Jan. 1, 1901.] THE TEOPICAL 
AGEICULTURIST. 
455 
rubber forwarded for sale. In regard to the first 
point, it sliould be iiotpd I hat, in tiie previous 
season, an item of Kl,198 was incurred on the 
purchase of coal tar for snieariiig over the wounds 
caused by the ku/cis and dhaos, partly as a heal 
ing applicarion, but chiefly as a preventive or 
check on illicit tapping that niisht subsequently 
be made on the trees that had been worked 
over departmentally. This last season no expendi- 
ture has been incurred under this head, as it 
seems doubtful that the application of tar is of 
any utility and the danger of illicit tapping is 
not considered sufficiently great to iustify the 
considerable expenditure above mentioned. By 
eliminating this part of the oiisfinal procedure, 
and by reducing the actunl expense of tapping, 
the cost on the niaterifll landed in Calcutta was 
replaced from K94 to R70 per maund of 80 lb., the 
actual Kgures being as follows : — 
Cost of 3,363 lb. of rubber obtainea in 1898 99 E3,967 
Co 4,502 lb. do do in 1899-1900 3,839 
With regard to the secon 1 point mentioned 
above, Messrs. MeLeod & Co. of Calcutta, through 
whose film the rubber was despatched to London 
and sold, write as follows ; — 
" People who have examined our parcel inform us 
that it is the tiuest stuff ever seen here from Assam,' 
Last year's shipment could scarcely be improved 
upon in matter of cleanness and condition, but this 
parcel is more presentable, the packing being better 
done." 
Doubtless, the better packing in acme tea boxes 
lined with cloth, instead of despatching the pro- 
duct in bags, as was done in the previous season, 
had much to do with the better price paid, 3s 7d 
per pound having been realised as against 3s 4^d 
in 1899. 
SUPPLEMENTARY EXPERIMENTS. 
15. In a Statement B, whicli is not here re- 
produced, Mr. McKee gives a detail of the girth 
and crown or spread measurements of 10 per cent 
of the trees that were tapped last season. The 
results are interesting so far as they go, and 
tend to prove, as might be expected, that the 
outturn of rubber is in proportion to the spread 
of the trees. Abstracted, the figures gi/e the follow- 
ing results : — 
Remarks. 
§ O 1> S 
8 a . a 11 _ -ss 
o a ^ ^ B (D— Mm 
u w 3 3 m g a. S i« 
;zi H B EH B 
Ft. Ft. 
1 2 3 4 5 6 
Spread per 
tree. Outturn per tree. 
tobis 
4 100 1,064 6,416 3,362 64' ... 33i= -83 of a lb. 
5 162 1,446 9.844 5,414 61' ... 33|=: -83 „ 
6 95 703 6.035 3.896 63' ... 41 =1 -00 „ 
7 96 649 5,815 3,769 61' ... 39 = -97 „ 
8 97 475 4,487 2,281 58' ... 29^= -73 „ 
Tiie girth measurements of the trees are so 
difficult of being made in a uniform manner, 
owing to air roots ivhich form supplementary stems 
having a tendency to anastomose, that the figures 
under this head may be ignored ; but if the 
^gurea relating to tlie averagQ spread, of trees 
in the different compartments are compared 
and it is borne in mind that the trees in 
compartment 4 were tapped for the second year 
in succession, it seems that, as above stated, the 
largest outturn is obtained from the treej having 
the best and widest crowns. 
RE.SULT OF TAPPING TREES THREE YEARS 
IN SUCCESSION. 
16. Another interesting statement is thac at- 
tached to this report as Appendix C, which shows 
the result of tapping 21 good selected trees in 
compartments 2 and 3 for thiee years in succes- 
sion, 1896-97, 1897-98, and 1898-99, This experi- 
ment should have been commented on in last 
year's report, but seems to have escaped obser- 
vation. Abstracted, the results were as fol* 
lows : — 
Nuir\ber of trees. Yield in lbs. 
1896-97. 1897 98. 1898-99. 
21 .. 46 48 9 
and they seem to prove that, although the first 
two years' operations will yield nearly equal out- 
turns—agreeing in this with the figures quoted 
in paragraph 3 for compartments as a whole — 
there then, in the third year, comes a terrible 
falling olf of 75 per cent. And as the trees in 
question, for the most part, are specially good 
specimens, and, in fact, are the dominant trees 
in compartments 2 and 3, the experiment should 
warn us to be very careful in working over the 
plantation too frequently, in successive years, 
witliout giving the trees sufficient time for re- 
cuperating from their former tappings. The figures 
also prove that the small quantity of rubber 
yielded per tree by our tappings must be con- 
sidered the maximum that can safely be extracted 
from them at present. Mr. Home's estimate of 
2 lb. per tree made when forecasting the outturn 
of 1898 99 was evidently of too sanguine a nature 
for the cotnpartments as a whole. 
FUTURE OPERATIONS. 
17. With the meagre information as yet at 
our disposal, it is not safe to arrange for work 
more than one year in advance. Next season, 
therefore, it is proposed to tap compartment i 
for the third year in succession, with the object 
of verifying, in a more decisive manner, the 
results obtained from the limited experiment 
mentioned in paragraph 16 and recorded in the 
attached Statemens C. But should the results 
ot tapping the first 100 trees of this compartment 
show conclusively that the outturn is much smaller 
than on previous occasions, the work in this area 
will at once be stopped. In addition, com- 
partments 9, 10 and 11 of the Charduar Planta- 
tion, containing 251 acres and 3,490 trees, and 
the eastern block of the Kliu'si Plantation, 
■jontaining 88 acres and 2,400 trees, will be 
tapped for the first time. The Charduar trees 
will be 19 and 20 years old and those at Khulsi 
23 years old, and it expected that they will 
yield, at the rate of 91b. per acre, a total of 
3,051 lb. of clean rubber fit for despatch to Lon- 
don. Subsequent operations shouUl be guided 
greatly by the result of tapping compartment 4 
for the third year in succession. If the outturn 
is poor, it will, I think, prove that, in the present 
condition and age of the plantation, it is only 
less wrong to tap the trees two years than three 
years in succession, and the practice should be 
discontinued, As a tentative measure, under 
these circumstances, three years' rest should bo 
