AND THE MALAY STATES 
39 
outdistanced it. Leaving the collecting and straining of the latex to 
the coolies, Mr. Carruthers took me to his bungalow for breakfast, which 
meal occurs at noon, and there we discussed various phases of rubber 
planting. In referring to the government plantations of Hevea, he said 
that there were about one hundred and fifty acres now planted, and it had 
not been decided yet just how they would be administered. According 
to his figuring, these plantings cost about 1,200 rupees [=$389.32] an 
acre when matured. If they are to be leased under proper restrictions, 
the opinion seemed to be that the government should not reap more than 
five per cent, interest bn its venture. But most of the experts think that 
it would be better for the government to sell the plantations as near cost 
as possible. For further information he referred me to Mr. F. Lewis, the 
assistant conservator of forests, Colombo. 
The following morning we crossed the Mahaweli River, a deep, 
swift, muddy stream flowing by the gardens, to visit the great experi- 
ment stations that are under the charge of Mr. Herbert Wright, A. R. c. 
s. There is no bridge, so one is ferried across in a very narrow wooden 
dugout, with the usual outrigger one side to prevent upsetting. This 
experiment garden is new, and contains about 1,200 acres, I believe, and 
takes in the native villages of Gangaruwa and Yatiyalagala. 
Mr. Wright kindly piloted me over the sections devoted to rubber 
planting. Just to see what the Castilho and the Ceara rubber will do 
in that climate under varying conditions ; he has many different plots, 
both in the shade and in the open. Perhaps the most interesting is the 
planting of the former where it is shaded by cocoanut trees. All of 
these rubber plots were small of course, and the trees very young, so 
that at the present it is impossible to say what results will be attained. 
As we walked about the place, it occurred to me to learn just how 
hot it was, and I found that it was 127 0 F. in the sun, and the guess was 
that it was about 85° in the shade. As we were in the sun most of the 
time, we had no reason to feel a chill. 
In the afternoon, Director Willis having returned, we had a look 
at the Ficus elastica trees planted some seventy-five years ago. They 
are huge growths, and unlike the Straits trees of the same name, do not 
send down aerial roots, but instead form great root buttresses. They 
produce little if any late. r, as my own tapping experiments abundantly 
proved. Further than that, they are dying, so that every now and then 
it becomes necessary to fell one of them, for if it unexpectedly dropped 
its one hundred and fifty feet of length across the carriage road, a serious 
accident might result. 
