S32 
THE TROPlCAIi 
AGRICULTURIST 
[Oct. ], 1000. 
fouud pai'fcicularly effective in curing the rubber 
and preventing pntrefaetion. It is, liowever, a niiti- 
take to suppose that all over or even a large pro- 
portion of the rubber coming from the Amazon 
district it cured in this way. It is, on the contrary, 
very rarely that the rubber cutter will be at the 
trouble to collect t.hese nuts, he nearly always pre- 
fers to use v/ood chips, which give him less trouble 
to procure. The fire having been made, and a large 
stream of hot smoke pouring out of the chimney, 
the operator seats himself on a small stool by the 
side of it. The latex is contained in a basin placed 
at hand. lu his right hand he holds a p.i.ddle- 
shapod XJiece of wood, in his lefc hand a small 
calabash. Dipping the calabash into the basin of 
latex he pours a small quantity over the paddle, 
which he then revolves in the smoke issuing from 
the chimney. That having dried in a layer over the 
paddle, he repeats the operation. In the course of 
time a "ball" or " biscuit " of solid rubber is thus 
formed. In some ■pnvta where it is the custom to 
manufacture very large balls or pellets, an arrange- 
ment is made by means of a pivot to rotate the 
ball over the ohiraney. The wooden core is with- 
drawn through a slit m^.de in the " biscuit," or 
simply drawn out in the case of the pellet. The 
latex of a tree named "macaranduba" {Mimusopn data), 
and more often that of a tree named locally '' amapa" 
is sometimes used to adulterate that of the hevea. 
In both cases the adulteration is extremely prejudicial 
to the quality of the rubber produced. Three distinct 
qualites of rubber are manufactured in the Amazon 
district, namely, "fine," " entrefiiie" and " sernamby" 
respectively. "Pine" rubber has been well smoked, 
and is free from putrefaction. "Butrefine" rubber 
has been either burnt while been smoked, or has 
been insufficiently rmoked, and has therefore putre- 
fied. It is due to carelessness on the part of work- 
men, which it should be possible to avoid. " Ser- 
namby " is the "negro-head" of commerce, and 
consists of scraps mixed with dirt, or strips peeled 
off the bark of the tree, and mixed with impurities 
of all sorts. — Journal of the Society of Arts. 
DISTANCE IN PLANTING. 
We are often asked, at what distance should Nut- 
megs, Rubber trees. Cacao trees, Mango trees, &c. 
&c., be planted. Now it is absolutely impossible to 
lay down any hard and fast rule as to what distance 
trees should be planted apart, for the matter hinges 
on many contingencies, which if unknown will lead 
to erroneous conclusions. If Rubber trees are to be 
TDlanted, let us first ask what is required, or what is to 
be aimed at or produced. It is evident that we do not 
want a low straggling tree, but one having a straii^ht 
trunk free from branches. The best known method 
of producing such trees is to plant thickly. It is 
very false economy to plant thinly with the view of 
saving cost of plants and planting, for unless trees 
are thickly planted there is no hope of getting them 
to make straight Jstems without a lot of pruning ; and 
even with this well done, they will not be as good 
or as shapely as they v/iU by nature's pruning. This 
is a well known fact among foresters and the amateur 
cannot err in planting too close — as it is always in 
his r)0wer to cut out, if his plants are at any time 
crowding each other, ljut on the converse, he cannot 
put in a plant to supply vacancies without it suffering 
from the overgrowth of those already established. 
It is easier to cut out therefore than to supply, and 
a better and more scientific practice. A recent writer 
in the Queensland Agricultural Journal, one of the 
leading periodicals of the day in its special subjects 
Bays : — 
" That the troes are allowed to grow thickly together, 
that they may bo drawn up to a suitable height 
before the forests are thinned, and then, by the 
time the rotation period has arrived they expand 
laterally, and foi'm fine thick boles." They have in 
fact made "hciglit growth." The term "height 
giov.'th " ill forcEtry is derived from the German, 
but the ijriuciple has long been known and adopted 
by all who are sufficiently acquainted with the leading 
principles of Forestry. An example may be made 
with low grovring plants to illustrate the subject. 
If plants are planted closely, it will be found that 
tiiey grow much taller than when planted singly on 
the open, because they are nature pruned, that is to 
say nature does not allow side branches to develop 
and straight clean stems renult. In a Rubber planta- 
tion it is of the first necessity to have as large number 
of clean straight steiiis on as small an area as possible, 
and this result can be attained by close planting. 
rbuitiiig must however bo regulated by the quality 
of the soil oil which the plantation is to be made, for 
it is cle:ir that, what would be close planting for 
a rich soil would be wide planting for a poor one, 
and therefore the richer the soil the wider apart 
may the trees be successfally planted. The nutmeg 
dues not require to have a ntraight stem, but rather 
a spreading top, which should be well exposed to 
light and air. Nevertheless to plant the nutmeg at 
too great a distance, is a mistake ; for unless the 
ground is well covered over with foliage, too much 
evaporation goes on in dry seasons, and the trees 
suffer. It is better therefore to maniage to plaot your 
trees to cover in the ground by their branches meeting 
above as soon as possible within reason, allowing each 
tree a spread according to the ricliness of the soil. 
With Cacao I am tJtcidedly of opinion that closer 
planting, than is generally practised, would be bene- 
ficial. It a Oacao Estate is examined it will be found 
that the best bearing portions ant those which beat 
cover the ground, and the worst portions, are those 
where the trees are too thinly planted to do so. 
In some oases this cannot be avoided, as the planter 
cannot fully prove the nature of his soil, until he 
plants bis trees, and it is generally more convenient 
to plant all the trees at the same distance. Where, 
however, the soil is known to be poor, it will be 
distinctly to his advantage to plant more thickly and 
get the ground covered at once. Too thick planting 
on the other hand is as great a mistake as the 
converse, and on rich soils examples are easily found 
where the trees have not sufficient room to expand 
their branches in accordance with the amount of 
nutriment available. 
This is however much more easily remedied than 
too thin planting, for the judicious pruner will first 
of all give room by cutting away gradually, for a 
season or two, the branches from those trees which 
he marks for removal, and then, in the end will 
remove them to make room for more vigorous brethren. 
With the Mango, the same arguments may be 
applied. With it we require branches and the stem 
is of little consequence but it is highly important 
that the branches should have all the light and air 
possible to induce flowering and fruiting, and there- 
fore the mango may be planted in isolated positions 
with great advantage. 
It is very important in making plantations of any 
kind to get the trees tn all "come away together" 
— (i'.fi ) to get them well started and not to allow 
blanks to occur, and the cultivator will do Avell to 
maintain regular snpplies especially during the first 
two years. 
In making plantations of Rubber where the trees 
are planted close together, with the view of securing 
straight, clean stems, it sliould always be the 
aim to surround the plantation with a belt of 
trees of bushy habit, to act as a wind break ; 
for it is clear, that where a forest of clean 'stems 
exist open to the wind, evaporation would be 
almost as great as in the open, and that high 
winds would be liable to do considerable damage, 
which might be avoided by this simple means. It 
is well to remember therefore that it is better in 
most cases where timber or stem is required, to 
plant thickly; while where fruit is required from 
the smaller branches, these may profitably be planted 
in more exposed situations, — Trinidad Bjdletin. 
