June 1, 1904.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
851 
Boil for cotton appears to be a medium loam, 
Sir Alfred Jones, who takes a great interest in 
the development of Cotcon production in 
West Africa, has promised to send me samples 
of the soil upon which Cotton is now being 
profitably produced in the neighbourhood of 
Lagos.— Yours faithfully, 
JOHN HUGHES. 
THE RUBBER BOOM: AND THE FORCE 
TO MEET IT. 
April 18, 
Deab Sir,— I see the big gooseberry is being 
trotted out re Rubber pioductioD, if Rubber 
costs so much to produce per lb. as they say 
it does, and one tree gives as much rubber as 
the one mentioned by Mr. Harrison, where are 
the coolies to harvest such yields ? It is reported 
that some of the Straits rubber plantations have 
Dofc enough coolies to harvest the rubber when 
only a small portion of their planted area is in 
bearing. Where on earth are they to get coolies 
when all the land now laid down or to be laid 
down in rubber is in bearing ?— Yours faithfully, 
ANTI- RUBBER. 
RUBBER-COLLECTING IN CEYLON AND 
S. AMERICA, 
Colombo, May 4. 
Sir, — A series of questions and replies con- 
cerning rubber in South America given by 
Mr, R. W. Wickham appeared in the " Times 
of Ceylon " last evening. Question 3 of these 
cannot pass without remark. " Do the col- 
lectors tap the trees as we do and collect latex 
as best they can, scraping it up from the ground, 
or do they cut the tree down and destroy it ?" 
(The italics are mine). Now, Sir, who ever 
heard of Ceylon planters collecting latex " as 
best they can, scraping it up from the ground"? 
Surely even the veriest tyro knows thatCeylon 
planters are not such absolute idiots as that 
makes them out to be. The latex certainly is 
collected as best they can, which is by very 
careful collection in collecting cups, and what 
is scraped up from the ground is the poorest 
stuff and only shipped as " very dirty scrap." 
Ceylon is now paving the way for a future 
big industry ; we don't want the difficulties 
in our way at all increased, and such pub- 
lished statements can only result in injuring 
the good name of our rubber. 
Mr, Wickham says no rubber is being 
planted in South America, but it must be 
remembered that in Central America and 
Southern Mexico there are large plantations, 
—Estates with 195,000 trees, 1,175,000 trees, 
and 140,000 trees on each ; other estates of 
20,000, and even 100,000 acres to be grown 
under castilloa rubber.— Yours, &c. , 
THE TAPPER. 
CLEARING VIRGIN FOREST FOR 
RUBBER. 
Stagbrook, Peermad, May 5. 
Dear Sir,— Will you through your paper 
ask for information on the following : — 
Rubber Cultivation. Given virgin forest at 
an elevation of OOOfeet, with very large timb?r 
scattered thiough it, is it advisable to cut 
down the large timber, or is it more advis- 
able to merely clear small timber and under- 
growth and plant under natural shade ? 
Most of the timber is " Cotton Wood"of ex- 
ceptional size. 
Of course, if all the timber is felled the 
land will become parclied for two to two 
and-a-half months on the surface, though as 
a river runs through it, I suppose the moisture 
would extend for some 5 chains from its 
banks. — Yours faithfully, 
H. DRUMMOND DEANE, 
II, 
Gikiyanakauda, May 12. 
Sir,— In reply to Mr. Drummond Deane's 
query with regard to planting rubber under 
natural shade, as far as "Para" (Hevea 
Brasiliensis) is concerned, shade is undesirable. 
A reasonable drought does good, especially 
so, provided the sun's rays can eet at the 
tree. Canker has been known to completely 
disappear from affected trees during an 
ordinary drought and undoubtedly other un- 
desirable affections are checked in the same 
way. Supposing shade remained for a time it 
is well to remember in cutting out later, if the 
trees were any size, I refer to the shade, 
damage to the plantation must necessarily re- 
sult. In no case should any growth, shade or 
otherwise, be allowed to remain which takes 
for it's food the same as the Hevea. The 
Hevea requires all it can get and does not 
grow freely with any opposition.— Yours 
faithfully, 
G. H. GOLLEDGE. 
Ill, 
Queen's Hotel, Kandy, May 12. 
Dear Sir, — In reply to Mr Deane's query, 
1 should not care myself to try the experi- 
ment of planting rubber in virgin jungle with 
the undergrowth only cleared away, at any 
rate in the low-country. — Yours faithfully, 
C. C. MEE. 
THE FIRING OF TEA. 
April 18th, 
Dear Sir, — It is indeed a privilege to have 
the opinion of such an authority as Mr. 
Oscar Thomson, of London, as recorded 
recently by you on any question, affecting our 
present system of manufacture of tea, and I 
venture to state that he could not have touched 
on a more important branch of our mode of 
manufacture than the Firing of our Teas. He 
only corroborates in practice what our Scien- 
tific Authority, Mr. Kelway Bamber, so clearly 
puts before us, i e , that our strong currents 
of heated vaporised air, generated by our 
present type of stoves for the purpose of 
drying, by means of our modern driers, 
differs so entirely from that of the only 
recognised system of firing this delicate 
vegetable product— namely, by the very dry 
and therefore evaporative heated fumes of 
charcoal from clmln fires. The late Dr Barry 
moreover contended " that flavour in tea 
was better attained by direct heat from 
charcoal than by any other hot ait or other 
means of curing." It is only in further 
corroboration of Mr, Thomson's keen com- 
