28o 



At a competition inaugurated by the government of South 

 Australia in 1890, in which prizes to the vakie of $750 were of- 

 fered for machines for gathering stones and stumps lying loosely 

 on the surface, only one machine was forthcoming. A field had 

 previously been prepared to test competing machines, and a 

 liberal supply of stones had been carefully strewn. The solitary 

 competitor proved a failure and the owner of the field had the 

 doubtful satisfaction of gathering up the stones again by hand. 



A Guernsey cow belonging to Mr. Riethrock of Athens, Wis., 

 holds the world's record for butter production. The cow is nine 

 and a half years old, and during the vear commencing October, 

 1904, she yielded 14,920.8 pounds of milk, containing 857.15 

 pounds of butter fat, equivalent to 1,000 pounds of butter. 



The world's cocoa crop in 1903 was 125,895 tons, which in- 

 creased in 1904 to 146,552 tons. 



RUBBER PRODUCTION. 



The total acreage of rubber plantations in Asiatic countries 

 at present is approximately as follows : 



Acres 



The Straits and Malay States 30,000 



Sumatra 5,000 



Java 5,000 



Ceylon 25,000 



India and Borneo 5,000 



Total 70,000 



This acreage will be in full bearing in 191 1. 



Allowing a yield of 200 pounds per acre, 14,000,000 pounds 

 of rubber will be produced by the above countries in 191 1. 



The world's production of rubber in 1898 was about 134,- 

 000,000 pounds. 



The present production is about 156,000,000 pounds. 



