and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— November, 1912. 411 



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), 



soils where no intercrops are being cultivated ; 

 where intercrops are to be cultivated it is our 

 view that the rubber trees should be at a much 

 wider distance, say about 30 by 20 feet or 30 by 

 25 feet apart. 



How to Thin odt Estates. 

 On the subject of the method of reducing the 

 number of trees per acre, we find there is some 

 little difference of opinion. Mr. Joseph Fraser 

 believes highly in the value of manure, and 

 another correspondent, whose name we cannot 

 unfortunately decipher, is not convinced as to 

 the necessity of thinning-out trees at all unless 

 and until the effect of judicious quantities of 

 manure has been determined. The view ex- 

 pressed in our leader on this subject, which was 

 to the effect that on uneven plantations we 

 would only thin-out the bad and weak trees, and 

 on very even estates cut out every alternate 

 row seems to be held by most of the contri- 

 butors on this subject. In thinning-out by the 

 careful method of selection, it is suggested that 

 the backward trees, those with large burrs, or 

 those which have been badly tapped, should be 

 selected for removal. Careful selection should 

 be taken to uproot those which appear to have 

 the shortest life before them. A point is made of 

 the desirability in this operation of as far as pos- 

 sible selecting the permanent trees first rather 

 than the weakest in order that the former may 

 be retained and the latter destroyed on a re- 

 gular system. 



Treatment or Trees Selected for Removal. 



On this point as to whether the trees selected 

 foe removal should bo at -jug uprooted and dm- 



troyed, or the stumps be tapped for a year or so, 

 there appears to be a greater divergence of opi- 

 nion than on the other points already mentioned. 

 Mr Joseph Frazer would entirely remove the 

 trees selected for removal without getting the 

 rubber from the stems. Mr Victor Kiuloeh, of 

 Jeram Estate, is also of the opinion that the 

 whole tree should be removed, and not merely 

 pollarded. Mr Burgess is of the same opinion, 

 because he thinks that the delay in the process of 

 tapping may prove serious, and the work intro- 

 duces a secondary consideration which might be 

 used as a loop -hole by inferior managers. Others 

 state that their view would largely depend upon 

 the financial position of the company, though 

 all admit that the immediate removal of the trees 

 would give the permanent specimens every 

 chance. On this point it is as woll to bear in 

 mind that when trees are removed there is not 

 an immediate response in the form of an in- 

 creased yield of latex from the remaining 

 plants. From my experience I would not anti- 

 cipate an increased yield from the permanent 

 trees until quite twelve months had elapsed 

 after the thinning-out process had been com- 

 pleted. Most of the authorities we have quoted 

 appear to be of the opinion that it would be 

 better to stump the trees to about eight or ten 

 feet and tap the stumps drastically for nine 

 months or longer, and then uproot them. This 

 view appears to be held by Messrs, Doughis, R 

 C Wright, M Sidney Parry, Sir William Hood- 

 Treacher. J H Wynell Mayow, and others with 

 whom wa have not conferred, 



