83 
ing a home, a community and a state, none of which things call 
result from the efforts of the rubber man. He may hope to grow 
ricli some time and return to civilization — but he never does. If his 
shipment this year brings a good return at Manans or Para, he 
spends the money freely in relaxation after a year’s drudgery ; if 
not — and too often this is true — he begins the new year in debt to 
his merchant, and to the other features of a hard life, is added the 
dispiriting task of paying off old scores. 
Of course we may say that these men are not obliged to Tuul 
rubber against their will, and of course people in civilized lairc^f to 
whom the use of rubber brings added luxuries are not called flpon ; > 
lor sympathy for their exiled fellowmen whose work contributes so 4,. 
much to their comfort. At the same time we feel that our readers " - 
will at least be interested, now and then, in such side lights oin't^te 
business of collecting rubber as explorers may happen to giv&m’s* 
even if for no other reason than it helps to explain the high cofrL5 P 1 jt J 
ot the chief raw material of their industry. One other considera- 
tion is that, with the business of gathering wild rubber attended 
by such conditions, which it seems impossible to improve, the cul- 
tivation of the product in more favourable latitudes receives its 
strongest encouragement. 
“ / ndia Rubber- World January /, 1904, p. 107. M 
Recovery of Para rubber Trees injured by fire 
Lumut, 
January 24th , 1904. 
Dear Sir, — 1 noticed in the Agricultural Bulletin in a report on 
fungoid growth on Para Rubber in Ceylon that the Director of 
Agriculture refers to the great recuperative powers of para rubber 
trees. 1 was aware of the fact that if a tree were broken by wind, 
etc. it would sprout again, but do not know if any observations 
have been recorded with reference to lires. I therefore write to let 
you know of a case I have noticed here, you may have heard of 
similar ones,, if not, the following may be of interest. 
There are three young trees in a Chinese plantation planted with 
young coconuts, they are about 4" in diameter, the only trees to be 
seen in the neighbourhood and struck my eye owing to their beino- 
on the edge of the bridle path, their height is about 15 to 20 ft. 
Some months ago I noticed that the lalang, etc., had been burnt 
and that the Para trees appeared to have been destroyed too, they 
had lost all their leaves and the bark was scorched and blackened. 
Lately, perhaps a month or six weeks ago, I saw that they were 
sprouting again and to-day when riding past I got off to examine 
them more closely. 
The first tree is sprouting about 4 or 5 ft. from the ground on 
the trunk, one side of it is dead the bark coming away in flakes and 
the wood on being cut being dead, new bark is forming a ridge 
3/57 
