437 



Mexican Rubber (Castilloa elastica). — An area of 

 about 2^ acres of this rubber was put out in March. The 

 plants have made fair progress, but received a check 

 through having become infected with Mealy bug. The pest 

 lias been suppressed with a solution of kerosene oil, soft 

 soap and water. 



Kicksia elastica. — Seeds of this West African rubber 

 have been obtained from Kamuning Estate and were sown 

 in nursery. A trial plot will be put out in this year. 



Camphor. — The camphor trees in Batu Tiga remain in 

 good health and have made vigorous growth during the 

 year. The largest trees measure now some 26 feet in height 

 and are 14 feet through the base. I regret to have to report 

 that another year has gone by and no distillation has yet 

 been made to determine the actual yield of camphor, and 

 until this has been done it would not be safe to recommend 

 its cultivation on any large scale. 



The young trees in Kuala Lumpur, planted in Sem- 

 tember, 1907, have made good progress. 



This plot was divided into three parts and treated as 

 follows : 



A. Clean weeded; 



B. Planted with mimosa ; 



C. Planted with crotalaria. 



The object being to determine the effects to clean weed- 

 ing and the use of cover plants or green manures on the 

 growth of the camphor trees. 



The trees were all planted at the same time, and at the 

 time of the commencement of the experiment all three plots 

 were about even. The average height and breadth of the 

 bushes in each plot at the end of the year were as follows: 



Average breadth 18 ins. 

 Average height from gror.ud 



ft. ins. ft. ins. 



A 5 5-2 . . 4 5 



B 4 7i .. 3 5 



C. ' . . . . . . 5 9 j- . . 3 5f 



Plot A was weeded four times during the nine months 

 (cost $2.80). Plot B was weeded once after planting (cost 

 70 cents). Plot C was weeded once after planting and was 

 cut over twice (cost $1.05). 



Some 300 plants were distributed for trial to different 

 estates in the early part of the year. 



