THE 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF THE 



CEYLON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Vor.. XXXIX. COLOMBO, AUGUST 15th, 1912, No. 2. 



TWO CEYLON PROBLEMS. 



Address by Mr- R. N-. Lyne, Director of Agriculture, to the Ceylon 

 Agricultural Society, July 3, 1912, 



It was my intention to write nothing and to say as little as possible till 

 I had been some months on the island, because a new-comer can have very 

 little to say worth listening to about the agriculture of a country till he has had 

 time to study it. I accepted the invitation of the Secretary of the Society to address 

 this meeting because I felt sure you would be generous in your criticisms and listen 

 to what I have to say on the understanding that further acquaintance with Ceylon 

 may cause me to modify the views I shall express to you. I especially appeal to 

 the indulgence of the experienced rubber planters present, as I recognize that it 

 savours somewhat of presumption for a man who has been but six weeks in the 

 country to venture to address them on the cultivation of Hevea, But there are 

 many problems connected with the cultivation and tapping of rubber which th9 

 new Department of Agriculture will, I hope, apply it&ef to polve or help to solve. 

 Though we have established rubber planting in Ceylon on a paying basis, I feel 

 myself on safe ground when I say that we know very little about the right treat- 

 ment of the Hevea tree. Lawes and Gilbert pursued their patient researches for 

 several decades before venturing to pronounce nitrogen the dominant manure 

 for wheat or potash for clover. Wheat feeds in the top few inches of the soil and 

 occupies the land but a few months. Hevea searches a vast area in comparison 

 and continues for three-quarter of a century, perhaps more. How long then are we 

 to be allowed before pronouncing upon 



The Dominant Manure for Hevea? 



It is the eliminating of the subsidiary influences that requires the time, and 

 in the case of tree growth these influences are very complex. We may be attributing 

 results to manure that in reality are due to a generous rainfall two years back ; 

 because how long the influence of a good or bad rainfall may extend with large 

 trees whose roots work in regions far beyond our reach, we cannot say. In the old 



