5 



GERMINATION OF HARD SEEDS. 



A writer in Le Jardin (xxii 155) gives a note as to the best way 

 of germinating hard seeds, such one miglit instance as Ceara rubber 

 seeds. The seeds are placed in a small sieve or pocket of wire gauze, 

 a few at a time and plunged into boiling water for a period of 10 to 

 20 seconds, depending on the hardness of the seed. In the case of 

 small seeds, the sieve is plunged into cold water immediately after 

 being taken out of the boiling water. The object of dealing witJi a 

 few seeds only is to ensure that the boiling water shall have a full 

 effect. By this means seeds were germinated in ten days. 



RUBBER NOTES. 



Rubber Planting in Zanzibar. 



Both Ceara rubber and Para have been tried in Zanzibar, and it 

 is reported that the former gives the best results, as indeed one 

 would expect, and 200,000 trees have been planted. According to a 

 writer in the Bulletin de TAssociation des Planteurs de Caoutchouc, 

 Ceara is ready for tapping in three years, Para not till seven or eight 

 years. Presumably he means in Zanzibar, for rather the reverse is 

 nearer the facts in places suited for Para rubber. 



Production According to Age. 



The report of the Cicely Rubber Estates gives the following acr. 

 count of the production of Para rubber as compared with the age of the 

 trees : — Thus of 6,919 old trees at first the average was 1,32 lb a tree, 

 next year 8,020 trees gave an average of 2.37 lb., the third year 9,000 

 trees gave 4.85 lbs. a tree, and the fourth year 9,000 trees, of which 

 3,000 had been rested, and 3,000 had not previously been tapped, gave 

 6 lbs. per tree. 



AGRICULTURAL PftOGRESS IN PERAK, F.M.S. 



The following notes on the Rubber planting situation are 

 extracted from the Annual Reports of Government District Officers 

 in Perak for 1 908. 



Mr. E. J. Rrewster reports that nothing very exciting took place 

 in the way of planting during the year and says that the growth of 

 Para rubber trees in the Kinta District is not to be compared with 

 that on low country land. This would be expected in most parts of 

 the Kinta valley where the chief industry is Tin Mining in a rather 

 poor sandy soil. 



Mr. A. Hale, in his report on the Larut and Krain District, says 

 that the Rice crop was the best which he had known since he had 

 been in charge of the District. The very dry weather, which continued 



