and Magazine of the Cei/lon Agricultural Society.— October, 1912. 341 



tion has caught the popular fancy principally as 

 the direct result of the successful exploitation of 

 the product through Government agency and 

 the area now amounts to no less than 13,103 

 acros, rubber in the district now occupying the 

 position of one of the staple crops. The area 

 under rubber in Amherst, which now measures 

 1,450 acres, has more than doubled itself during 

 the past year. The increase is due to the areas 

 planted in the leases issued to the Amherst 

 Paibber Estate, Ltd., and to the Maulmain 

 Rubbpr Plantations, Ltd. These two estates 

 have become well established and other small 

 estates are also springing up rapidly. It is con- 

 fidently expected that in a few years rubber 

 plantations will form one of the important agri- 

 cultural industries of the district. It might be 

 remarked that the figure 1,450 acre?* above re- 

 presents the area actually under rubber and 

 that it is only about 20 percent, of total area, 

 7,625 acres, already granted or leased. The in- 

 crease in Hanthawaddy is due to th9 extension 

 of their estates by the Rangoon Para Rubber 

 Company, Ltd., to the ijsue of new leases and 

 to 150 acres of the Twante grant haviug been 

 brought under cultivation recently. The culti- 

 vation of rubber in Katha, Myitkyina, Vamo- 

 thin, Henzada and Salween is a recent intro- 

 duction. Nevertheless the area in Myitkyina 

 where the cultivation really began four years 

 ago now amounts to 2,712 acres, Mr. Kearney 

 Young's estate being reported to account for 

 over four per cent, of the total area in this dis- 

 trict. — Rangoon Gazette, Sept. 2. 



THE FERTILISING OF RUBBER 



Though rubber planting has been established 

 on a paying basis in many tropical lands, there 

 can be no doubt that but little is known about 

 the correct manurial treatment of the trees. 



In temperate climates, where the science of 

 agriculture has bean built up, the conditions are 

 so entirely different from those obtaining in the 

 tropics that it is difficult to apply the knowledge 

 gained in the one to the problems in the other. 

 One can at present only apply the general prin- 

 ciples, adapting them as far as possible to tropical 

 conditious. 



The difficulties are great with regard to the 

 treatment of most tropical vegetation, but 

 especially so in the case of rubber, where trees 

 of all age3 have to be dealt with, even up to 

 three-quarters of a century old. 



Experimental information with regard to the 

 use ot fertilisers on rubber plantations is practi- 

 cally non-existent, but there appears no reason 

 why the success obtained from a judicious use 

 of fertilisers on forestry and nursery stock 

 should not be repeated in the case of rubber 

 trees. 



The resulta of experiments with forestry have 

 proved that the supplyiug of the necessary plant 

 foods, in the shape of fertilisers, has a marked 

 effect on the health and vigour of the tree — espe- 

 cially in its earlior years— and there is no reason 

 to doubt that equally good results may be 

 obtained with rubber trees. 



Again the manuring of fruit troea in orchards 

 has been followed by very gratifying results. In 



their case the manuras are applied in a trench 

 dug around the tree to a depth of about 18in. 

 The trench should be at such a distance from 

 the stem as to be directly over tho young root- 

 lets—in the case of fruit trees just outside the 

 spread of the branches. 



Questions of soil and. climate having been care- 

 fully studied, and the planting completed, there 

 remain the important details of cultivation and 

 fertilising. It may be said without hesitation 

 that young rubber trees respond as promptly to 

 cultivation and artificial care as other tree 

 crops, and thus, to ensure success, cultivation is 

 not only desirable, but necessary. 



The main object is to bring the young trees 

 to maturity as quickly as is consistent with 

 healthy growth, for financial success in rubber- 

 growing must be largely influenced by the 

 methods adopted to hasten the maturity of the 

 trees. 



No hard and fast rule as to the quantities to 

 apply can be laid down, and direction must be 

 exercised according to the age of tree, require- 

 ments of the soil, etc., but the first step to be 

 taken, adopting ordinary scientific methods, is 

 to have an analysis made of the boil and then 

 to supply such elements of plant food as may 

 be found wanting in the shape of phosphates, 

 potash, and nitrogen. At the same time the 

 necessary humus should be supplied to the soil 

 by growing suitable green crops between the 

 rows, and ploughing in. 



As has been said, it would be impossible, in a 

 short article, to go into details as to what parti- 

 cular materials and what quantities of fertiliser 

 should be used, but the planter cannot afford 

 to neglect the general question of rational ferti- 

 lisation, and it is only by constantly experi- 

 menting under his own conditions that he will 

 eventually learn the methods best suited to 

 those conditions. 



As time goes on, there will no doubt be 

 many experiments made and results published 

 by scientific authorities, and general principles 

 will be deducible therefrom, but there is nothing 

 like repeated experiments on one's own planta- 

 tion, especially when, as often as not, there are 

 experts ready and willing to assist. 



On one point, however, there is some reliable 

 information resulting from the experiments, 

 made by Dr. Wilcox in Hawaii, on the value of 

 nitrate of soda in increasing the flow of the 

 latex. Further experiments have been in pro- 

 gress for some time and the results will be pub- 

 lished in due course. In the meantime, the 

 following has been published by Dr. Wilcox as 

 the result of his preliminary investigations: — 



Nitrate of Soda for Increasing Flow 

 of Latex. 



" It has often been suggested that a scheme 

 of fertilisation might be devised whereby the 

 flow of latex could be temporarily energised at 

 each tapping period. In order to gain evidence 

 on this point, a series of experiments were un- 

 dertaken in Hawaii with nitrate of soda. The 

 fertiliser was applied, at the rate of one-fourth 

 and one-half pound per tree, a few days before 

 tapping. It was found best to incorporate the 

 fertiliser deeply and thoroughly in the soil over 



