258 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



August 15, 1914. 



Rubber proiluction iiffords anuther interesting 

 ■case. When most of the rubber used in the manufac- 

 tures was Fine Hard Para, that is to say, when Hevea 

 rubber was obtained from Brazil only, the giade was 

 uniform and the expression 'Fine Hard Para" was 

 adequate for tlie purpose of the market. But now that 

 the Eastern source of supply has appeared, 'Fine Hard 

 Para" is almost as unscientific in the rubber industry 

 as 'Dutch colon)' standard" was in the sugar trade, 

 because it is undoubtedly the case that some, at 

 least, of the Malayan rubber is of (juite as good quality 

 AS the material exported f)-om the Amazon. And 

 another aspect to be considered is that the modern 

 rubber industry varies from one manufacturing concern 

 to ancjther as to the e.xact kind of rubber it wants, so 

 that obviously any classification which is not based on 

 the factors that the manufacturers pay attention to in 

 turning out their goods is extremely unsatisfactory to 

 both grower anfl maTiufactui-rr. 



This situation has, in regard to rubber pr<;iduction, 

 led the Malayan authorities to institute at Kuala 

 Lumpur a standardization plant consisting essentially ijf 

 a volcanisation apparatus — -for it is the manner in which 

 crude rubber unites with sulphur that largely determines 

 in a general way its value for connnercial manufacture. 

 By means of this plant^and it may be added that 

 another of a similar kind has just bfen installed at tht' 

 Imperial Institute, London — the Government will be 

 able to assist the growers and inform each estate as to 

 the real commercial value of the rubber it product's. 

 This, in cases where the prodi;ce is found to lie interior, 

 -or observed even to fluctuate, will lead to the intrixluc- 

 tion of improved or only perhaps merely uiurc unifirni 

 methods of coagulation and other kinds of treatnienr, 

 and eventually residt in an entirely new state of atfaii-s 

 where the consignments will be shipped eummercially 

 graded — not merely agriculturally gi-aded — and with 

 that protection as regai'ds its sale which standardization 

 ■ obviously supplies. 



A part of the subject of st;uidai-di/..it ion which 

 more iuniiediately conci'rns us at the moment 

 in the West Indies is its relation to the growing 

 and selling of cotton. Mi-. J. W. ^SlcConnel in 

 a paper read recently 1» fore tin' International ( 'on- 

 gl-e.ss of Tropical Agricultuie, has suggested that the 

 principle of commercial standardization shoidd be 

 similarly applied to cotton. In his own words: ' 1 suggest 

 that arrangements ought to be made, either at the 

 Imperial Institute or in Manchester (perhaps preferably 

 in Manchester) .so that small quantities of cotton can 

 be practically teste<l under conditions resembling those 



of an ordinary mill. In experienced hands a trustworthy 

 te.st can be made with a pound weight of cotton, or even 

 less. If some such practical testing were regularly avail- 

 able, it would greatly assist the .scientific graders and 

 laboratory workers in cotton-growing countries, because 

 they would not I'mly be able to send small samples to 

 be submitted to the test — they woulfl also beenableil to 

 bring their laboratory experiments on single bolls and 

 single fibres into closer relation with mill practice than 

 is now possible.' 



The difficulty with cotton at the present time 

 is the liability on the part of growers to create 

 false standards, due to their imperfectly under- 

 standing the leal needs of the spinners. Diffi- 

 culties,, too, arise from a misunderstanding of the 

 terms used in the grading of cotton; frequently these 

 terms are not self-explantory: for example, strength and 

 fineness may from the manufacturers standpoint, 

 include factors other than actual strength and small 

 diameter of fibre. It is obvious then that Mr. McConners 

 suggestion provides a means that should assist the 

 growers very much. It sliould l)e of very great value 

 first and foremost in the selection ot cotton, and 

 secondly such a standardizing plant as the one referred 

 to should, as in the case of rubber, enable the o-rower 

 to form a fairly accurate estimate, say on the basis of 

 the selling price of American Upland cotton, as to what 

 any particulai- consignment should bring per lb. on the 

 open market. 



It may be agreed then that the adojDticjn of the 

 method would serve several useful ptn-poses, but it is 

 a matter for consideration whether each ct)tton growing 

 coiuitry might not possess its own testing station. It 

 may be granted that the Imperial Institute would in 

 many ways be a good centre, but if dii-ectly under the 

 control of local Governments in the colonies, the testing 

 stations would no doubt be more fully and efficiently 

 I'm ployed for selection work on the estates, since the 

 testing authoi-ities and the growers would be in clo.se 

 contact. It is, however, largely a question of expense. 

 No istiinate is yet available as to what a cotton-testing 

 plant would cost: but if as Mr. McConnel says, so small 

 a quantity as 1 H). can be used, the size of the machine 

 would 1»' small and therefore probably not prohibitive 

 in price. It will be interesting to have further inform- 

 ation on the subject, and as Mr. McConnel intends to 

 take action in the matter, we shall in all probability 

 in the coiu'se of a few months be able to furnish readers 

 of this jouinal with further details. 



