the weeds, and if planted close together will soon so shade 
the ground that but few weeds will appear beneath them. As 
they are rather sensitive to fire, care should be taken to 
keep down the lalang, if any should grow near the trees, to 
prevent risk of its taking fire. 
In suitable soil the trees grow very fast. Trees planted 
from seed in the Botanic Gardens in 1 888 have attained the 
height of about sixty feet and a diameter of from a foot to a 
foot, and-adialf at the base. Some other trees, thirteen years 
old, planted about twenty feet apart have a diameter of about 
two feet, but are no taller. In these the stem has branched 
at about six feet from the ground which the closer planting 
of the others has prevented. 
Trees on the outside of the wood which obtain more _ air 
and light are indisputably finer than those grown very close 
together, but it will probably be found better to grow the 
plants fairly close in order to obtain a taller and straighter 
stem which is easier to tap and to obtain a larger amount of 
stems on a given area. 
I have not noticed any enemy, animal or vegetable, attack- 
ing the tree. 
Collecting the rubber . — Trees can be tapped at the age of 
three years if they are well grown, hut it probably would be - 
better to wait till they are five years old, when they are 
stronger, and the wounds would heal more readily. It ap- 
pears from the account of Mr. Cross, who went to Para to 
investigate the methods of collecting the rubber and the 
habit of the tree, that it was the custom of the collectors 
there to tap the trees in the early morning, but here it 
appears to be best to tap in the evening after four o’clock, 
as the milk is thicker and more free from water in the 
evening. I have noticed the same thing in other lactiferous 
trees, such as the Upas {Antiaris). It is preferable to tap in 
dry weather, not only on account of the greater amount of 
water in the milk in wet weather, but also because it is easier 
to prevent the rubber being spoilt by rain falling into the 
cups. . 
The tapping is best done in the following way. A number 
of oblique cuts are made in the bark converging to a central 
vertical cut, at the bottom of which a cup is placed. The 
rubber runs down the cuts into the central one which conducts 
it to the cup. 
The cuts should be made through the bark, which is about a 
quarter of an inch thick, but so as not to injure the wood, and 
should not be made more than a half an inch wide. Their length, 
six or more inches, will depend on the thickness of the tree. 
These cuts may be re-opened a day or so later and more rubber 
will come out. It is best to make a small groove at first, cutting 
a thin slice off the edge of the wound each day till the groove is 
about half an inch wide. The wounds heal up in a few weeks if 
not too wide. 
