and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— September, 1912. 



2S7 



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USSEL 



Pure, Rich, 

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EAM 



( GOLDEN BUTTERFLY* BRAND) 



The Whipping Cream — better than Devonshire Cream 



DIRECTIONS — Add one-third quantity ordinary milk, or less, 

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 whipped cream equal in every respect to that made from fresh cream, 



No preservative, thickening, or colouring matter of any kind used. A bsolutely pure. 



Guaranteed to keep good for 1 2 months unopened, 

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Of all Retailers. Wholesale: Miller & Co., Colombo. 



RUBBER CULTIVATION IN THE F M.S. 



REPORT OF DIRECTOR OF AGRI- 

 CULTURE FOR 1911. 



The following on Rubber cultivation is from 

 the 1911 report of Mr Lewton Brain, Director of 

 Agriculture, F.M.S. On the question of 



Manuring of Rubber 

 Mr. Brain is of the opinion that while in cer- 

 tain cases manures may bo required, as shown 

 by backward growth or starved appearance of 

 the rubber trees, he is of the opinion that it is 

 not so in most cases. So-called "experiments" 

 have been carried out and have been quoted as 

 proving enormous gains from manuring; these 

 usually consist in putting manure around certain 

 trees and digging it in; then if any improve- 

 ment is noted, it is attributed to the manure, 

 whereas it is equally likely to be due to the 

 cultivation. 



Pruning. 



In nearly all old rubber, particularly where 

 the trees are closely planted, a certain number 

 of the lower branches are gradually starved out 

 and die; they thus become a source of weakness 

 to the tree and serve as points of entry for fungi 

 and insects, Daring the dry weather this ten- 

 dency was much intensified, and on some estates 

 numbers of these branches died so rapidly that 

 the leaves had not time to fall, but remained 



withered on the dead 'shoots. No bad results 

 followed where the pruning was quickly and 

 carefully carried out, although at the time the 

 appearance of the tielda was somewhat alarming. 

 As a general rule, all these weak shaded bran- 

 ches should be removed before they begin to die. 

 The pruning should be done very carefully ; the 

 branch should be cut off smooth, right down to 

 the main stem, and no splitting permitted. The 

 wound should be given a good coating of coal 

 tar which should be renewed as frequently as is 

 necessary, until the wound is healed over. 



Tapping. 



The tapping of rubber trees is, 1 think, show- 

 ing improvement generally, both as regards qua- 

 lity and quantity of bark removal. As regards 

 quantity of bark removed a conservative proce- 

 dure is more and more coming into favour and 

 very few estates now allow for less than four 

 years' renewal of the bark. The systems by 

 which this is brought about vary considerably, 

 single V's, double V's, one quarter half-herring 

 bone, alternate quarters, every day and alter- 

 nate day tapping, all find their advocates, and 

 probably the exact system followed is not of pri- 

 mary importanc e Some estates are adopting 

 systems allowing fir even more than four years 

 renewal of bark while I still find a few that are 

 removing one h^U their tapping area each year ; 

 the condition of these trees after the second 

 round of tapping must certainly be very poor. 



33 



