4U 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Decembee 21), 1906. 



THE CEYLON RUBBER EXHIBITION, 1906. 



The following brief account of the Ceylon Rubber 

 Exhibition, which was referred to in the Agricultural 

 Neivs (Vol. V, p. 37" K ha.s been forwarded for publica- 

 tion by Dr. J. C. Willis, Director, Royal Botanic 

 Gardens, Ceylon : — 



An extremely successful Exbibitioii of Paibber has lately 

 been held (September 13-27) in the Eoyal Botanic Garden.s 

 at Peradeniya, Ceylon, and marks a distinct stage in the 

 progress of this great new industry, an industry which owes 

 its inception and progress entirely to the forethought and aid 

 of scientific men at the various Botanic Gardens of Kew, 

 Ceylon, and Singapore. 



P^xtensive buildings were erected in the Kandyan (or 

 Sinhalese mountaineer) style of architecture, and were well 

 filled with exhibits of raw rubber in its different forms from 

 the i)lantations of Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, and India, 

 tools for the tapping and collecting of latex, manufactured 

 rubber and rubber goods, and other things, besides exhibits 

 of raw rubbers from all corners of the globe. Two large 

 .sheds were also filled with machinery for the treatment of 

 the latex, and there were interesting side-shows as well. 

 We do not propose to go into detail as to the exhibits, 

 but to give some of the chief facts connected with the 

 industry, and some of the chief lessons learnt at the exhibition. 

 Ten years ago there was practically no rubber in cultiva- 

 of the Para kind (Hcvea Irasiliensis), the kind that is now 

 almost e.xclusively attended to. Seed was then all but 

 impossible to obtain, and though a small ' boom ' in this 

 product took place in Ceylon in 189S-9, the supply of seed 

 was too small to allow it to go far. Only since 1902 has 

 there been plentiful seed, and the industry has expanded very 

 rapidly till now in Ceylon there are about 110,000 acre.s, in 

 Malaya about 60,000, and in other countries probably 

 40,000, say, 200,000 acres in all, to say nothing of perhaps 

 100,000 acres of Casti/ha elastica in Mexico. 



The primitive methods of tapping the trees in Vs with 

 a hammer and chisel have now gone out, and tlie favourite 

 methods are to cut spirals or herring-bones on the trees, and 

 pare the edges of the cuts at intervals of from two to ten 

 days, thus getting the advantage of the wound-response 

 discovered by the writer in 1S97, and worked out in detail 

 by ilr. Parkin in Ceylon in 189S-9. The second tapping of 

 a given area gives more latex than the first, and the amount 

 often continues to increase for some time. 



For paring the cuts there were many knives exhibited, 

 and gold medals went to the Bowman-Xorthway and Miller 

 knives, both of which are simple, keep sharp, and pare thin 

 shavings without any dragging of the cut edges. It is very 

 important that the .shavings .should be thin, as the bark 

 should be made to last about four years before it is all cut 

 away, in order to allow the renewed bark time to ripen fully. 

 The yields obtained on .some estates have been 

 phenomenal, but it is probable that in many of these cases 

 the bark has been too rapidly cut away, and that a period of 

 waiting for the renewed bark to ripen will ensue. It is not 

 as yet safe to count on more than a pound a year a tree, if 

 so much : but even this means 1-50 lb. to 200 lb. an acre, an 

 amount sufficient at present prices to yield an enormous profit. 

 Hitherto the Ceylon rubber has mostly appeared upon 

 the market in the form of ' biscuits ' — flat pancakes about 

 10 inches in diameter. The ^Malayan has mo.stly been in 

 'sheets' about 2 feet long. But both these forms seem 

 destined to disappear in favour of block — rubber prepared by 



blocking the sheets, biscuits, or other form under high- 

 pressure. Some samples of block were shown by Lanadron 

 estate, Johore, and similar samples have lately been getting 

 the highest prices on the market. 



The Ceylon and Mala3-an rubber has been obtaining 

 higher prices per pound than any of the ' wild ' rubbers, 

 even ' fine Para ' the standard of the market, but pound for 

 pound of pure rubber is really getting lower prices, for the 

 Para rubber contains about 20 per cent, of moisture. Why 

 this should be so is one of the greatest problems before the 

 investigator at the present moment. 



Any one comparing a sample of fine Para with one of 

 any plantation rubber — Ceylon, Malayan, or ilexico — can 

 see at once that the former is more springy, returning more 

 readily to its original shape when stretched. The higher 

 price really obtained for this rubber ma}" therefore probably 

 he explained on this consideration. 



Now, is it because the trees are young that the rubber is 

 weaker, or because the rubber is not smoke-cured ? Is it 

 because the rubber is in biscuit or .sheet instead of in blocks? 

 Is it that it is too much dried (Para rubber contains 20 per 

 cent, of moisture) 'I Is it that it is too pure and too much 

 washed ? Or is it that it is not coagulated in the best way ? 

 All these, singly or in combination, are possible ex^ilanations, 

 and there may be others. 



There is no doubt that older trees give stronger rubber, 

 but that of even the oldest trees in Ceylon — thirty years old 

 — is not ecpial to South American rubber. Smoke-curing 

 (without coagulation at the same time) seems to strengthen 

 the rubber, and block ruliber, besides its saving in cost of 

 freight, and exposure of less surface to oxidation, seems 

 actually stronger than sheets or biscuits. The great dryness 

 of the iilantation rubber may also have something to do with 

 it, and experiments are now being tried by the Peradeniya 

 institution in the preparation of block from wet biscuits. 



To any one looking forward a little, one of the most 

 interesting exhibits in the .show w.as the vulcanized and 

 coloured rubber exhibited by Mr. M. K. Bamber, Government 

 Chemist in Ceylon. Mr. Bamber acts, not on the coagulated 

 and macerated rubber, but directly on the latex with the 

 necessary reagents, and then coagulates, giving a perfect 

 intermixture. 



The coagulated rubber can then be worked up into what- 

 ever is required in the ordinary way, and finally heated, 

 when it vulcanizes. One of the most promising of his 

 exhibits was the mixture of fibre and rubber. The fibre, 

 cleaned, is soaked in sulphurized rubber milk, coagulated and 

 then dried, and finally subjected to hydraulic pressure and 

 vulcanized, the result being blocks suitable for pavement, etc. 

 By this method, rubber can also be turned out of any colour 

 desired, and the colour will not wash or crack oflf — a great 

 advantage for children's toys. One of the most noteworthy 

 features of the exhibition was a series of daily lectures on the 

 various parts of the rubber industry- -cultivation, tapping, 

 shipment to London, vulcanization, catch crops, pests, etc., etc.; 

 and these lectures, with, the reports of the judges, description 

 of the machinery and other things, are now being put 

 together into a book which will form a standard treatise,* to 

 be in the hands of every one interested in rubber. 



* Tliv Cei/h/n Fiiihirr E.rliil'li!i,H HunMcik : by J. C.Willis, 

 M. K. Bamber, and E. 15. Dunham. To be obtained about the 

 end of the year from Messrs. Dula\i I'i: Co., 37, Soho Square, 

 Messrs. Wyuian & Si'us, Ltd., Fetter Lane, Londmi, for 

 7.S-. G(J. net. 



