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The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



wedded to the system of clean-weeding estates, 

 whether they be of rubber, tea, or cocoa. Invent 

 a satisfactory system which relieves the planter 

 of all weeding troubles, and you will see him 

 smile, and will gain his most fervent approbation. 

 To keep the estate free from weeds is the test as 

 to the fitness of a planter to keep his billet in 

 Ceylon. To thus qualify is one of the worrying 

 jobs which the average planter would willingly 

 be relieved of. Planters in Ceylon are convinced 

 that it is impossible to exaggerate the soil loss 

 that must take place when young clearings are, 

 year by year, exposed to tropical heat and rain, 

 and scraped by weeding contractors, Nobody 

 seems to like or approve of the system. The 

 proprietor knows it is costly, the planter regards 

 it as his most troublesome task, and all who have 

 studied the pros and cons pronounce it as in- 

 jurious to the soil. Why, then, is the system 

 oontinued ? What alternatives can be confid- 

 ently recommended ? 



Alternative Schemes in Cultivation. 



Many systems have been tried by planters in 

 Ceylon, Malay, Java, Sumatra and Borneo ; 

 schemes have been evolved one after the other 

 by the writer and others ; money has been spent 

 and experiments have been carried out for 

 several years in succession ; and after it is all 

 over the same questions crop up among the 

 planters and are just as enthusiastically dis- 

 cussed in the Press and at planters' meetings. 

 The writer has long ago concluded that the 

 practical man — the planter — knows really what 

 is best because he alone realises what is possible 

 with the labour and cash provided. Most 

 planters know, on an estate with rubber trees 

 only, often from bitter experience, that there 

 is very little to chose between clean-weeding 

 and no weeding ; to attempt to weed only 

 three feet around each rubber tree is a dan- 

 gerous and generally impracticable system. To 

 allow any and all weeds to develop will retard 

 the growth of the rubber plants. If there are 

 any planters who do not believe this, let them 

 try their hand and make careful measurements 

 of the trees on plots cultivated on these systems. 



The only practical way out of the difficulty 

 seems to be to interplant the rubber properties 

 with additional crops which will not rapidly run 

 to seed, and in turn become dangerous weeds, 

 or which will, in course of time, give some return 

 as a catch crop before the rubber is ready for 

 tapping. To interplant the rubber saplings 

 with Dadap or Albizzia trees, which grow 

 rapidly and will stand frequent lopping, is one 



good system ; to interplant with cacao, coffee, 

 tea, tapioca, tobacco, 6tc, is even better, pro- 

 viding the required space is allowed around 

 each rubber tree. Many planters have tried 

 tobacco and coffee in Sumatra, tapioca in Malay, 

 and cacao in Ceylon and Java, in conjunction 

 with Para rubber, and though each country 

 claims to be satisfied with the results, there does 

 not appear to be much change of the system iu 

 each of the areas enumerated. — India Rubber 

 Journal, Feb. 10. 



THE TREND OF THE RUBBER 

 INDUSTRY. 



The first month of the new year has been 

 phenomenal in many branches of the india- 

 rubber industry. There has been a gradual de- 

 cline in the price of fine hard Para and nearly 

 all other grades, manufacturers have hesitated 

 to buy further lots in the hope that the next 

 offer would be another penny down, and in- 

 terest in rubber shares and plantation develop- 

 ments has almost entirely disappeared. A manu- 

 facturer, when conferring with the writer on 

 the current slackness in trade, remarked that 

 he declined to buy more rubber until he could 

 feel fairly sure that prices had touched bot- 

 tom ; he anticipated a further decline, and seri- 

 ously hoped it would come quickly in order that 

 the hand-to-mouth business might cease and 

 normal conditions be regained. Manufacturers 

 do not rush to buy crude rubber in a declining 

 market at the day's quotation any more than 

 investors seek to increase their interests in rub- 

 ber companies whose shares show a falling-off 

 week by week. This condition of affairs, mani- 

 test towards the end of last year, was continued 

 throughout the whole of the past month ; even 

 the bargain hunter finds himself today in a 

 plethoric but confused, uncertain and unsatisfac- 

 tory state. This stagnation is characteristic of 

 the English, Continental, and American markets, 

 and the moment is opportune for reflecting on 

 its origin and effect 



Liverpool Stock. 



The causes which have contributed to create 

 the present depression have been outlined in 

 the first issue of the " India-Rubber Journal " 

 for 1908, and their importance is indicated by 

 the large stock of rubber now on hand. 



The following particulars, showing the 

 range in value of fine Para and the stocks 

 at Liverpool during the month of January, 



