June 1907.J 347 Saps and Exudation. 



classes of rice land. This itself, ranging as it does between Rs.'l-8>nn Rs. 3 {per 

 acre, cannot be said to be at all excessive. The inter-cnltivation of accessory catch 

 crops e g., banauas, tapioca etc., has to be strictly subordinated to the principal 

 crop. Again, should any portion of the lease land at any fixture time prove 

 unsuitable for the cultivation of rubber, it could be excluded from thepimits of such 

 lease land and the taxation upon it remitted. For the rest, every facility is afforded 

 the applicant for the speedy acquisition of the area to be leased. { For ;instance,ithe 

 surveying fee of eight annas per acre which is the only charge made by Govegnment 

 has to be paid into into the District Treasury and a copy of the receipt for the 

 money appended to the application for the lease. A rough sketch map of the area 

 itself, which has to be previously demarcated by the applicant, should also form 

 an enclosure to the application. In the body of the latter has to be stated the 

 situation and limits of the land applied for, whether it has been demarcated 

 by the applicant, the nature and duration of the lease sought for, the purpose for 

 which the land is required, the kind and character of the catch crop to be raised, 

 and such other information as will appear to be necessary under under the various 

 headings of the form of application laid down in the Burma Land Revenue Code. 

 The application is usually made direct to the Deputy Commissioner of the District ; 

 but it may also be submitted to one or other of his Subdivisional Officers [or to th e 

 Officers in immediate charge of the Township in which the land is situated. The 

 survey season lasts from November to the following May, at any time during which 

 applications may be made and leases obtained. To their credit be it mentioned, the 

 Officials of the Revenue Department of Burma are among the most accessible, 

 amiable and obliging in the survice. 



In view of the facts that in the districts of Lower Burma, especially.in those 

 of the Teasserim Division, which extends from a little above Toungoo down to the 

 southernmost end of the Province, extensive areas of alluvial deposit are available 

 for the cultivation of the finest rubber, and of the most encouraging attitude of the 

 Government, the prospects of* the industry must be regarded as good. In so far as it 

 has already progressed, the remarkable results that have been attained, particularly 

 by private enterprise and endeavour, claim recognition as something more than 

 an indication of the possibilities of rubber in Burma. They will also, it is hoped 

 serve to encourage studied, systematic and sustained effort in the future. The 

 most suitable areas in the Tenasserim Division for the purpose of the cultivation'of 

 the Hevea brasitiensis are clearly those that lie along the banks of the lower courses 

 of the Sittang and Salween, the Great and Little Tenasserim Rivers, the Lenya, 

 Pakchan and lesser streams. To these must, of course, be added the diluvial 

 accretions which, like troughs or tablelands, are to be sometimes met with 'on the 

 larger of the islands of the Mergui Archipelago. Such a trough exists on King 

 Island, which has been apparently abandoned by the Government expert. In* these 

 areas, again, that land is best which lies under cover of evergreen forest, becausej 

 besides the admittedly favourable alluvial or diluvial silt which constitutes the 

 soil and sometimes also the subsoil of the locality, the additional deposits of 

 vegetable mould and animal remains that accrue to it by the presence of forests 

 help to form pabula that are rich in ingredients favourable to the highest develop- 

 ment of the species* Although the price of rubber has appreaiable declined [from 

 what it was at this time last year, there is still the amplest scope for Hevea before 

 its value will have declined low enough or the manufacture of the chemical product 

 made cheap enough to militate against its growth for trade. The present, there- 

 fore, affords a fitting, while it is at the same a fleeting, opportunity for would be 

 cultivators of the plant in Burma.— Indian Agriculturist. 

 45 



