and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



499 



WEEDING v. CROTALARiA FOR 

 RUBBER. 



Some Interesting Points Discussed. 



Mr W R Rowland writes from Perhentian 

 Tinggi as follows : — 



In his paper on " Weeding in Para Rubber 

 Cultivation " in the September issue of the 

 Agricultural Bulletin the Director of Agricul- 

 ture, F. M. S., has touched upon a subject which 

 has not received anything near the amount of 

 attention it deserves. 1 have nothing to say 

 against Mr Carruthers' theory of green manures ; 

 that, on the contrary, I believe, that, if Mr 

 Carruthers during the term of his office in the 

 F.M.S. had done nothing- beside impressing 

 upon the planters the desirability of modify ing 

 this one branch of rubber estate cultivation, 

 this would be sufficient to make his name great 

 and to have it blessed by every man who has a 

 cent invested in rubber— if not now, certainly 

 a few years hence. The Director of Agriculture, 

 however, makes one mistake, which, in a scien- 

 tist is only natural : he gives to the delighted, 

 weed-ridden planter a theory, without sufficient 

 practical advice to make the theory a complete 

 success and disappointment will, in many in- 

 stances, be unavoidable. 



Returning to the severely censured coffee 

 or tea planter of Ceylon and Malaya, my 

 personal experience for 13 years enables me 

 to speak of the latter only ; from occasional 



visits to the principal planting centres 

 of ceylon 



I have, however, like probably most other 

 visitors, come away with the impression that 

 the men who have left such marks on a 

 country as the old coffee and tea-planters did 

 there must have been something more than 

 mere hard plodding, unthinking drudges ; tea 

 planting more particularly has developed into 

 such a fine science that I cannot help thinking 

 that men who have been successful in that 

 branch of tropical agriculture cannot have 

 gone on weeding merely because it had become 

 a time-hoDoured practice. 



With all the heavy indictment of "weeding" I 

 would yet call it the young planter's school of 

 discipline ; it is the most severe test for a man's 

 zeal, thoroughness and organising ability ; there 

 are no two interpretations of the term '"clean" 

 for a field, and there is nothing easier for a 

 manager or V A than to inspect and control a 

 clean-weeded estate and its superintendent. 

 With an as yet insufficient supply of labour in 

 many districts it is often impossible for even the 

 best man to keep a whole estate perfectly clean, 

 more particularly during the wet months ; but 

 then he as well as his V A will see at a glance 

 where the evil lies. This latter fact will, no 

 doubt, for ever and in all cultivations reserve 

 to "weeding" the position of one of the most 

 important items in an estate's expei diture. 



I say " in all cultivations," and no doubt 



FOR RUBBER CLEAN WEEDING IS AN ABSOLUTE 

 NECESSITY, 



That rubber grows in weeds cannot be doubted; 

 in some districts I have seen it doing admirably; 

 but 1 have no hesitation in saying that it would 

 grow better without them. Virgin jungle soil 



will during the first years neither become baked 

 nor, with a little draining, lose through wash 

 enough to hinder the development of the trees 

 which, without weeds to feed on their food, will 

 soon enough reach that stage where shade and 

 falling leaves will do away with both evils. To 

 get our trees into that condition is no doubt the 

 aim of the planter as well as the capitalist and 

 the latter more particularly will probably much 

 rather spend a little more on his estate if he 

 cau count upon getting quicker returns. 



As to lalang being allowed in any rubber 

 clearing, the Director of Agriculture certainly 

 does not take a sufficiently serious view of 

 this. To state that a tree in lalang is handi- 

 capped to the extent of £ °f i* 8 growth 

 is certainly optimistic ; I know and could 

 show many instances where lalang has, on 

 very fair soil, not only checked the growth of 

 Para rubber to a far larger extent, but practic- 

 ally stopped it ; this refers to trees which were 

 surrounded by lalang at an early age, later on the 

 tree is, no doubt, able to hold its own better. 



A.s regards the growing of tapioca and other 

 catch crops with a view to making weeding un- 

 necessary, I am inclined to think that a green- 

 manure which reduces the cost of weeding and 

 simultaneously enriches the soil, is, for most 

 men of ordinary expectations, quite good enough 

 and that those who expect too much— viz., no 

 weediug-bill, a tapioca-crop and a fine rubber- 

 may yet come to thing that "give" is better than 

 "take" when it comes to soils like ours of by no 

 means great fertility. 



The doctrine of clean-weeding for rubber was 

 not only generally established, but also well- 

 founded when the Director of Agriculture be- 

 gan to preach green-manure ; it is certainly his 

 merit to have brought up the topic and I would 

 nut wonder it a few years hence he is for that 

 called the greatest benefactor by planters as 

 well as capitalists. --Malay Mail, Oct. 15. 



GREEN MANURING IN TEA CULTURE, 



(Special for the Statesman.) 



The recent study of the manurial require- 

 ments of the tea bush, at Heeleaka Experi- 

 mental Station and on private estates, has 

 shown that the yield and health of our tea 

 bushes can be materially increased and improved 



by a judicious use of greon-manures It is 



still a moot point, however, whether the burial 

 of green-manures improves or lowers the quality 

 of our teas. . . . The burial of prunings has been 

 condemned because of the risk of spreadinc 

 blights, but now that trenching is coming more 

 into vogue this risk can be greatly minimised y 

 burying the prunings deeply. Large quantities 

 of green-manure might also, on many gardens, 

 be brought in from adjacent jungle and put in 

 trenches either along with cattle-manure or 

 with a sprinkling of basic slag. 



An endeavour should be made to get jungle 

 as succulent as possible to ensure its rapid 

 decomposition and incorporation with the soil. 

 Unfortunately large quantities of succulent jun- 

 gle cannot always be had when labour is avail- 

 able, but when it is borne in mind that green 

 manure is equal weight for weight to cattle- 

 manure it will be found, in many cases, advisable 

 to go further anela lor this valuable material. 



