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



329 



soil is naturally rich, and which I think is the 

 case on most estates in our district. 



D. Douglas, Esq. (Province Wellesley.) 



Your remarks on the thinning-out of closely 

 planted rubber trees came duly to hand. 



The three main points I will answer. 



(1) In thinning-out rubber trees I would leave 

 about 100 trees per acre. 



(2) I would remove all trees of poor growth 

 for age, trees with burrs growing on them, and 

 any trees which show the effects of bad tapping, 

 but so as not to reduce the number to less 

 than 100. 



(3) Before completely removing the trbes I 

 would stump them to about 8 or 10 feet, tap the 

 stumps heavy for about 9 months, then uproot 

 them, carry off as much as possible of the wood; 

 or where vacant spaces can be found, burn in 

 small heaps. 



I am of opinion that where rubber plantations 

 have been planted too closely no thinning-out 

 should be done until the trees are about 10 

 years of age. I consider that anyone thinning - 

 out earlier would be throwing away a good deal 

 of valuable rubber, and would be removing trees, 

 which until that age were not interfering to any 

 great extent with the growth of the rest of the 

 plantation. White ants and disease, with wind 

 storms, are sure to reduce the number by about 

 2% per cent, yearly. 



Where trees in the past have been planted 

 10 ft. by 10 ft. or 12 ft. by 12 ft., I would recom- 

 mend thinning-out at the earliest opportunity ; 

 any greater distance apart I would delay the 

 cutting out until about 10 years of age. 



I am not in favour of reducing the number of 

 trees to what might at the present time be con- 

 sidered a standard number. 



Bethune, Esq, (Federated Selangor) 



The points you mention are undoubtedly 

 among the most important of those now occu- 

 pying the attention of all thoughtful planters, 

 and in several of the companies with which I am 

 connected we are carefully investigating them. 



I find myself in general agreement with your 

 views and suggestions, but 1 am sorry that at the 

 time of writing I am not in a position to express 

 any views sufficiently definite to be of any use 

 to others. 



Messrs. Harrisons and Crosfield. 



It seems to us that the question of thinning- 

 out trees is one which it is very difficult to gene- 



42 



ralise in. Local conditions must affect it very 

 considerably, but no doubt it is a question 

 which a good many estates will have to face. 



M. Sidney Parry, Esq. (F.M.S. Rubber Co.). 



I have read with great interest your article on 

 "thinning-out." My last trip to the East con- 

 vinced me of the justice of your remarks, and, 

 as I said in my report to another body, I am 

 going back to a belie f in 30 ft. by 30 ft. as the 

 ideals we originally started on the F. M. S, 

 Rubber Co., 40 ft. by 40 ft. And I am under 

 the impression that the yields from those trees 

 interplanted years later are even now far below 

 the average of the original plantings. Anyone 

 who looks at the old trees on Welds Hill, Lin- 

 sum, etc., must be convinced that our 15 ft. by 

 15 ft., 18 ft. by 18 ft., etc., are far too near for 

 the future. Admitting that at first better aver- 

 age yields are got per acre from the closer 

 plantings, one has to answer your three points. 

 (1) I would aim at 30 ft. by 30 ft., in the mean- 

 while pollarding and tapping the trees to be 

 eventually removed. 



(2) I would follow a regular system both for 

 supervision purposes and because it seems to 

 me the only way to grow an even plantation. 



(3) by pollarding and tapping the trees to be 

 cut out some returns will come in. 



I would start a plantation 20 ft. by 20 ft., and 

 even then eventually thin-out. 



Hon. Evebard Feilding (Kuala Lumpur). 



1 am not a technical planter, and have no 

 experience to enable me to answer, except from 

 my second hand information, your questions. I 

 return your proof marked, however, and from 

 the depth of my ignorance make the following 

 comments. 



(1) Agreed that each estate's condition 

 should be studied; in up-country land closer 

 planting in early years is more practicable than 

 in low land, 



(2) Mr Skinner wrote me very recently that 

 he is now quite satisfied that (for his conditions) 

 20 ft, by 20 ft. is the right thing to start at, but 

 that cutting out is afterwards necessary, by 

 selection of the bad trees, and not regularly. 



(3) He pollards and taps the pollarded stumps 

 before removing them. 



(4) I think Mr. Skinner would agree with the 

 late Mr Pears, 



(5) Mr Skinner is strong on the point that these 

 pollarded trees should be tapped as carefully as 

 the others on two grounds ; (1) That you don't 



