planters  expected  to  lap  the  trees  when  they  are  about  live  years 
old.  Mr.  POR  I'KR  explained  and  added  “ I am  happy  to  say  that 
everything  is  going  on  well  there.  Of  course  there  is  a great  deal 
more  rubber  cultivated  there  than  in  Ceylon,  and  it  seems  to  grow 
fully  as  well.  The  soil  is  very  suitable  for  it,  the  land  being  flat, 
and  the  climate  is  also  very  much  in  favour  of  the  cultivation  of 
rubber.” — From  the  Times  of  Ceylon. 
Malayan  Substitutes  for  Cork. 
To  the  Editor  of- 
THE  AGRICULTURAL  BULLETIN: 
Dear  Sir, — In  the  Bulletin  f<'>r  May,  ig02,  } ou  raised  the  ques- 
tion of  local  substitutes  for  Cork.  It  may  possibly  interest  some 
of  your  readers  to  hear  of  two  common  products  of  these  regions 
which  are  frequently  used  in  Borneo  as  stoppers  for  bottles. 
One  is  the  young  wood  of  the  Pulai,  Alstonia  scholaris.  I have 
known  this  to  last  in  good  condition  for  a long  time.  It  is  parti- 
cularly suitable  for  bottles  containing  oil  of  any  kind. 
'1  be  other  is  the  conical  protuberance  which  grows  from  the  roots 
of  the  common  Pedada,  Sonneratia  acida,  and  is  seen  at  low  water. 
This  also  is  good  for  corking  bottles;  and  I have  used  it  success- 
fully for  the  purpose  you  mention,  the  kning  of  insect  boxes.  If  I 
am  not  mistaken,  Sir  Emmerson  Tennant  speaks  of  this  last  use 
of  it  in  his  history  of  Ceylon.  The  nativ^es  of  Borneo  call  it  “Jung- 
kong  Pedada”,  the  word  ‘Jungkong”  being  applied  by  them  to  any 
wart-like  vegetable  excrescence. 
Faithfully  yours, 
G.  F.,  Singapore  & Sarawak. 
Bishop’s  House,  Singapore, 
April  2jrdj  jgoj. 
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