and Magazine of the Ceylon A gricultural Society. 



495 



STAND EVERY COMMERCIAL TEST, 



and they could not afford to run the risk 

 of putting on the markets of the world an in- 

 ferior article that would not stand test of time 

 and wear. Results had already shown that plan- 

 tation rubber properly prepared from latex of 

 mature trees was equal to the best Para, and 

 for certain purposes superior. But it was not in 

 variably the case that the rubber was properly 

 prepared, and therefore those concerned must 

 neglect no chance of remedying errors, and 

 profiting by the experience, which it was hoped 

 would be largely gained from the present instruc- 

 tive Exhibition. As regards soil the Rubber 

 plant had a great power of adaptability though 

 rich alluvial soil suited it best. In Malaya 

 where the soil was mostly alluvial the growth of 

 para was very rapid when once the land had been 

 drained, and a height of 12 to 14 feet and girth 

 4jj to 5 inches after ayear's growth were common 

 and these dimensions were frequently exceeded. 

 In all cases, however, the Para evidently did 

 best where the soil was rich in decomposed 

 humus (not peat) and with a fairly high per- 

 centage of nitrogen. In Ceylon most of the 

 rubber was first planted on Ravines on tea 

 estates, and the shade of the tea bushes pro- 

 tected the soil from too much exposure to the 

 sun. In Malaya in the same way rubber was 

 planted with Liberian coffee, and the shade 

 given by the latter's dense growth protected the 

 soil from the tropical sun. The lecturer exhi- 

 bited on the screen photographs of various 

 trees growing on estates in the East, and culti- 

 vated with and without catch crops, and also 

 with various green manures, which he thought 

 showed convincingly that clean weeding was 

 not essential to procuring excellent growths of 

 rubber. He did not, however, advocate allowing 

 grasses to run riot but rather growing a crop of 

 such a habit as could be kept under control. With 

 regard to lalang grass, which caused much 

 trouble on many estates, he mentioned that the 

 passion flower had been found to be efficacious 

 in destroying this pest at small expense and he 

 ventured to think that the passion flower would 

 ultimately prove the salvation of many estates 

 that had not sufficient capital to warrant large 

 expenditure otherwise required for eradicating 

 the lalang. Much money had been uselessly 

 expended in clean weeding. There were several 

 indigenous plants such as Crotalaria, Mimosa 

 and Desmodimus which could be grown in 

 many instances in such a dense manner that it 

 was impossible for any weeds to grow between 

 them. 



ALL THESE PLANTS WHICH BELONGED TO THE 

 LEGUMINIOSCE 



and greatly benefited soils and rubber by their 

 growth, were under perfect control, and easily 

 eradicated. The alluvial fiats of the 

 Federated Malay States required an enor- 

 mous amount of draining, costing large sums 

 of money, and even then much water re- 

 mained in the subsoil. Hero, the growth of 

 a luxuriant green crop with a branching and 

 deep root system had the further important 

 advantage of removing by evaporation through 

 the leaves much of this sour sub soil water, which 

 was unfavourable to development of the rubber 

 tap root on which the stability of the trees 

 during heavy winds largely depended. It haB 



been clearly proved that the baking of the sur- 

 face by the sun did not dry soil or subsoil so 

 completely as did a growing leaf crop. But 

 apart from these considerations there were 

 other and more important ones of the question 

 of the humus, and the hygroscopic power of the 

 soil by which the future flow of the latex would 

 be influenced to a large extent. The 



GROWTH OP GREEN CROPS IN PLACE OP CLEAN 

 WEEDING 



has also long been advocated by Mr Carruthers, 

 the Director of Agriculture in the J'. M.S., and 

 it seemed that clean weeding would soon be 

 abandoned on many estates and become a thing 

 of the past. The lecturer alluded to the ad- 

 vantages often to bo obtained by the cultivation 

 of catch crops where the soil and other conditions 

 were favourable. Mr Bamber dealt vtry fully 

 with the question of tapping and, after describing 

 the methods in general use, he referred to the 

 basal V. system as the cheapest and probably 

 the best, both for economy of bark and for 

 strength of latex. He especially emphasized the 

 bearing which this method of tapping would 

 have upon the labour question, but pointed out 

 that the successful adoption of this would de- 

 pend to some extent on soil conditions. He 



DEPRECATED THE TAPPING OF TREES TOO YOUNG 



giving five or six years as a minimum age and he 

 insisted on the need of the greatest care both 

 in field and factory to get pure latex and free 

 from any mechanical mixture, and also on the 

 necessity of economy of bark in tapping opera- 

 tions A falling off of the percentage of 

 caoutchouc to below the payable minimum in- 

 dicated the need for resting the tree, and this 

 was a point to which planters should give more 

 attention. He compared Brazilian and Eastern 

 methods of tapping to give a possible explana- 

 tion of why Brazilian Rubber had greater 

 tensile strength which he ascribed to the 

 greater maturity of the globules in the Latex. 

 With regard to renewal of bark he pointed out 

 that the bark had now been renewed two or 

 three times theyield from which was as great or 

 even greater than from the original, thus show- 

 ing the permanency of rubber production might 

 from this point of view be reasonably assumed. 

 Reference was made to 



PRACTICE OF BRAZILIAN TAPPERS 



who invariably make one or two gashes in the 

 trees about 3 ft. above the tapping area before 

 they commence to tap, as they believe without 

 these they could not obtain maximum crop. 

 The idea underlying the practice was one which 

 he thought might be commended to considera- 

 tion of planters in the East. Proceeding next 

 to deal with methods of manufacture Mr. Bam- 

 ber urged the need for obtaining uniformity in 

 colour and appearance. Pale rubber produced by 



THE DESTRUCTION OF OXYDASE BY HEAT 



was generally approved by manufacturers ; many 

 German and other firms had declared that the 

 demand for it would be practically unlimited if 

 ample supplies could be relied upon to reach the 

 market. The lecturer specially referred to the 

 necessity of using only the purest water in the 

 factories. Importance of not too rapidly drying 

 rubber was borne out by lecturer whose views 

 on this point were more or less confirmed in 

 subsequent discussion. Nebt results, he said, 



