652 THE TEOPICAL AaRICULTURIST. [April 1, 1908. 
to ench palm, 75 trees per fcre shonld be the 
mnx^rnum ; and where then has Mr. Coleman 
Been 5-0 coco pahns " in fine condition " on 
one tiore ?! Then again 200 mit« per tree or 
60.000 nuts per fine instead of the 3,000 to 
a mnxiinnm of 6 000— wh-ch is the heaviest 
cv'in i-er acre in C'eylon -fn;nons all ovei' the 
wor'i', foi" its cocr.imts. Yi i'y, if fbif is (_he 
information whicli r-nr .s.niprican cousins 
have to swallow, some (■nli<2rhteni'n''nt is 
rpfii'^'red from a Cev'on ri thdiity. We do 
not crntradict Mr. C;)leni.Mi when he says 
" the coconut neff-s two things especially— 
lime and salt : for. — 
" Lacking the first ifc delays its growing ami time 
of fruitage, and lacking the second, it either re- 
mains entirely barren or gives fevc nuts, and those 
small and of poor flavour and deficient in oil, the 
main constituent giving it commercial value. It is 
a prevalent opinion (liat the coconut will not thrive 
except in sandy land and on the borders of the sea. 
This is due to'the fact tliat the currents of the sea 
float the ripe nuts for long distances, and then the 
waves wash them upon some heach, where they 
sprout and take root. As these beach sands are 
generally full of shells, as well as salty, these two 
requisites give a fine growth even in pure sand, but 
where lime and salt exist in the soil, the better and 
richer the soil the better the coconut. One of the 
most luxuriant coconut trees I ever saw grew 
100 miles in a straight line from the sea or salt 
water and in a rich chocolate loam, but the soil 
contained lime in abundance, and the owners had 
supplied a sufficient amount of salt." 
And we are quite prepared to agree that 
a " coconut grove " (say of 100 acres) 
in Mexico is as good as a gold mine, 
even though we do not believe that, 
when it is at its very best, more than 
500,000 nuts can be .plucked in the year. 
But if these sold at 3 cents of a dollar 
each (or R90 per 1,000 in our Ce'; Ion currency) 
the net income should not be less than 
10 000 dollars or 3f>,000 rupees, or £2 000 
sterling from the TOO acres which would be 
quite jDhenomenal in Ceylon, where such a 
retnrn would be welcomed from 40O acres 
of well cultivated palms. So, we can quite 
see that " New Mexico " under the stimulus 
of American capital (and if possible, Ceylon 
experience in tropical products) has a great 
future before it and we shall be glad to hear 
again from our New York friends who, 
meantime, are going to study the Tropical 
Agriculturist. 
c. 
REPORT ON HBVEA BRASILIENSIS 
IN THE MALAY PENINSULA. 
By Stanley Aden, 
Superintendent, Experimental Plantations, Federated 
Malay States, 1902, 
(Conclnded from paye 588.) 
Table XIII. 
10 trefis tnpped every <l>iv (6 days). 
Total weiRht of wet rubber 123} oinices. Averages 
yiold p'T tree 12-35 onnccn. 
In Df^irly svery case the yield as slightly better than 
that v/lien the same tree wastappoflat weekly intervals, 
notvvithstandinK that an avera;;r; of 10 ounoes of rubber 
had b :ea extracted from each tree immediately 
previous to thii exporiment. 
The comparatively Urge yield on the first day is 
very noticeftble and wa'i probably tliia to the fact that 
the trees had recently been tapped, a point to wbich 
attention has recently been drawn. The result of this 
last experiment supports the argument that there is 
little, if any, advantage in allowing the trees to " rest" 
before renewing the incisions. 
YIELDi 
Most of the points with reference to the yield of 
latex, the season to tap, the vield Bt various stages of 
growth, the time that shonld elspse before tapping 
operations are repeated, the age at which tapping can 
profitably commence, the coat of extraction, and other 
matters relating to this most important question, need 
much further investigation, the information obtained 
up to thfi present beine far from complete. 
The season to tap. — The "resting" season of Bevea 
spp. is very short, the trees not being devoid of foliage 
for more than about 10 or 14 days generally during the 
early part of February. This, however, is by no 
means always the case, and it is a common thing to see 
a tree here and there in the midst of a plantation, 
absolutely leafless and remaining in this state for two 
to three weeks although surrounded by others clothed 
with luxuriant foliage. In the case of young trees, this 
short " wintering " results in the production of a 
large number of auxiliary branches, where hitherto a 
tree of three to four years old consisted of a single 
whiplike stem 30 to 40 feet high. 
Advantage was taken of this short resting season 
during the early part of the present year with a view 
to determining whether the different stages of growth 
had any effect on the flow of latex, the experiments 
being carried out on the Evlyn estate Selangor. In 
the first experiment some eight to nine year old trees 
were selected, whose foliage having turned yellow, was 
just commencing to fall. After being tapped on eight 
occasions at intervals of two days, most of the trees 
began to push forth new leaves, bo operations were 
suspended. 
The following table shews the amount of dry rubber 
obtained per day, from 20 trees tapped on the herring- 
bone system ; the weather at the time being unusually 
hot and dry. 
TABLE XIV. 
Twenty trees, tapped on eight occasions : — 1st tap- 
ping gave 101 ounces of dry rubber, 2nd, 21J, 3rd, 24J, 
4th, 23, 5th 22J, 6th 23j, 7th 25^, 8th 22|. Total 173i 
ounces of dry rubber. 
In the next experiment 20 trees growing on the 
same estate and as near as possible of the same dimen- 
sions, were selected, which were just commencing to 
push forth new leaves and flowers, which in this 
species are produced simultaneously- The tapping 
was on the same principle as in the previous experi- 
merit, but was carried on over a period of 24 days, by 
which time the leaves had mostly attained their full 
size, and the seeds had begun to form. 
The result was : — 
Table XV. 
Twenty trees tapped on occasions gave :— 1st tapping 
gave 17 ounces of dry rubber, 2nd 23, 3rd 20J, 4th 21, 
.5th 22i, 6th 14|, 7th 16i, 8th 24, 9th 19|, 10th 171, 11th 
20, 12th 20J. Total 236|. 
The olimatical conditions had altered considerably 
at the time the third experiment was made, which was 
during the month of April, rain falling almost daily 
during the whole time the operations were in progress 
Twenty trees were again selected and were now in full 
growth and the fruits about the siae of marbles, the 
result being shown in Table XVI. 
Table XVI. 
Twenty trees tapped on 12 occasions : —1st tapping 
gave 84 ounces of dry rubber, 2nd llj. 3rd, 14i, 4th 161 
5th liSi 6th l,5i, 7th 16i 8th 18, 9th 143, 10th 17i 11th 
ICl, 12th 16.?, totil 181J. 
If the yield of those trees tapped when leafless be 
compared with that obtained on the first eiffht 
occasions in the second experiment, when the trees 
were just commencing to grow, and the third where 
the trees were in full growth, the result will be found 
to be distinctly in favour of those trees tapped daring 
the " reatiag " stage. 
