285 
and more per lb., and with a very reasonable hope of continuance 
of such prices, owners will not keep to their intentions in thinning 
out trees which are giving them a profit of $1 or $2 each; and 
dangerous because if they did steel their hearts and cut out their 
trees the policy of leaving large numbers of dead rubber roots 
among healthy trees is one which any one acquainted with root 
diseases, both due to fungi and insects, would condemn as 
running serious risks of encouraging that most insidious type of 
pest. 
The practice, now very general, ^of planting at unequal 
distance, i.e ., in avenues of trees 24 ft. by 30 ft. or 20 ft, by 17 ft. 
has many advantages. It admits direct sunlight all over 
the ground for a short period every day. The sun is the cheapest 
and most effective weapon against the attacks of fungi and bacteria 
that the planter possesses. When the trees are 10 years old or 
more the avenue system allows of quicker and more effective 
supervision of the health and vigour of trees, and is a help in 
enabling the Superintendent to easily locate trees on the estate for 
ordinary or for disease prevention work. 
As to the exact distance which trees should be planted, 
situation, soil, rainfall and other factors must be considered, but it 
is better with an eye to the future to err on the side of planting 
too few rather than too many. 
On more than one- third of the tothl planted acreage in 
Malaya there are 200 trees or more per acre, that is the trees are, 
if planted at equal distances, 15 ft. by 15 ft. or closer. On only 
one-seventh of the acreage are the trees less than 18 ft. by 18 ft. 
The average figure conveys very little information. 
Labour. 
In the Federated Malay States there are 39,000 coolies 
employed regularly at estate work; of these nearly 30,000 are 
Tamils, 4,000 Javanese, 1,500 Malays, and 3,400 Chinese ; some 
of the last are only temporarily employed and are not working at 
agricultural tasks, but are employed in building, road-making, etc. 
The average of trees tapped to coolies employed is only 11 
trees per coolie, but this has no value as 90 per cent, of the coolies 
are employed in opening, planting, weeding, etc. When, however, 
the 13,000,000 trees already planted in the Peninsula in say 5 
years are all in bearing, about 50,000 coolies will be needed for 
the tapping operations alone, and the labour question is therefore 
of paramount importance. The outlook is by no means 
unpromising. If all proprietors and superintendents realise the 
fact that the coolies health and comfort are as much a factor in 
the profitable running of the estate as the amount of latex each 
tree can be got to produce, or the price that the rubber will fetch 
in the market, this required labour can be obtained. 
% 
