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planting it was often the custom in planting out the seed- 

 lings to give the plant when put in the ground a short sharp 

 pull to straighten the tap root in case it had got bent in 

 inserting it, an excellent plan. I well remember a now-long 

 abandoned coffee estate which I visited some years ago, 

 and which was then practically abandoned. It had been a 

 failure from more reasons than one. The trees were 

 stunted and wretched looking, nearly worthless. On ex- 

 amination of the number it was seen that the tap root was 

 completely curled round in at least 80 per cent, apparently 

 the seedlings had been conveyed to the ground with the 

 roots twisted round in the baskets for convenience of carry- 

 ing and then the coolies had planted them just as they were 

 without straightening the roots, practically ruining them. 



It may be presumed that most planters are well ac- 

 quainted by now with the difference in use of the green- 

 soiling or nitragenous plants such as Crotalaria, Mimosa 

 and Tephrosia and the lalang-killing plant Passiflora 

 foetida but the large number of enquiries received show 

 that there are a considerable number of persons interested 

 in rubber planting who are quite confused as to the differ- 

 ence, and who think that Crotalaria is intended to kill 

 weeds, Crotalaria is a weed itself but differs from white 

 weed (Ageratum) and other such herbaceous plants which 

 appear in estates in possessing the nitrogenous bac- 

 teria in tubercles of the roots which supply nitrogen 

 to the soil. In fact it may be said to be a living fer- 

 tilizer. Passiflora is only intended to kill lalang grass by 

 creeping over it and cutting off its light supply. It is how- 

 ever also useful in covering steep bare clay slopes on which 

 one so often sees rubber planted and saving wash. It is 

 not expected to supply introgen to the soil nor to kill harm- 

 less or possibly useful little weeds which have crept in to 

 the estate. We should be inclined to apologise to our readers 

 for printing an explanation of this kind on matters of which 

 so much has already been published but after receiving 

 numerous confused letters from would— be planters who do 

 not seem to have realized the difference between the two 

 classes of plant and after overhearing planters elaborately 

 explaining to strangers the virtues of Crotalaria as a weed 

 killer, we may conclude that there are a large number of 

 people engaged more or less in planting, and anxious to do 

 as every one else is doing without knowing what they are 

 doing or why they are doing it. And it is for these that 

 these remarks are published. 



H. N. Ridley, 



