462 
some  crop  of  a permanent  character,  as  all  work  on  it  must  be 
done  by  hand.  On  such  land  as  this  it  is  questionable  if  an  inter- 
crop would  be  of  value  to  the  rubber  planter  if  planted  and  cared 
for  at  his  own  expense. 
Another  factor  that  must  be  considered  is  the  availability  of 
sufficient  capital,  or  labor,  for  other  than  the  permanent  crop. 
Inter-crops  mean  intensive  cultivation ; and  this  cannot  be  done  on 
a large  scale  without  a large  force  of  labor.  If  the  income,  or  the 
labor  supply  is  limited,  it  becomes  a question  of  whether  it  will 
pay  better  to  use  the  labor  to  increase  the  permanent  crop  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  and  look  to  it  alone  for  eventual  profit,  or  to 
use  the  men  a part  of  the  time  for  some  other  purpose — some 
“inter-crop”  and  limit  the  permanent  crop  to  that  extent  by  so 
doing. 
In  regard  to  the  effect  on  the  trees  themselves,  aside  from  the 
financial  standpoint,  my  observation  has  been  that  results  depend 
entirely  on  the  extent  to  which  they  share  in  the  cultivation.  If 
they  do  not  share,  they  will  not  only  receive  no  benefit,  but  they 
will  also  have  been  robbed  of  the  plant  food  used  by  the  other 
crop. 
To  instance:  Pineapples  were  planted  on  one  of  our  fields  of 
Ceara  rubber;  owing  to  the  nature  of  the  land  (a  mixture  of  a-a 
and  broken  pahoehoe),  only  a superficial  cultivation  could  be 
given,  from  which  the  trees  derived  little  or  no  benefit. 
Another  field  with  a deep  rich  soil  had  a portion  of  it  planted 
with  vegetables  by  a Japanese ; he  agreeing  to  keep  the  trees  clean 
for  the  use  of  the  land.  The  trees  on  this  portion  have  nearly 
doubled  in  size  since  March  and  have  cost  us  nothing  for  care. 
The  man  has  just  informed  me  that  a part  of  this  piece  is  no  longer 
available  as  the  roots  of  the  rubber  trees  have  taken  possession 
of  the  soil.  His  crop  was  cabbages,  cucumbers,  melons,  radishes, 
beans,  etc.,  and  all  appeared  to  do  well  until  within  a short  time. 
Our  own  nursery  was  planted  among  trees  6 to  10  feet  high ; 
the  thorough  cultivation  that  this  called  for  has  improved  the 
trees  to  such  an  extent  that  they  stand  out  from  all  the  rest  of 
the  field,  and  so  far  the  seedlings  have  not  suffered.  I may  men- 
tion at  this  point  that  fallen  timber  laying  all  over  the  fields  pre- 
vents cultivation  bv  animals,  and  clean  and  thorough  cultivation  by 
hand  would  in  this  warm,  moist  climate,  be  so  expensive  as  to 
preclude  its  feasibility  on  a large  scale. 
It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  remarks,  that,  as  before 
stated,  the  question  is  not  one  that  can  be  answered  in  general 
terms ; each  field  may  present  a different  problem ; each  manager 
will  have  to  study  those  problems  from  his  own  point  of  view ; 
and  no  one,  not  fully  acquainted  with  all  the  facts  of  the  case  can 
give  him  the  correct  solution. 
