386 



expect. No serious planter would allow if he could avoid it the invasion 

 of lalang but looked at purely from a commercial aspect the position 

 in regard to lalang on many estates is that the rubber trees have been 

 checked in their growth compared with weeded trees about i that is to 

 say a five year old tree is only equal to a four year old tree which has 

 been tended, but the cost of the weeding during the three years of the 

 tended tree has been from $30 to $60 per acre and it is a question 

 whether the hastening by a year of the tree's growth is worth the cost 

 paid for it. 



With other weeds the advantage of covering the soil usually 

 balances the disadvantage caused by the weeds taking moisture and plant 

 food from the soil at the expense of the rubber roots. 



To take exact instances, an estate in Perak planted in rubber was 

 owing to want of funds abandoned for five years and allowed to grow up 

 in belukar. When cleared up only 8% of the trees were missing and the 

 remainder showed excellent growth and are today at eleven years old 

 giving 4 lbs., of dry rubber per tree per year though they have been 

 tapped some years. 



There are many thousands of acres of rubber in the Malay States 

 and the Colony under Tapioca the cropping of which takes more plant 

 food out of the soil than almost any known cultivation and even with 

 this tax upon the soil the rubber trees benefiting from the shading of 

 their roots are growing not very much less vigorously than their neigh - 

 with no bours competitors but with their root areas exposed to sun and 

 rain. 



To put it briefly the policy of scrape, clean, expose, let in sun and 

 rain should be exchanged for the policy of protect, cover, retain, prevent 

 the baking of the sun and the washing of the rain. Without any 

 detriment to the rubber this method of cultivation reduces more 

 than considerably the cost of bringing a rubber estate into bearing. 



This question was dealt with in my annual report for 1907 published 

 in this Bulletin for September of that year and has been further 

 discussed at length in my report for this year about to be published. 

 It is of so much practical importance that no excuse is needed for its 

 reiteration in order to urge the planter to give the whole matter serious 

 consideration and what is still better to carefully try the effect of green 

 manure or cover plants as against the more usual method of bare soil. 



RATE OF GROWTH OF FOREST TREES IN THE 

 FEDERATED MALAY STATES. 



By A. Burn Murdoch. 



On this subject, the most important in forestry, little or nothing 

 is known as regards trees which grow in the Malay Peninsula. The 

 difficulties in the way of ascertaining the age of trees, especially grow- 

 ing in dense forest, where no observations have hitherto been made are 

 very great. 



Malays as a rule smile if asked to give their opinions to the age 

 of any given tree and I suppose that their amusement is natural, as 



