Ficus elastica , L. India rubber, Burmah, Rangoon rubber, Ge- 
tah Rambong, Getah Karet (Java), Getah Achrn (Sumatra). 
This well known tree is abundant in Burmah, Assam and oc- 
curs in Java, Sumatra and also in Perak, on the limestone rocks 
near I poll. It has been cultivated in Assam and Sumatra for a 
considerable period, and is now in cultivation in the Malay 
Peninsula. It is raised from seed in Assam and elsewhere, but 
more usually propagated by cuttings. Mr. G. Mann, whose 
account (Kew Bulletin, April 1891, also Handbook of Commercial 
Products, Imperial Institute Series, No. 25, 1893), deals with the 
cultivation in Assam, states that young trees raised from cuttings 
are never so hardy as those raised from seed, and do not make 
equally good growth afterwards. I do not know of any attempt 
to raise the plant from seed in the Peninsula, cuttings being 
exclusively used here. Briefly the method of raising iiom seed 
is as follows : — 
The figs which are as big as peas are ripe in Assam between 
January and March. They are collected as they fall and dried 
in the sun, then broken up and sown in beds, boxes or pots on 
the surface of the soil, they require as much light from above 
as possible, side shade is an advantage. The drainage of the 
soil must be perfect, and it must be kept damp, not wet. Ger- 
mination takes as much as three months. The seedlings very 
small at first require very careful treatment. Drip must be 
avoided, and the soil kept loose. 
Colonel Walker recommends as soil for the seed-beds the fol- 
lowing : — Well dug soil one part, sand two, ashes one, old sifted 
stable manure one, all to be sifted through a wire gauze sieve. 
When the seedlings are 2 to 3 inches tall, they are transplanted 
to a nursery bed in lines 1 foot apart, and when 1 to 2 feet tall, 
they are very hardy and can be planted out. For cuttings per- 
fectly ripe young branches should be used. They require a band 
of cocanut fibre or matting to be tied tight round the branches, 
which is left on till the roots are seen projecting through the mat. 
This takes about three weeks, the branches are then cut off below 
the roots. They usually grow with remarkable ease, but it some- 
times happens in damp ground that a fungus attacks them, and 
they refuse to grow. In this case the infected ground should be 
abandoned, as it is useless to attempt to grow cuttings there. 
When the cuttings are well rooted they can be at once trans- 
ferred to the plantation, and as the trees become in time very 
bulky, they should be planted 40 to 60 feet apart. The tree 
grows rapidly and can be tapped in six or seven years after plant- 
ing. The part tapped is the aerial roots. A large tree with well- 
developed crown and three or four stems is said to produce 210 
to 245 lbs. rubber the first year of tapping, 140 lbs. the next, 52 
to 70 lbs. the third, the fourth year nothing, but after two years’ 
rest 80 lbs. may be obtained. Heavy tapping like this is, how- 
ever, injurious to the tree, which becomes weak and dies. In 
Sumatra, a planter told me that India rubber gives about the 
same return as Hevea, for the same number of years. 
