Makch I, 1887.] l^HE TROPICAL AGRiCULTURlS'T. 



6xf 



li'i'Wi'l|-~li 11 



THE EUBBEK-TEEE PLANTING INDUSTRY 

 IN CEYLON. 



The result of a considerable amount of inquiry 

 into the present condition of the rubber industry in 

 Ceylon has led us somewhat unwillingly to the con- 

 clusion that for a time at least, the pursuit may 

 be considered to be in abeyance — if not altogether 

 abandoned by the majority of the planters who 

 were so keen about it a few years ago, There 

 are, it is true, scattered over the island a great 

 number of properties on which are now growing 

 Indian rubbei trees of various kinds, more especially 

 the " Ceara" kind, and on the selected estates 

 from ^Yhich we have authentic returns we find an 

 aggregate of 150 acres under this cultivation. But 

 if every patch of rubber trees in the country were 

 counted, a much greater area would be made up. 

 Generally speaking the age of the trees under re- 

 ference is from four to five years, and the growth 

 would appear to be in nearly all cases satisfactory, 

 say from 15 to 40 feet. From but one property 

 is there any statement to the contrary, and here 

 we find some five acres planted on poor soil at 

 an elevation of only 30 feet above sea level. The 

 growth is reported " poor and scanty." The low- 

 ness of elevation in this case has probably but 

 little to do with the unsatisfactory growth of the 

 tree, as is evidenced by the flourishing condition 

 of specimens in Colombo at even less elev- 

 ation than 30 feet above sea-level. The experi- 

 ments that have hitherto been attempted in 

 extracting the gum from the trees have so far 

 resulted in disappointment. There is, however, a 

 general concensus of opinion that the trees on 

 which these experiments have been tried are too 

 young to produce satisfactory results. Should 

 such be the case it only requires time to effect 

 a cure, and if the rubber can be grown in other- 

 wise unprofitable portions of ground it would be 

 well to conUnue cultivation with a view to pay- 

 ing results at some future day. There are one 

 or two points w-hich must be taken into consider- 

 ation in noticing the experiments which have been 

 made in tapping the young tree=:. As a rule the 

 test has been so much per cooly at so much 

 value. It must not be lost sight of that coolies 

 unaccustomed to any particular kind of work - no 

 matter what it may be — cannot do nearly so much 

 in a day when new to the employment as they will 

 after a time when they have got their hands ac- 

 customed to it. Moreover, in a new industry like 

 that under reference, the master is no more 

 acquainted with the proper modua operandi than the 

 cooly, and is unable to task the cooUes employed 

 in the work. 



The cultivation should not be condemned off- 

 hand, because the coolies employed in collecting 

 are unable at first attempts to bring in more than 

 J to 2 lb. of rubber. Methods, no doubt, would be 

 discovered after a time of causing the cuts or 

 punctures in the bark to bleed more freely, in 

 the same way as the natives induce the spathes 

 of the jaggery (kittool) to give out a greater amount 

 of palm juice than they would by a simple cut with 

 a knife. 



Though we cannot but take into account the 

 exaggerated tone which pervades the whole of a 

 letter we append which a native firm has received 

 from Java, we may without fear of being 

 misled take it for granted that the tapping of 

 old trees may without harm be carried on 

 76 



from day to day for some months at a time, a 

 process which, so far as we can learn, has never 

 been attempted in Ceylon, — probably for want of 

 some older trees on which to experiment. The result 

 mentioned from Java of 25 lb. per three-year old 

 tree in five months we look upon as altogether 

 apochryphal, though it might be credible did 

 the experience refer to large forest trees like our own 

 Ficus FAastica. The fact mentioned by one writer of 

 his collecting the rubber from the abrasions caused 

 by blowi of a heavy stick on the bark of the Ceara tree 

 remind one of the traditions of the old Royal 

 College boys in Colombo who used to break the 

 bark of the protruding and tortuous roots of the 

 common indigenous trees and wind off the rubber 

 as it exuded from the abrasions until they got 

 elastic balls nearly the size of those ordinarily 

 used for cricket. It has been urged with some 

 show of plausibility that our local Government 

 should encourage the growth of this common 

 wild India rubber on the otherwise profitless banks 

 of the low-country rivers, in view of the possibility 

 oi' its being able at some future date to issue 

 licenses for the collection of the produce, or at any 

 rate to create a value for land, which at present 

 is altogether unproductive. One of the lessons 

 learnt during the few years in which Ceara 

 rubber has been established in the island, has 

 caused an entire revolution in the inake of rubber 

 nurseries. When first introduced into the island 

 the seeds were sold at so much a hundred — ger- 

 minated seeds, or seeds with the ends filed to facilitate 

 germination — and in spite of all precautions a very 

 large proportion of the seeds were failures while 

 in contradistinction to this experience the seeds 

 the Ceara falling naturally on the surface of the 

 ground and left to their own sweet will, sprang 

 up like weeds under the parent trees and became 

 rather a nuisance than otherwise. Observation of 

 this fact led nursery-makers to merely turn up and 

 soften the soil, throwing the seed on the surface 

 and just covering with dead leaves, and a sprink- 

 ling of soil sufficient to hide the seed from the 

 direct rays of the sun. Under these conditions the 

 seeds seldom fail to germinate quickly even after 

 having been left for months, even years, without 

 any special care being taken of them. Of the rubber 

 creepers such as come under the variety LandoIpJtia, 

 we can get but little information from our planting 

 correspondents : no results further than ascertain- 

 ing the capability of a few localities for their 

 growth have as yet been attainable, though we hope 

 in a short time to be able to learn something more 

 about them, especially from low, hot, moist districts. 

 It is impossible to observe without regret the very pre- 

 valent disregard by the planters in Ceylon of what 

 at one time, it was hoped would eventually prove a 

 very lucrative industry, and the produce of which 

 is becoming daily more valuable for a number of 

 processes connected with electricity and telegraphy. 

 The fact of the matter, no doubt, is that facilty of 

 production and resulting profits were at first so 

 grossly exaggerated, that v/hen actual results we fa 

 ascertained by experiment on a fairly large sca/e, 

 the disappointment was correspondingly great — and 

 with rather unusual precipitancy discredit was thrown 

 upon the whole concern, and it is no longer thought 

 worthy of being followed up by cultivation on a 

 large scale. However, we still hope at some future 

 day to be able to number rubber amongst our 

 valuable exports, though we must confess that 

 at the present time there is not much to 

 lend encouragement to our aspirations. We 

 need ha.rdly say that however i^leased we 

 may all be to welcome the enterprising — though 

 , somewhat exaggerating— gentleman from Java; 



