and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— April, 1910, 365 



with the stunted tree vegetation, but it is ac- 

 companied by innumerable growths of thorns 

 and spines that contest supremacy with the 

 foliage itself. 1 have travelled on horseback 

 through many thousands of miles of tropical 

 lands, but never through any part having a 

 tithe of these formidable weapons. The 

 sterility of the region is mainly accountable 

 for this evolution of thorns. Most of the 

 species become thorny, and the thorny species 

 are reproduced superabundantly. 



Notwithstanding the severe droughts char- 

 acteristic of this region (probably the rainfall 

 does not exceed 25 inches a year), droughts 

 lasting six months, and even nine months at 

 a time, many shrubby species of the natural 

 order Malvaceae were constantly found in prox- 

 imity to Manitoba trees. I am intimately 

 acquainted with many species belonging to this 

 order in the tropics, and I was surprised to 

 see numerous species flourish under such con- 

 ditions of aridity. There can be no doubt that 

 this phenomenon is ascribable to the peculiar 

 structure of the soil. Many species of Cacti 

 are interspersed in the shrubby thickets, 

 these being more concentrated at points 

 where the soil is exceptionally aria. It 

 was curious to see several species of palms, 

 moisture loving plants, struggling for existence 

 in these ungenial thickets. Half-a-dozen species 

 of native Ficus fine umbrageous trees, flourish 

 adjacent to settlements. (I thought that Ficus 

 elastica, B., among rubber, could be grown to 

 perfection here.) Ferns are non-existent, 

 though I saw after riding 360 miles, a few puny 

 plants in a dark ravine. 1 visited a coffee plan- 

 tation at ahout 3,000 feet altitude. This was 

 the only coffee plantation on an area of many 

 thousands of square miles. The coffee plants 

 yield very small iruit. At this height frequent 

 rains are experienced. And coming from the 

 inland towards the City of Bahia, rains are 

 more frequent, the soil is darker — an amelio- 

 rating factor. Tobacco of splendid quality is 

 extei sively cultivated here by thousands of 

 small settlers. In juxtaposition Cassava 

 (Manioc), the staple food prodvtct of Brazil, 

 a congener of Manigoba, maize and other pro- 

 ducts, in patches, are commonly cultivated, 

 and crops are obtainable therefrom a few 

 months after the rainy season. 



In a report of mine issued by the Agri- 

 cultural Society of Jamaica, about a year ago, 

 on the Virgin rubber of Columbia (it has 

 been reprinted in many countries), 1 empha- 

 sized the importance of rubber cultivation 

 in compaiison with the sparse returns obtain- 

 able from wild trees. This is applicable to Para 

 rubber and all other important species of rubber, 

 including Manicoba. In a state of nature, 

 rubber trees struggle for existence amidst a 

 thousand other species of trees. In the near 

 future all rubber must be produced by culti- 

 vation like any great agricultural commodity. 



During the past year various owners of Mani- 

 coba rubber land have been directing attention 

 to the culture of this tree. I visited several 

 plantations ranging from a few acres to a hun- 

 dred acres. 1 was anxious to investigate the 

 cultural capabilities of the tree. The owners of 



theso lands are ignorant of the lines on which 

 this culture should be initiated. They take 

 it for granted that sticking the Manigoba 

 seeds or cuttings into cleared ground is 

 all that is necessary without further atten- 

 tion. One important factor is in their 

 favour : I refer to the 



WONDERFUL TENACITY OP LIFE AND 

 RECUPERATIVE POWER PERVADING THIS PLANT. 



The primitive procedure by which the inci- 

 pient seedlings aud cuttings are left to take 

 care of themselves with a view to establishing 

 plantations, is antagonistic to the development 

 of the trees, for nothing is more important than 

 the proper treatment of young plants in the 

 establishment of great prospective plantations. 

 The result of the preliminary attempts in ques- 

 tion was an aggregation of maltreated plants. 

 In this connection it may be noted that about 

 half-a-dozen labourers only, men who know no- 

 thing about rubber cultivation, and nobody to in- 

 struct them, perform all the work appertaining 

 to the upkeep of such plantations, comprising 

 some 50,000 plants. Of course, they have but 

 few weeds to contend with, an important con- 

 sideration, as they are in general suppressed 

 by the peculiar soil and climatic conditions. 

 I therefore could not help comicg to the con- 

 clusion, that if these improvised plantations were 

 placed under my control, I should re plant them 

 throughout. Anyhow it is important to be able 

 to add that I found two notable exceptions to 

 this crude style of planting, one of which having 

 a few thousand plants, and the other fifty 

 thousand, on both of which intelligent methods 

 of planting had been adopted. And these two 

 plantations, from a practical point of view, 

 were decidedly encouraging. The seeds 

 and huge cuttings or stumps were only 

 four months planted. The seedlings in this 

 time attained a height of from four to five 

 feet, and they were exceedingly healthy and 

 vigorous. The huge cuttings are procured from 

 the forest, that is to say, 



SAPLINGS IN THE FOREST ARE COT DOWN 



and stuck into the cleared ground to form 

 roots and permanent plants. Theso stumps 

 measure from six to eight feet in length, 

 both ends cut off', and iu four months the 

 vigorous shoots that spring from the tops are 

 four and five feet inlength^ thus a continuity of 

 growth from the sapling to the established tree. 

 This plant is an 



INVALUABLE ACQUISITION TO RUBBER 

 CULTIVATORS. 



It can be cultivated at a minimum cost 

 consequent on its persistent tenacity and 

 vigour as is exemplified in its native soil, 

 and consequent on its other merits to 

 which I have drawn attention. Further, it 

 may be stated that this tree is com- 

 parable with particular products cultivated in 

 the tropics and elsewhere, products that flourish 

 in a great measure by the restricted cultivation 

 given. That is to say, when we discover a 

 region pre-eminently adapted for a given culture, 

 there it yields not only the best produce of its 

 kind, but also far more economically. 



