132 
VITALITY OF PARA RUBBER. 
Mr. Le Doux of Nelson Rubber Estate Johor, writes “ In our 
tapping block ^8 year-old frees) there is a tree in the middle of a 
girth of 12 inches at three feet from the base. This tree has been 
tapped on two sides. Its leaves are of the same colour and size as 
its neighbours’. Four years ago this tree was completely ringed 4 
inches from the baseband the wood cut into all round for an inch 
and a-half deep. With a moderate shove it would break off. The 
thin bit of wood which connects the main trunk to the base is rotten 
and black in colour. There is -not a hair’s breadth of bark between 
the sections. Despite all th : s the tree has lived for four years looks 
healthy and yields latex. ” 
This is certainly curious, the water supply for the trunk must be 
obtained through the small piece of remaining wood. One knows 
here how in girdling a tree to kill it, it is necessary to cut well into 
the wood, as merely removing a strip of bark is not necessarily fatal, 
but one would hardly imagine that a tree cut as this one has been 
would continue living. 
H. N. RIDLEY. 
In a later letter M. Le Doux adds further details. The dia- 
meter of the tree at 3 feet from the base is li£ inches at 6 inches, 
17^ inches and at 2 inches from base i6h inches. The bark curves 
in slightly at the base of the upper section of the trunk and has a 
number of bumps there. The tree has 12 tapping cuts on one side 
and six on the other. These are being covered with new bark. Last 
tapping was in October, C906, and the cuts are healing. The bark 
yields latex in both sections and appears as good and abundant as 
that of other trees of the same size. A photograph brought by Mr. 
Rice shows that the tree has been almost cut through. It was 
intended to cut it down and it was cut round all through when for 
some reason the cooly stopped and the tree was forgotten. It is 
really a most remarkable instance of the vitality of Para rubber. 
H. R. N. 
RUBBER. 
Malaya Still Leading. 
Wednesday, 16th January. 
In a communication to the Press of Ceylon, Messrs. LEWIS and 
PEAT, the well-known produce brokers of Mincing Lane, draw the 
attention of planters to a falling-off in the preparation of Ceylon 
biscuits and sheets compared with what it was when the firm advised 
them to continue to ship their produce in one or other of these forms. 
They state that recently numerous marks have suffered severely in 
price in consequence of their roughness and black colour, and in 
many cases mouldy and resinous surfaces, upon their arrival in 
