384 
The object of the rubber planter is to produced healthy vigorous 
rubber trees containing large supplies of latex as quickly as possible. 
The climate in Malaya is for such a purpose ideal, sunshine 
and rain and a moist atmosphere of an equable temperature — the 
conditions aimed at in a forcing house. The*] soil cannot be described 
as rich though it is physically good and allows the passage of water 
and air both of which are necessary for vigorous root action. 
Various writers on the subject of growing rubber have recom- 
mended the use of shade trees for growing young rubber and used as 
an argument the fact that wild rubber trees in Brazil grow in dense 
shade, yet those who have seen the healthy rapid growth of para 
rubber trees grown in the open in Malaya and observed their height 
and girth are satisfied that such conditions are suitable, probably the 
most suitable, for the vigorous growth of young rubber. 
The conditions to be aimed at for the portion of the plant above 
ground are an equable, moist climate with a temperature not too high 
for the healthy growth of the plant cultivated. These conditions we 
have all the year round in Malaya. 
The conditions to be desired for roots are briefly ; — a soil so con- 
structed physically that it is not too loose to retain the water which 
is necessary for growth and yet not so close as to become water 
logged and prevent the access of air, which is also necessary, the soil 
must possess a sufficient amount of nutritive substances for the for- 
mation of plant tissue. The soil must be moist and shaded for these 
are the conditions under which the formation of plant food in the soil 
takes place. 
The conditions present for the development of roots of rubber 
trees can be and are very largely dependent upon methods of cultivation 
and it is not difficult to see that the methods at present adopted are 
not calculated to produce the best results and are at the same time 
costing a large sum of valuable labour. 
The coffee or tea planter in Ceylon and Malaya is a firm believer 
in clean weeding and has perhaps never seriously considered whether 
this method is suited to all cultivations in all climates. Weeding is 
practised in the corn fields and gardens of Britain therefore it should 
be used in the plantations of the East. Clean weeding is good farming. 
A good farmer at home is known by the freedom of his land from weeds 
ergo a good planter in the East must show bare earth between his 
plants. But the conditions in the two cases are totally different ; 
little or no harm is done in Britain by exposing the soil to the sun 
and rain, incalculable harm is done by exposing good friable soil in the 
tropics to baking sun-light and downpours of rain. 
The cultivations are different and the growth of cereals, roots or 
other temporary crops in England can have little to teach us in regard 
to methods to be employed in rearing forest trees in the tropics. 
Bacteria which are largely responsible for the continuous supply 
of plant food to the roots cannot exist in a dry baked soil and the 
roots themselves cannot live under these conditions. 
The soils in Malaya are physically excellent in their structure 
though not chemically very rich and possess the requisite amount of 
plant food for para rubber cultivation. Many places require little or 
