182 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



suitable a medium as a rotting log may have be- 

 come sufficiently vigorous to kill out those gro- 

 wing plants in the immediate neighbourhood. 

 A large number of plants in the West India 

 Islands have been lost in this manner, and in 

 the report of the Government Mycologist for the 

 Federated Malay States for 1907 it is stated that 

 the greater number of inquiries from planters in 

 respect to diseases of rubber referred to the 

 root disease caused by a fungus that had spread 

 from some of the numerous old jungle stumps 

 among the rubber trees to the healthy young 

 plants of from fifteen and thirty months old. It 

 is further reported that fungal threads have, on 

 different occasions, been traced from an old 

 stump in the nursery to young plants imme- 

 diately around it. I he removal of stumps from 

 large areas of newly opened land is of course im- 

 practicable, and, therefore, planters must be 

 prepared for some cases of these root diseases, 

 [n planting out, however, it is preferable that 

 young plants should be set out of the "line" 

 rather than they be planted too close to either 

 stumps or logs. Further, any plants that subse- 

 quently show signs of root disease should at 

 once be isolated by digging trenches around 

 them at least 18 inches doep, and those that 

 die should always bo removed and burned or 

 otherwise they will become sources of infection. 

 On no account, however, should stumps be allo- 

 wed to remain in any land that is to be used for 

 the purpose of a nursery. They should always 

 be carefully removed, for when planting is being 

 done the young plants that might become 

 affected would, inmost probability, be distri- 

 buted throughout the whole plantation. Those 

 diseased plants would not alone die out, but 

 would form centres of infection and therefore 

 be a danger to the entire cultivation. In cacao 

 cultivation in the West India Islands it has 

 been noticed that root disease frequently com- 

 mences from bread-fruit, bread-nut, or avocado 

 pear trees that have been planted in the cacao, 

 and it is, therefore, advised that in new planta- 

 tions these trees should not be planted, and that 

 when any such trees have to be removed from old 

 plantations care should be taken to extract their 

 roots. — Proceedings of the Trinidad Agricultural 

 Society for May, 



RUBBER IN MALAYA. 



DUTCH EXPERT OPINIONS. 



Yesterday there passed through Singapore 

 Dr. A H Berkhout, late Conservator of Forests 

 in Java, who was in the rubber planting field 

 in the island a quarter of a century ago, and left 

 for Soerabaya this morning. 



Dr. Berkhout has spent three weeks on the 

 rubber estates of the Peninsula, and as he 

 has also had experience in Surinam, Brazil, as 

 well as Java, his observations should be of value. 

 In answer to questions by a representative of 

 the Singapore " Free Press," he said he had 

 visited estates in Province Wellesley, Perak, 

 Selangor and Malacca, and had made careful 

 observation of the nature of the soil, and the 

 effect of close or wide planting. He has to study 

 out the full effect of the observations yet, but 

 is well able to form an opinion already. 



Malaya fok Hevba. 



Hevea, thinks the Doctor, grows on the 

 alluvial of the Peninsula better than in any 

 other part of the world he has visited. The 

 exporters in Brazil have no chance to compete 

 with the planters of Malaya. They can put 

 their clean plantation rubber on the market at 

 at anything between one and two shillings a 

 pound. The least that can be done with Para 

 is over 3s a pound. 



" With better methods of tapping ? " 



" The tapping in Brazil is irregular and un- 

 scientific, and throe or four tappings spoil the 

 tree. Then the quest has to be carried further 

 afield, and the wild rubber becomes still more 

 expensive." 



The Rainfall; and Planting. 



Dr Berkhout thinks that it is not the quantity 

 of rain that falls that makes any difference, but 

 the regular distribution over the whole year. 

 That is the climatic strength of Malya. The 

 estates, generally speaking, are well managed, 

 but there is much yet to be learned by careful 

 observation and experiment on the best way of 

 cultivating and tapping. Planters will have to 

 exercise their sound sense, and profit by their 

 experience in this respect. The manner in which 

 the young plants are transferred from the nur- 

 sery and planted strikes him as being far too 

 rough. It would be better to plant the seeds in 

 baskets and carry them in the baskets to the 

 sito of planting. 



Close Planting. 



Dr Berkhout favours close planting, with 

 subsequent thinning out judiciously. He says 

 it is quite a mistake to suppose that every acre 

 of the estate shall bear a certain number of trees. 

 He would plant 12 feet by 12, and no harm will 

 result, but before the age of 20 the number of 

 trees will be very largely reduced. No dead trees 

 are to be replaced, except when a patch is for some 

 reason cleared. The thinning out must be con- 

 tinuous, and regardless of symmetry. Pruning 

 to get a great number of trees on the laud, he 

 considers harmful, the wounds being particu- 

 larly susceptible to parasites. The thinning 

 out mast be continuous, he repeated. It does 

 not, however, mean cut down every other tree, 

 nor half of the trees. 



Weeding. 



Clean weeding is a costly process at the com- 

 mencement, but it ensures quick growth of the 

 young trees. Dr Berkhout does not think much 

 of the experiments in planting mimosa, erota- 

 laria, desmodium or passifiora. It is true the 

 first three plants add to the*soil nitrogenous 

 constituents derived from the air; but are not 

 the soils of the rich lowlands nitrogenous 

 enough, and do not the leguminos.-e do harm in 

 preventing aeration of the surface layers of the 

 soil ? At the present price of rubber Dr Berk- 

 hout is clearly in favour of clean weeding ; the 

 returns will stand it. 



Dr Berkhout desired to acknowledge the cour- 

 tesy shown him by officials and planters. He 

 hopes to visit Ceylon on his way home from 

 Java, for which island ho sailed this morning. — 

 S F Press, July 17. 



