September, 1908.] 



279 



Miscellaneous. 



as follows in a statement from the 

 Nellore District of Madras: "After the 

 plants are supposed to be properly dried, 

 they are made into bundles and soaked 

 in water, in which state they are allowed 

 to remain for a period varying from 15 

 to 20 days. After that time the bark is 

 separated by the hand, and well washed 

 to free it from any impurities ; it is then 

 allowed to dry, and becomes available 

 for use." It is eraployedby the natives for 

 the purposes of cordage, being twisted 

 into a rope of varying thickness called 

 m'daka. The thinner varieties of rope 

 are substituted for tape and rattaning 

 tor cots, the thicker is generally employ- 

 ed as a strong rope for agricultural 

 purposes, tying up cattle, &c. The fibre 

 is also said to be employed in the manu- 

 facture of gunnies in certain districts of 

 Madras. 



Liotard (Paper-making materials of 

 India) mentions the Roselle as yielding 

 a fibre likely to be valuable to paper- 

 makers, but no account exists of its 

 actually having been so employed. On 

 the whole, considering the easy growth 

 of the plant and the cheap rate at which 

 it could be procured, the fibre seems 

 worthy of more attention than it has 

 hitherto received. — Ed.] 



MALAY RUBBER GROWERS ' ASSO- 

 CIATION : MR. W. W. BAILEY'S 

 REVIEW. 



Dear Sir,— I have read with much 

 interest Mr. W. W. Bailey's letter to the 

 Singapore Free Press of April 10th last, 

 inserted in your issue for May. 



Although agreeing, for the most part, 

 with what Mr. Bailey writes about 

 practical Hevea planting in general and 

 thumb-nail pruning in particular, I must 

 take exception to what he says about 

 keeping an estate "perfectly cleau from 

 the day it is burned off." As a planter I 

 of course admit that this is the cheapest 

 way of working an estate, but whether it 

 will prove to be the most successf ul in 

 the long run I very much doubt, more 

 especially on steeper country. On low- 

 lying fiat estates such as obtain in most 

 parts of the Straits, of course, the loss of 

 soil caused by wash is reduced to a 

 minimum, but on steeper estates the 

 policy of keeping the hillsides perfectly 

 bare and thus exposed to the full force 

 of the sun's rays and to the heavy tro- 

 pical rains seems to me a suicidal one, to 

 say nothing of the loss of orgauic 

 matter to the soil through want of weed- 

 growth. Is it not better to pay more for 

 weeding during the first few years until 

 the trees close up and render this work 

 superfluous than to run the risk of im- 

 poverishment of the soil through un- 

 necessary wash ? Are we not living on 

 our capital, as it were, by taking every- 



thing from the soil in this way and 

 returning nothing to it? When in 

 Ceylon last year I saw a Hevea estate, 

 planted on a very steep hillside, kept 

 perfectly clean in this way, but without 

 even terraces or trenches to retain the 

 soil, and it was pitiful to see the loss of 

 humus taking place through wash. I 

 cannot believe that any saving in 

 weeding during the first few years com- 

 pensates in any way for this loss of soil. 

 Surely also the physical condition of the 

 soil and its consequent ability to retain 

 moisture in an easily available condition 

 is improved by mulching ? 



I need hardly add that I am no advo- 

 cate of allowing the young trees to be 

 stifled by lalang or other harmful weeds. 

 On the contrary, I am strongly of opinion 

 that lalang and all other noxious weeds 

 should be eradicated at all costs from the 

 very start, but surely there are many 

 other growths which not only do no 

 harm to the Hevea, but on the contrary 

 protrect the ground from suu and rain 

 and, ou being cut down at regular 

 intervals, eventually add to fertility of 

 'the soil- On many tea estates here in 

 Java, where wash is almost impossible 

 owing to the very elaborate system of 

 drains and trenches, the ground is seldom 

 kept weedless, but on the contrary good 

 kinds of weed are encouraged for use 

 as green manure. Besides Crotalaria, 

 which suffers much from insect plagues 

 in this countrv, I am planting between 

 the rubber with greater success a variety 

 of Indigo named Tephrosia, which by 

 its quick, low, spreading growth soon 

 covers the grouud and is very effective 

 in preventing weed. It seeds very free- 

 ly which makes its propagation easy and 

 rapid. It dies off, I believe, within the 

 year but sows itself again so that, once 

 established, the cost is merely nominal. 

 That this or any other growth will kill 

 off well-established lalang I do not for 

 a moment maintain, but, once the lalang 

 has been got out, Tephrosia makes the 

 keeping of it in haud mere child's play, 

 whilst the fertilising properties of the 

 Iudigo tribe are too well known to call 

 for further comment. 



Probably interplanting with catch- 

 crops is an even better method of cul- 

 tivation than the above, but leaving that 

 entirely out; of the question for the 

 present, 1 think, Sir, that where opinions 

 so widely differ as to fch.9 value of abso- 

 lutely cleau or practically weedy gar- 

 dens, it would be of great value to 

 planters if you would give us the benefit 

 of your weighty opinion on the subject, 

 even at the risk of being accused of 

 offering '• bad scientific advice." 



I am, dear Sir, 

 Your obedient servant, 



CLEVELAND HARINGTON, 



