160 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTTJEIST. [Sept. 2, 19«1. 
can be depended upon, a good drainage, and an 
elevation of less than 1,500 feet, but these conditions 
have great latitude of choice. 
The moat importact ot the questions relative to 
the method of planting rubber is the one about 
which the farmers are most divided, and is probably 
the most vital connected with its cultivation. It is 
the question whether to plant in groves, in the open, 
or under forest shade. The advocate 'of the for- 
mer system says that in any other part of the world, 
if one wsnts to get a particular crop, it is custom- 
ary to give the tree or plant all the chance possible. 
One clears the ground, turns it up, and after the 
tree is planted keeps all weeds from encroaching 
upon its light and food space. Why not apply 
these elementary principles to rubber and plant in 
plowed and open land, in groves, like an apple 
orchard ? 
The advocate of the forestry system points, how- 
ever, to the manner in which the tree grows natu- 
rally and says that rubber is found thriving best 
under shade, in a cool, wet spot, and by "thriving" 
he says he means gives the most rubber. The 
tree will grow, it is quite true, faster in the open 
than in the forest, and yon will get your groves of 
rubber trees more quickly, but the question is, Will 
you get the milk from them ? For it does seem to 
be a fact that rubber found in open pastures will 
not yield so much milk as those trees growing in 
the forest, where it is cooler and moister. If it 
could be ascertained exactly what function the milk of 
the tree performed, one would probably be able to telt 
how much sun and how much rain would produce the 
tree with the largest quantity of rubber. The milk is not 
a sap, but a latex, which is carried just under the outer 
bark, and the slightest nick from a pen-knife will be 
followed by a thick liquid, which if caught on the 
finger dries at once, leaving a shred or two of pure 
rubber, like small elastic bands. 
There are farms established by exponents of each 
theory. One can see in Mexico rows of young 
trees in open cleared land, in every respect like a 
coffee or orange plantation ; and again in Costa 
Bica the farm consists of rubber trees planted in 
among the forest trees, only cleared where the 
growth is very thick, though of course the bush is 
kept down by cutting twice a year. Those who are 
following these two theories will be relieved when 
they get their first crop. But at present they are 
having rather an anxious time of it, for on the one 
hand it will be expensive business, not to say im- 
possible, to plant shade among those trees in the 
open, and the rubber may be ruined before the 
shade comes up. But this course would be imperative 
should the advocates of the orchard theory find 
themselves in the wrong. On the other hand, should 
the forestry people be at fault, it will require con- 
siderable skill for the owner of ^tte rubber growing 
in the forest to cut out the trees and let in the sun 
without injuring she rubber. Ringing trees at the 
right phases of the moon, some eminent scientists 
to the contrary notwithstanding, will go far toward 
solving the problem for the grower of rubber in the 
forest and ma.ke his position the stronger of the two, 
on the whole, in that he runs the lesser risk, as it is 
easier to cut out the shade than to put it back. 
As for the rubber planter's profits nothing definite 
can be said about them as yet. A man might buy a 
thousand acres of good rubber land for $15,000, and he 
might plant it and bring it to production for ^pi5,000 
more — 5jjOO,OOI) in all. But now as to the returns, it 
is like figuring on the chicken industry ; one becomes 
alarmed at the rate chickens, eggs and profits pile 
up. In the same way it is estimated that rubber will 
produce a handsome return every yeitratthe end of 
of the sixth year from planting. Anyone can work 
out for himself the following sum in inuitiplioation 
for the profits of the eighth year: One thousand 
acres v;ith 200 troos to the acre, one pound of rubber 
to the tree each year, sold at a net profit of 50 cents a 
Tpoand,— Agricultural Garselte. 
VANILLA CULTIVATION, 
To judge by occasional notes, which appear in 
our planting journals, this product appears to be 
having its full share of attention at the hands of 
those planters who are on the alert for any- 
thing in the shape of a profitable auxiliary to the 
main crop they may be growing. In certaia plant- 
ing districts it id being propagated year bv year 
with the view of raising a sufficient number of 
plants to form a plantation of an acre or so, in 
order that a regular squad of people may be told 
ofT specially to look after the plant!. This is ab- 
solutely necssary, and is the right way to go about 
the matter, — where there are only a few plants 
scattered here and there about a compound, they 
cannot get that special attention which is necessary 
to forming an opinion as to whether the raising 
of them on a larger scale will be a profitable nn- 
dertakmg. Of course there is always the probability 
of over-production, and this ought to be steadily 
kept in view, and nothing but the very best quality 
of pods put upon the market. If we may take 
South Sylhet, for instance, which, by the way, we 
are inclined to place in the very first front rank 
amongst planting communities, in the matter of the 
introducino: and cultivating of valuable plants from 
other regions with an analogous climate and habitat, 
we can see no reason whatever why that district 
should not make a name for itself for a good quality 
of vanilla. 
The large majority of our planting districts in 
Assam will grow vanilla. There are a few districts 
in Upper Assam, which are sometimes too cold and 
damp during the winter months, and the plants 
get what is known as " spot. '' This is not what 
we should call a disease, but simply a " hurt " 
caused by water resting upon the leaf when the 
atmosphere is at a low temperature. The vanilla 
"plant" will stand a much lower temperature than 
any we ever get in the vallay of Assam, but it 
will not tolerate dampness as well. Even in the 
South Sylhet district, where we never get such a 
degree of cold as is usually experienced in Upper 
Assam, vanilla will not succeed in a lowlying situa- 
tions where there is sufficient moisture during the 
dry season to cause a continual raw feeling during 
the day. 
That it grows, flowers, sets and grows pods of as 
good quality as are produced in the Seychelles 
Islands has been already proved. The prices have 
been well maintained, for many years past, despite 
the invention of vanilla (the coal tar product) which 
has not commended itself as anything likely to be 
a competitor, where the real vegetable product is 
to be had. There are lands more suitable for its 
cultivation than others, but any ordinary forest land 
with a good surface accumulation of vegetable mould 
will be found adaptable for the cultivation of 
vanilla. At the same time, vanilla-growing, being 
one of the most concentrated of Agri-Horticultural 
industries, can be grown upon the most barren of 
lands, in the absence of other unfavourable condi- 
tions. The writer is not aware as to what size 
the vanilla plantations of Reunion and Mauritius 
run, but we may take it that a 5-acre vanilla 
garden would te considered a very large " auxiliary " 
indeed to a 500-acre tea garden. And if 5 acres 
of first-class forest land could not be had, 5 acres 
of scrub jungle could very easily be made almost 
as suitable by carrying fresh jungle soil to plant 
the vanilla plants in. It would cost no more than 
it does to make large pits and fill them with fresh 
soil — a necessary work when filling tea vacancies if 
any measure of success is to be counted upon. 
The Mexican system of allowing the vines to grow 
under trees nearly wild appears to be almost uni- 
versally adopted now, and is a decided improve- 
ment on the old system of training the vine on 
artificial supports. According to a report on the 
