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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 cultivation of 

 the Para kind (Hevea brasiliensis), the kind that is now almost ex- 

 clusively attended to. Seed was then all but impossible to obtain, 

 and though a small 'boom' in this product took place in Ceylon 

 in 1898-9, the supply of seed was too small to allow it to go far. 

 Only since 1 902 has there been plentiful seed, and the industry 

 has expanded very rapidly till now in Ceylon there are about 

 110,077 acres, in Malaya about 60,000, and in other countries pro- 

 bably 46,000, say 200,000 acres in all, to say nothing of perhaps 

 100,000 acres of Castilloa elastica in Mexico. 



The primitive methods of tapping the trees in V's with a ham- 

 mer and chisel have now gone out, and the 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 ad- 

 vantage of the wound-response discovered by the writer in 1897, 

 and worked out in detail by Mr. Parkin in Ceylon in 1898-9. 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-Northway 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 150 

 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 mar- 

 ket in the form of 'biscuits' — fiat pancakes about 10 inches in 

 diameter. The Malayan has mostly been in ' sheets' about 2 feet 

 long. But both these forms seemed destined to disappear in fa- 

 vour 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 Malayan rubber has been obtaining higher 

 prices per pound than any of the 'wild' rubbers, even 'fine Para' 



