Vol. XIV. No. 335. 



THE AGBICULTUltAL NEWS. 



The Shape of Commercial Rubber. 



The question of the physical shape of rubber to 

 be packed is discussed in the India Rubier Word/ for 

 January I, 1915. The disadvantages of sheets, slabs, 

 sausages, and pelles are pointed out For instance, 

 pelles or balls gather dirl and cannot be packed without 

 waste; crepe must be pulled apart, and a pound or two 

 torn from one end is not missed, h would certainly 

 seem desirable, therefore, to adopt a form of standard 

 dimensions, ami branded with the name of the planta- 

 tion. Rubber in such term would be hard to steal, 

 hard to dispose of when stolen, would pack without 

 waste of space, ami would he exceedinglj easj to handle 

 in weighing. 



The Present Supply of Textile Fibres. 



The subjecl of the present supply of textile fibres 

 includes sev.aal important points worthy ofconsider 

 ation. In Easl Africa, the German supply oi some 

 60,000 tons annually of sisal hemp has been completely 

 cutoff. In the Philippines, the Abaca or Manila hemp 

 industry has of late years shown a steady decline, 

 which has just necessitated Government intervention. 

 The jute output of India, as well as hemp from Russia 

 and New Zealand, have all been affected adverseh 

 through the war. On the other hand, the future 

 extension of wheat growing and consequent increased 

 -demand for binder-twine (for which sisal and Manila 

 hemp are used) will tend to improve prices in the 

 future. 



In connexion with these mailers, the following 

 references may be given as likely to prove helpful to 

 those readers who are interested in the subject: — 



(1) Hemp and other Textile Fibres: Inter- 

 national Rubber, Cotton and Fibres Exhibition 

 Handbook, lit 14: 



(2) The Fibre Market: \r» Zealand Journal 

 of Agriculture, September 1914, and after: 



(3) Cultivation of Sisal Hemp in the West Indies: 

 Agricultural News, April 25 1014: 



<4) Jute and Hemp: Section VI, Proceedings 

 of the Third Intern itional Com/res* of Tropical 

 Agriculture 1014: 



(•">) New Act tor Compulsory Grading of 

 Manila Hemp: Philippine A'/roultural Review for 

 October-December 1914; 



(li) Sisal Industry in British East Africa: Report 

 on Department of Agriculture, li. E. A., 1912-13. 



On another pace m t),; s ,—,,,. u ||] )„, | IMm ,| 

 in tabular form, a list of the chief fibre-producing 



countries and their exports: also practical details < - 



cerning the production of sisal hemp m British Easi 

 Africa. 



Success with sisal in Jamaica makes it possible 

 that the near future may see an industry established 

 in some of the smaller islands of tin- West Indies. In 

 this connexion, it is well to bear m mind the favourable 

 position of tlte West Indies as regards trade with the 

 United Stales, a country In which exist the big 

 monopolies for hinder t wine manufacture. 



The Production of Thymol. 



In the issue lor January L3, 1915, The Timi 



attention to the facf that hitherto the well-known 

 antiseptic thymol ha- been manufactured In Germany, 

 notwithstanding tic fad that ajowan seeds, th 

 Source Of commercial thymol, are grown in India. 



The plain which produces ajowan seeds belongs bo 

 ■ 1 1. Natural Order Umbel li ferae, and is known as Carum 

 copticum. The plain is cultivated from Bengal ami 

 the Punjab to the South Deccan. Ii appears 

 two products are obtained from the seed, buf the 

 Ornum water', which contains the thymol, is the more 

 important. 



Thymol is a better antiseptic than phenol 

 (carbolic acid), being less irritant in Ms action on 

 wounds. Thymol is also a useful medicine fo 

 expulsion of intestinal parasites, hem- largeh em, i 



In cases of Ankylostomiasis. 



Perhaps ajowan seed might lie profitably cul- 

 tivated as a minor industry in the West Indies: 

 though, of course, the point in question at present is 

 not one of production, hut one of manufacture; 



Influence of the Skill of the Tapper. 



[nteresting results of the experiments und 

 io determine the effect of influence of skill in rubber 

 tapping, as shown in the quantity of rubber obtained 

 from a given number of trees are published in a. recent 

 numberof the India-Rubber World (January 2, 1915). 

 In the experiments, fifteen line- of trees w re taken and 

 fifteen coolies were chosen, all of whom were good 

 tappers as far as one could judge: among the number 

 there was not one who could be described as a bad 

 tapper in any sense ofthe word, .and all wi re tappers oi 

 lone experience. < )n thefirstday each coolie tapped one 

 of the fifteen lines of trees, and on every successive tap- 

 pine- day each coolie was moved alone to the nexr row. 

 Thus at the end of a period of fifteen tappings each 



■ lie would have tapped the whole fifteen lines of trees 



once. The relative positions of the tappers in the Held 

 were changed periodically for the purpose of trying bo 



determine whether th der in which one man followed 



another on the lines of trees had an \ influence upon 

 the results. Following is the brief summary of 

 a inclusions arrived at: 



( 1 ) With a gang of good tappers w ho all lapa num- 

 ber of tasks ill rotation the same number of times 

 under equal conditions, iha difference between the 

 weights of rubber brought in by anj two coolies may 

 amount to over :!() per cent. 



(2) The gang may he arranged in order of merit 

 after a number ofperiods, and the variation of this 

 order in any one period is onlj slight. 



(3) [f the order of rotation in working be changed, 



the, tied upon the order of merit i- slight, the g I 



tappers still remaining the host, ami the worst tappi rs 

 still coining at the bottom ofthe list. 



(4) The deductions made from results of tapping 

 experiments previously recorded mav he considerabl 

 discounted on account of this factor of per 



which has been neglected hitherto, 



inly 

 onal skill. 



