85 
more years' growth may be condensed into one. This re- 
quires money, and men ! — but it is money well and wisely ex- 
pended. 
"Fertilizing" is a necessary part of cultivation; it reduces 
the expense of weeding, not by eradicating the weeds, but by 
hastening the growth of the crop ; two weedings with ferti- 
lizer will bring the trees to the same size as three or more 
without it ; it gives them increased vigor, and makes them 
better fitted to withstand unfavorable conditions later on. 
We have found that from one-half to one pound, applied 
around the tree, gives good results, and that two applications 
are better than one, even if only the same amount of material 
is used. As to the kind — any good, complete fertilizer will 
work well, and the higher grades are the cheaper, as the cost 
of transportation is proportionately less. The best propor- 
tions of the phosphates, nitrogen and potash, will have to be 
matters of experiment ; analysis of the soil cannot be entire- 
ly relied on; there is in all probability vastly more of each 
in the soil than you are likely to apply, and it is safe to say 
that if leaching or washing out can be avoided none of the 
material will be wasted. 
"We have found that a heavy growth of weeds even in the 
middle of the lines is better avoided ; that by cutting every- 
thing down there was a great and immediate improvement in 
the trees. Weeds choke the tiny feeding roots, and by form- 
ing a sod prevent the air from entering the soil ; this is doubly 
true of Hilo grass ; unless this latter is kept under control the 
inevitable result with the rubber tree, as with most other 
trees or plants, is loss of vigor, deterioration, and eventually 
death." 
DISCUSSION. 
Mr. Ewart : Do you fertilize all the trees? 
Mr. Turner: No; just the younger trees. There is no 
question whatever about the value of fertilizing. 
Mr. Ewart: What kind of fertilizer do you use? 
Mr. Turner : Just the ordinary fertilizer of a high grade. 
The fertilizer that we use was prepared especially for us by 
the Hackfeld Fertilizer Works, The formula comes from a 
California fertilizer man, and was given to me as a matter of 
good will : 10% ammonia from nitrate, 8% to 9% of phos- 
phate from steel bean, 5% muriate of potash. I have never 
used any straight potash. I used it on one tree and killed 
the tree. It was a small tree, and I put it on around the roots. 
I may say that that arsenic spray is an exceedingly valuable 
suggestion of Dr. Wilcox. It takes two or three applications, 
but after that it does the work. 
Mr. Ewart: What is the formula? 
