PARA-RUBBER CULTIVATION 605 



The Cicely Estate, one of the older Malay companies, 

 obtained an average of 6 lb. per tree from 9,000 which were 

 regularly tapped in 1908. The age of these trees varied from 

 about ten to five years, but a third of them were of the 

 latter age, undergoing their first tapping; consequently some 

 of the older trees must have yielded well over 6 lb. of rubber 

 per annum. 



From a financial or economic point of view a better method 

 of calculating the yield is by the acre. As the planting distance 

 varies so much, the average per tree is no clear indication 

 of the producing capacity of an estate. It is now generally 

 assumed that an acre of Para rubber, when it comes first into 

 bearing at the age of five or six years, will yield 100 lb. of 

 rubber per annum ; in the tenth year three or four times this 

 amount at least may be expected. Beyond this there is little 

 data available. The producing power, for example, of a twenty- 

 year-old plantation, which has been regularly tapped, can be 

 merely guesswork at the present time. The future may ha^e 

 unforeseen drawbacks in store or it may furnish still more 

 agreeable surprises. 



The Quality of Plantation Rubber 



The rivalry which is now commencing between plantation 

 Para rubber and the wild product of Brazil will be keenly felt 

 in the near future. The latter has been the standard caoutchouc 

 for a long period, and buyers can rely on its uniform, excellent 

 qualities. Manufacturers have their machinery especially 

 adapted for its manipulation. Its requirements as regards 

 vulcanisation are known exactly. It is the specified brand 

 to be employed in a number of Government and other contracts. 

 Little wonder then that plantation rubber should have met with 

 some little opposition at the outset. The surprise rather is that 

 it has come to the front so quickly. This early success is largely 

 no doubt to be attributed to the general shortage in the raw 

 rubber supply, but is partly also due to the great purity of the 

 plantation article. It can be used directly for making rubber 

 solution and is largely bought up for this purpose. Wild Para 

 has first to undergo the laborious process of cleaning. 



If plantation rubber had appeared in quantity ten or fifteen 

 years ago, it would most likely have had a harder uphill fight 

 to find a good market. The supply of Brazilian Para relative to 



