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



331 



SALES OF PRODUCE IN BRITISH AND CONTINENTAL MARKETS. 



Fibres, Cotton, Grain, Oil Seeds, Hides and Skins, 

 Timber, Rubber, Drugs, Wool, Ores, Mica, Gums, Tea, 

 Cocoa, Coffee, Copra, Sugar, etc. , are being regularly 

 dealt in; Keymer, Son & Co., being selling Agents for 

 Estates, Mills and Exporters. 



Samples valued. Best ports for Shipments indicated. 



The management of Estates undertaken. Capital found 

 for the development or purchase of valuable properties. 



KEYMER, SON & CO. , 

 Cables: Whitefriars, 

 KEYMER, LONDON. LONDON, E. C. 



(Same address since 1844). 



and roots should be burnt. On many estates I 

 noticed branches of rubber trees and bits of 

 stumps lying about instead of being carried out 

 and burned. 



E. G. Windlb, Esq. (South India). 

 The following represent my ideas on thinning- 

 out Hevea estates:— Take as a basis a first class 

 property, planted 18 ft. by 18 ft. (equals 130 trees 

 per acre), producing at 4 to 4£ years. The first 

 thing to settle is when to begin thinning, and 

 consequently on what method. I would not 

 start it until the trees had been tapped for, say, 

 two years, as I certainly agree that during the 

 first few years close planting, i.e.', 130 trees v. 40 

 or 50, gives more rubber per acre than wide 

 planting, and 1 would tap steadily in the usual 

 way until the trees were, at any rate, between 

 six and seven years old. Probably the data for 

 thinning-out will be determined to a great ex- 

 tent on the trees attaining a certain yield per 

 acre. When thinning starts, I would commence 

 with backward trees and bad tappers, but this 

 method would be insufficient of itself, as the 

 best growing parts of the estate would be 

 most in need of thinning. Consequently, the 

 first method would have to be supplemented 

 by judicious selection, evidently the lining 

 could not be kept to, though it would of 

 course not be interfered with more than could 

 be helped. Trees that were unhealthy or 

 bad tappers I would take out by the roots 

 at once. Where growth was heavy, the crown 

 of the tree imight be cut, and a circular 

 trench cut some 6 ft. or so from the stem, cut- 

 ting through all roots for a depth of 15 in. or so, 



and the stem tapped as heavily as possible for a 

 couple of years before final extraction, the ne- 

 cessary sucker growth being allowed to keep it 

 healthy. As to the average number of permanent 

 trees per acre to be aimed at, I would put this 

 at 50, and would aim at arriving at this number 

 when the plantation was, say, 12 years old, com- 

 mencing thinning at 6 to 6£ years. This would 

 only mean a reduction per acre of 10 per cent 

 per annum. The above may appear too slow a 

 process from the poict of view of the beet devel- 

 opment of the trees, but is, I think, a reasonable 

 compromise between development and divi- 

 dends. 



As to manuring closely planted estates. No 

 doubt the application of manure results in a 

 more rapid bark renewal, but as this can only 

 be effected if the trees have good heads of foliage 

 for which space is required, manuring must lead 

 to more speedy cutting out than would other- 

 wise be the case. 1 am, of course, in favour of it. 



W. F. De Bois Maclarbn, Esq, (Serdang 

 Central.) 



I am in receipt of your leading article on the 

 subject of '• Thinning out Hevea Estates." In 

 this article you take it for granted that planta- 

 tions in the East, as a general rule, require 

 thinning out. You do not, however, state why 

 this is the case ; but the reasons are very ob- 

 vious to anyone who has an observant eye, ani 

 who visits leading estates in say the Klang Dis- 

 trict of the Federated Malay States. 



One visiting that district hears general con 

 plaints of the bad renewal of bark on trees 



