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Under ordinary circumstances, pine-apples are planted on hill 

 slopes, often densely packed together and the ground is kept clean 

 weeded. In a couple of years, the surface of the land is quite denuded 

 of humus, the loss due more to rain than to the action of the pine- 

 apple plants. Little more than cutting off the fruit is done by the 

 cultivator, and no wonder the land is impoverished in six years. When 

 properly cultivated, and the surface of the soil is duly attended to 

 pine-apples are good as catch-crops to be inter-planted with Hevea 

 Braziliensis. What are the essentials of a good catch-crop ? 



A plant suitable as catch-crop must have the following 

 qualities : — 



(1) It can grow without interfering with the rubber or retarding 

 the growth of the latter. 



(2) It must mature and fruit early. 



(3) It must not have woody roots, which may become liable to 

 be the sites of disease. 



(4) It can be easily removed without much cost and without 

 doing harm to the roots of the rubber trees. 



(5) It must not harbour diseases of an infective character. 

 When properly planted, pine-apples fulfil the above 

 particulars. But it is advisable not to use this form 

 of catch-crop, unless the plantation is close to a canning 

 factory or to a town, where the fruit can be sold at a good 

 price. Far away in, inaccessible localities, the high cost of 

 transport makes it unprofitable to use pine-apples as catch- 

 crop and this question alone should guide the planter in 

 deciding whether pine-apples are suitable or not, apart from 

 other considerations — especially as pine-apples will flourish 

 in all localities suitable for the planting of rubber. 



When a planter has decided to use pine-apples, he must deter- 

 mine the system of spacing his rubber trees. On the whole one must 

 recommend wide planting, allowing for avenues 30 feet wide and trees 

 15 feet apart to form the sides. Thus planted 30 by 15 the Hevea 

 trees will develop to the best advantage both their root and leaf 

 systems. 



The pine-apples should be planted 3 feet away from each rubber 

 plant, and the lines should be so arranged on hill slopes that they 

 serve as terraces to prevent too much wash from rain water. In this 

 way, we can get in say about 2,000 pine-apple plants in an acre. 

 They flower in 15 to 18 months and thus a first crop is certain in the 

 second year. In the third year, a large and a secondary crop may be 

 expected. After the fourth year, the crop begins to deteriorate unless 

 the plants are properly looked after. The main cause of the deteriora- 

 tion is that the pine-apple is purely a surface feeder, and as usually 

 the soil on which it grows has been allowed to become completely 

 denuded, and no attempt is made to restore to the groun l the 



