PARA-RUBBER CULTIVATION 399 



devoted to rubber tapping and preparation placed Hevea in a 

 still more favourable position as a yielder of caoutchouc. The 

 discovery of the so-called " wound-response " and the elabo- 

 ration of a ready means of preparing clean rubber from the 

 latex afforded the planters a basis for future procedure. The 

 rush into rubber began then, and has continued ever since with 

 increasing force. The tree has exceeded the most sanguine 

 expectations regarding its producing capacity and vigour of 

 growth. A few fortunate planters who laid down areas with 

 this tree before this period have been the first to reap their 

 reward. 



About 750 acres had been planted with Hevea in Ceylon 

 previous to the year 1899. Now at least 180,000 acres are under 

 rubber in the island, either pure or planted amongst tea and 

 cacao. Ceylon, though the pioneer, has had to give place to the 

 Mala)- States in respect to area and yield. Planters soon saw 

 an excellent opening for Para-rubber cultivation there. The 

 soil and climate have been found especially suitable for the rapid 

 growth of this tree, and the success already achieved is pheno- 

 menal. The premier company, Selangor, formed in 1899, paid 

 a dividend of 75 per cent, for 1908, and is calculated to have 

 earned one of 250 per cent, for the year just closed. Such 

 extraordinary profits are of course partly due to the high 

 market price of raw rubber at the present time, but partly 

 also to increased output. No estate, as yet, has reached its 

 full producing capacity. 



Over 300,000 acres are now under Para rubber in the Malay 

 States. Its cultivation has also extended to Java, Sumatra, 

 Borneo, etc. At least 600,000 acres must now be planted with 

 Hevea in the Middle East. 



Attention in certain quarters has been redirected to Ceara 

 rubber {Manihot Glaziovii)} As this small tree will grow on 

 dry ground where Hevea would not flourish, and as it produces 

 good caoutchouc at an early age, it may perhaps become of 

 some importance as a source of cultivated rubber. It is being- 

 planted largely in German East Africa, Nyasaland, and the 

 Zanzibar Protectorate. 



Rambong rubber (Ficus elasticci) has received from the 



1 Three other species of Manihot {M. dichotomy M. heptaphylla and 

 M. piauhyensis) are now attracting attention as rubber plants. It is too early yet 

 to decide as to whether any of them may be superior to M. Glasioviiiox cultivation. 



