t A 
AGRICULTURAL BULL 
AND 
JANUARY, 1905. 
NOTES ON PLANTING PARA RUBBER 
IN JOHORE. 
By R. w. Burgess. 
Hollenbury Estate, 
Muar, December 21st, 
Having during the last seven months had an opportunity of 
observing various methods of planting out rubber in practice, a 
few notes on the same may be of interest to those who, like myself, 
are starting the culture of Hevea Brasiliensis. The three usual' 
methods are, planting stumps, transplanting seedlings, and plant- 
ing seed at stake. To take first the method I believe to be most 
commonly adopted, viz* that of planting stumps. The stumps are 
pulled up from the nursery when from 6 to 12 months old, during 
wet weather, when the ground is well soaked, the leaves, small 
roots, the end of the tap root and top shoot, are cut off with prun- 
ing scissors, and the bare stumps are transported in bundles of 
about roo to the field in which they are to be planted. Holes about 
one foot square, and the same depth are dug, (larger or smaller 
according to the nature of the soil) in the centre of which a small 
hole is made with a stake, deep enough to take the tap root. The 
stump is placed in position and the hole filled in with surface earth, 
and pressed well down with the feet, leaving about three feet of the 
stump above ground. These stumps appear to retain their vitality 
for many months, even under very unfavourable weather condi- 
tions. Some that were planted out in April of, this year have had 
to contend with five months of exceedingly dry weather, which 
set in immediately after planting, during which time there was 
very litHe sign of n v growth. In some cases, feeble, pale co- 
loured shoots were thrown out from the top, before the root 
growth had started. In these cases ,m ming scissors were used, 
and the stump cut back, below the fake, shoot. As soon as 
weather conditions improved, growth was very rapid, many stumps 
that appeared quite dead throwing up strong, vigorous, dark 
coloured shoots from near the root, many of those planted in 
