Gums, Resins, 



198 



[September, 1911. 



all the year round. The trees should be 

 rested from the first of February until 

 the first of May. It will probably be 

 found wiser to tap the tree nine times and 

 then rest it for three weeks, and then 

 make another tapping, in which case we 

 remove one inch ui the bark. By this 

 scheme we make eight or ten cuts each 

 side of the channel, and that makes 

 sixteen or twenty cuts on the tree. Of 

 course the expert will prick a great 

 many more than he will pare. We 

 select the more skilful ones for the 

 tapping. We are not using any acid. 

 We tried a scheme that I believe is 

 being used in South Africa- We found 

 the same difficulty there that we found 

 in trying to grow without paring. 1 am 

 firmly convinced thatmore or less injury 

 is done to the tree every time the bark 

 is taken off. The scheme that we have 

 now adopted avoids that difficulty." 



Paper by Mr. L. F. Turner. 

 After the conclusion of the discussion 

 following Mr. Anderson's paper, Mr. L. 

 F. Turner read an address on " Cultiv- 

 ation of Rubber Trees and its Results." 

 It was as follows : — 



" I have been asked to prepare a paper 

 on Cultivation and Soil Conditions. I 

 presume that the request refers entirely 

 to rubber culture, as it is to be read at a 

 Convention of rubber planters. 



"Several conditions are necessary for 

 success, with rubber as with all other 

 crops ; we must have soil to cultivate, 

 and we must cultivate the soil to a 

 reasonable extent at least. To this may 

 be added that heat and moisture, and 

 proper climatic conditions are also 

 essential. This much will be conceded 

 by all, and then each man has his own 

 opinion of what cultivation means. 



Different conditions require different 

 methods of treatment ; each manager 

 probably recognizes that the stirring of 

 the soil is of prime importance ; each one 

 knows that the roots of the trees must 

 not be cut ; and the benefits of fertilizers 

 have been so thoroughly demonstrated 

 that they need no further argument. 

 How best to accomplish the cultivation 

 with the utmost benefit to the trees, 

 and at the smallest expense, is the pro- 

 blem to be solved, and perhaps the best 

 way to get at it is tor each of us to 

 speak of our own conditions and com- 

 pare results. 



" Puna is pre-emintly a volcanic dis- 

 trict ; its soils are, with the exception of 

 the organic matter on ,the surface, 

 entirely of volcanic origin ; every pro- 

 cess of the change from rock or sand, # 

 to fertile soil, is here laid before us as an 



open book. The abundance of moisture 

 combined with the warmth of the 

 climate, and its freedom from winds 

 gives surpassing fertility, and the old 

 saying: 'Everything grows inJPuna,' 

 is more than borne out by the results 

 spread out before us on all but the most 

 barren rocks ; and even among those 

 trees and bushes are springing up, and 

 in some parts dense jungles of lauhala 

 are growing almost to the water's edge. 



" The enormous flows of pahoehoe, 

 and the out-bursts of sand and ashes 

 are everywhere apparent, leaving no 

 doubt whatever as to the agencies that 

 have been at work to produce the 

 present conditions. Layers of pahoehoe 

 over deep soil show that fertile land has 

 been covered, and speak either of the 

 vast time that must have elapsed to 

 produce this soil, or of alternate out- 

 breaks of sand and ashes and of lava. 

 And with the exception of the 1840 flow, 

 which came from Kilauea, and the 

 legend of Pele chasing the chief who had 

 bested her in a game, there is no record 

 nor tradition of activity in any of the 

 numerous craters in this portion of the 

 district. 



" The action of rain on the sand and 

 ashes beats down the surface, and then 

 a little lichen or moss, a few ferns or 

 shrubs, and vegetation has commenced, 

 and the decaying vegetation combined 

 with the moisture from the atmosphere, 

 quickly absorbed by the sand and ashes, 

 forms the beginning of the soil which 

 deepens and increases in richness, until 

 in some cases it becomes almost a muck. 

 Such are the soils of our better lands, 

 our arable lands. 



" The grinding and wearing of the 

 rocks as they rolled or were pushed along, 

 and filling-in of some of the crevices 

 by weathering ; the above processes 

 repeated, followed by the further break- 

 ing down, disintegration, and decom- 

 position of the rocks by the roots of 

 shrubs and young trees, form the be- 

 ginning of our almost impenetrable 

 forests, and with the abundant rainfall 

 sufficiently account for the richness of 

 our lands. 



" The change from the absolutely 

 sterile rock below, porous as a sponge, 

 and with every vestige of life burnt 

 out of it to the fertile soil of the 

 surface, is illustrated in the numerous 

 upheavals ; the gradual deepening of 

 colour as the rocks slowly absorb oxygen 

 from the atmosphere, and humus from 

 the decaying vegetation, is apparent to 

 every observer. Every class of dis- 

 integration is shown, and every class 

 of stone, from the impervious rock, hard 



