Belgian ) Congo 77 PRODUCTS (RUBBER) About 1900 it was decreed by King Leopold that for every ton of rubber exported 500 trees or vines were to be planted. Very large areas were conse quently planted with young Funtumia trees, but at that time knowledge of rubber planting was derived almost entirely from Ceylon , where Hevea, belonging to a different natural order and to another continent, was grown successfully. The result was that the trees were planted widely instead of in coppice formation, their growth was stunted , and the plantations ruined . If the life -history of the tree, the histology of the bark, and the chemical composition of the latex had been studied before planting was undertaken , there would to-day have been a very considerable export from the Belgian Congo of plantation rubber of high quality.

Ceará rubber (Manihot), another South American species, and the hardiest of all rubber plants, might also be grown over even larger areas than Funtumia , though not in similar localities. Most bush-covered country is suitable for it, but not forest. The Manihot is a quick-growing tree , and no skill is required for either planting, tapping, or preparation for the market . The Germans were the first to realize the advantage of planting this species of rubber in the waste lands of Africa, and extensive areas of bush country in the Tangangika Territory have been utilized for its cultivation. The bark of the tree is merely pricked , the latex coagulated on the trunk , and the rubber collected as scrap by men, women, and children . After four or five years, when the bark has become thickened and useless owing to the continued pricking, the tree is discarded and another one reared in its place.

If the natives were induced to plant these two species, Funtumia and Manihot, in the neighbour hood of their villages, or wherever suitable in forest