23 



Saps and Exudations. 



rows should give them all the space they are likely to need, and when the trees are 

 tapped is a more convenient arrangement than one where they are further apart in 

 the rows. 



Soil and Drainage.— Experience has not as yet taught us what soil or 

 situation best suits the Hevea Brasiliensis both with respect to growth and yield of 

 latex. Undoubtedly the most rapid growth of young trees is to be found on the 

 alluvial lands of the Peninsula. That this advantage will be permanently main- 

 tained we have no proof. On the other hand, it may be found that the higher land 

 where the roots can go down to a greater depth—a tap-root being the Hevea's most 

 characteristic point— will compensate the tree for the poorer quality of the soil by 

 affording it a much larger cubic space to draw upon. Since in the alluvial land the 

 tree frequently reaches water at a depth of two or three feet, while in the higher 

 land unlimited depth is available, every foot by which the mean water level is 

 lowered gives 400 additional cubic feet of feeding space to each tree, supposing them 

 planted 20 x 20 feet. 



Cultivation.— There is a very wide difference of opinion with regard to the 

 mode of cultivation, many people preferring to have no other crop on the ground 

 with the rubber, while others consider that such a sacrifice, where a catch crop is 

 remunerative is not warranted by the advantage that may possibly accrue to the 

 rubber. 



Coffee, tapioca and sugar represent the three principal catch crops in use 

 in the peninsula ; and in almost all cases where they occur, the land has been under 

 that cultivation before the rubber was planted. The two latter have been made the 

 object of much undeserved abuse, chiefly at the hands of people who have had no 

 experience of them. Any damage the trees may suffer may with certainty be attri- 

 buted to want of care in the methods of cultivation required by these crops, rather 

 than to any loss the soil may suffer by their presence, while the thorough tillage 

 incidental to their cultivation must be of great benefit to the soil. Numerous other 

 catch crops are to be seen, but only on a small scale, and in no instance do the rubber 

 trees appear to be harmed by their presence. 



Where there is no catch crop, there is also a difference of opinion as to the 

 advisability of keeping the ground absolutely clean or otherwise. Where jungle has 

 been felled for planting rubber, it is no doubt an economy never to let weeds or grass 

 take firm hold ; but in the case of land already under grass, no harm can be done 

 — provided that a space near the root of the tree be kept clear and the whole 

 occasionally mown down by the scythe, and in this way even Lalang will die out 

 when the trees shade the ground. 



Pruning, &c.— As yet very little has been done in this direction, but it 

 would seem from experiments made recently that trees topped at the age of about 

 nine months show a marked advantage over trees that have not been so treated. 



Tapping. — There is still a lack of knowledge and diversity of practice with 

 regard to tapping throughout the day as against morning and evening only. It 

 may be found that the loss that is undoubtedly sustained by the former practice is 

 counterbalanced by its convenience. 



As regards the methods of tapping there seems to be a consens us of opinion, 

 and rightly so, that the half herring-bone is best for the tree and most convenient 

 for the tapper, and in all probability this method will be generally adopted. 



As to the age when tapping should begin there is no hard-and-fast rule, but 

 when the trees have a girth of 20 inches at 3 feet from the ground there is not the 

 slighest reason to delay the extraction of whatever latex they will yield by 

 judicious tapping. It is a fallacy to delay tapping after trees have attained that 

 girth, on the score of their being too young, and much valuable rubber throughout 



