and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



RUBBER : CLEAN WEEDING V. 

 "TEPHROSIA." 



For a long time scientists have called atten- 

 tion to the disadvantage of weeding and have 

 advised the introduction of new methods ; but 

 their ideas have not been well received, and so 



far little has been done on practical lines 



What at present appeals most to people is the 

 cash expenditure for keeping weeds down— or 

 out, the cheapest way being naturally the most 

 popular one, aud weeding will hero only be 

 dealt with from this point of view. Of course 

 with virgin jangle properly dealt with from the 

 start, the weeding bill should never look high, 

 and old established estates will perhaps natu- 

 rally adhere to their old method. Most plan- 

 tations have, however, in one corner or another 

 a block of old abandoned paddy fields or Malay 

 kampongs and in such places a cheap method of 

 getting rid of weeds is much wanted. I at any 

 rate have had the bad luck of getting a few 

 acres of such land indifferently burnt and 

 all the planters who have seen it, have invari- 

 ably advised me to changkol the whole place at 

 a cost of anything between $20 and ,$60 an acre. 

 For various reasons this work was not done, but 

 I believe most planters will from experience be 

 able to state, if the above price is correct. 



For some time experiments have had been 

 carried on with a view to introduce a plant, 

 which would be able to keep weeds out and at 

 the same time itself benefit or at least do no 

 harm to the rubber trees ; for this I have found 



"TEPHROSIA PURPUREA" ADMIRABLY ADAPTED. 



As this plant, seed of which was kindly pre- 

 sented me by Dr. Treub of Buitenzorg, is new 

 to the F. M. S., some information of how it was 

 established may be of interest. The first plot 

 was only 20 by 40 in. and was planted up with 

 one or two seeds in every square foot. The 

 place was then clean of weed but had not been 

 changkolled, and some lalang had only been 

 cut down, while the roots were untouched. In 

 the second plot conditions were different. In 

 belukar land, to save expense, a path or rentis 

 6 feet wide had been cut along each row of 

 trees, and when at this work the coolies had 

 generally scraped aside a little earth by which 

 gradually two ridges had been formed one on 

 each side of the row of trees. In these ridges 

 every few feet a couple of seeds were put in, 

 and after 5-7 weeks all failures were supplied. 

 Otherwise no special care was taken, only of 

 course the coolies were told not to pull these 

 plants up when weeding, and care should bo 

 taken to choose a rainy season for this work. 

 The Tephrosia will grow slowly at first, and at I 

 months old it has only grown into a small bushy 

 plant, but it then commences to assert itself 

 amongst the surrounding weeds. When full 

 grown it is about 5-6 feet high and each plant 

 spreads to the same extent. My oldest plot was 

 sown in June and has not been weeded since tho 

 end of August, 3 907, viz: during 19 months. 

 One creeper has grown up in it, but in other 

 ways it looks all right and the lalang, which 

 formerly was on this spot, has now disappeared. 

 My second plot was planted May last partly in 

 lalang. The Tephrosia now form 



TWO SOLIO HEDGES THROUGH WHICH NOTHING 

 PENETRATES, 



and the weeding is here done at a very small 

 cost. The hedges are sufficiently apart to allow 

 the air to circulate along the trees, and the 

 ground is always soft and nice, iio far the time 

 has been too short to show any advantage in 

 growth of trees, but they certainly look as good 

 as any in my clean-weeded area. To make 

 the Tephrosia grow in hedges has the ad- 

 vantage of a better air-circulation around 

 the roots, and it also makes it easier to get 

 about when inspecting the plantation ; but 

 other methods have also advantages. To take 

 an example where trees are circled, it would 

 be very easy to put in a few seeds around each 

 tree. The Tephrosia grows rather high and 

 ought on this account to be cut down once or 

 twice a year, but in other respects this height 

 gives the plant a great advantage, when fighting 

 lalang and other high weeds. As it is not a 

 creeper, it may safely be planted together with 

 rubber stumps, coffee, &c, without fear of 

 their being interfered with ; and as it is a good 

 fertiliser, has few natural enemies, is very hardy 

 and propagates itself when once established, it 

 must be considered an ideal plant for its purpose. 

 Under the conditions mentioned the planting of 

 Tephrosia represents a great and direct saving. 

 Having however reached so far, it might be 

 rather interesting to see if the step could not 

 be taken in full, and the same plant be intro- 

 duced with advantage also in clean estates. The 

 question is what clean weeding costs, and how 

 much money could be saved by planting Teph- 

 rosia. Tho general opinion is that 



30 CENTS AN ACRE A MONTH IS A LOW PRICE FOB 

 • WEEDING. 



This is often not sufficient and also it is only the 

 pay of the coolies and does not include anything 

 for management and other consequent expenses, 

 so that really the expenses are muoh higher, and 

 a fair idea of what it costs would be obtained 

 by charging all expenses for upkeep of an estate 

 to weeding, as of course little over work re- 

 mains to be done. If an estate when first planted 

 up could be left to itself until the trees came 

 into bearing, then the 



SAVING OUGHT TO BE AT LEAST $l - 50 AN ACRE 

 A MONTH 



and in many cases much more, or say as a low 

 figure §-20 00 per annum ; and it now remains to 

 bo seen what it costs to establish Tephrosia, 

 and if by this proceeding the above money 

 could bo savocl. The first item is easy to settle, 

 I have found SH - 00 an acre ample and to spare. 

 The second point is also easy ; experience from 

 abandoned estates and other places show that 

 if not hampered by lalang or grass, trees will 

 grow as well or better under natural condition, 

 that is in weeds, as in clean, land. When 

 now comparing the merits of the two methods, 

 wo get ;— - 



Tephrosia. $, 



Coat of establishing Tephrosia 4 

 Weeding expenses for 5 years per acre ion 



