42 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[November i, 1906. 



It was regarded as the best sample of rubber in the show. 

 Rubber was shown by Lowlands, Vallambrosa, Golden Hope, 

 and other estates. Cups were awarded to Highlands and 

 Lowlands estate for Para sheet and rambong (/-'idts) rubber ; 

 Lanadron estate for Para biscuits, Parii crepe and ParA rul)- 

 ber packed in boxes ; Bertram estate, for Pard scraj). 

 Denion,strations were given by the Federated Engineering 

 Co., of Kuala Lumpur, with their washing machines, in the 

 production of crude rubber. It was e.xpected that the rub- 

 ber exhibits would be forwarded to the Ceylon rubber ex- 

 hibition. 



At the agri-horticultural show held bj- the local branch of 

 the Ceylon Agricultural Society, in Kurunegala district, on 

 August 23, some excellent samples of rubber were exhibited, 

 though there were few competitors for the two prizes offered. 

 The gold medal for Pard biscuits was won by A. S. Long 

 Price, of Delwita estate. Mr. Holloway, of Kepitigala, was 

 awarded the prize for scrap rubber, for really excellent ex- 

 hibits. Among the samples not shown for competition were 

 some Ceara biscuits, brought in by Mr. E. Scott, and which 

 were very favorably commented on. 



VACUUM DRYER FOR RUBBER MAKING. 



A VACUUM drying chamber mentioned in these pages 

 some time ago as having been placed on the estate of the 

 Bukit Rajah Rubber Co., Limited, in Selangor, for use in 

 the preparation of rubber, is reported to be working satis- 

 factorily. It is of a size to receive 120 pounds of wet rubber 

 at a charge, about 2 hours being required for the drying of 

 sheets or biscuits. Samples of rubber so dried and sent to 

 London were favorably reported on and are said to have 

 fetched the top price. The rubber is of a somewhat lighter 

 color than air dried rubber. More recently three other es- 

 tates in the Far East have been supplied with vacuum driers 

 for rubber. One of them, the Lanadron Estate, Limited, 

 was awarded a prize for vacuum cured Para crepe rubber at 

 the recent agri-horticultural show at Singapore. 



At Bukit Rajah the rubber sheets are placed upon perfo- 

 rated trays upon shelves in the heating chamber, and an air 

 pump operated by steam is set to work to produce the vac- 

 uum. After the steam has driven the pump it passes to the 

 heating shelves of the drying chamber and affects the evap- 

 oration. This is an economical method of working, in that 

 it largely does away with the fuel bill for drying. 



Assuming the quality ef the rubber produced to be all that 

 can be desired, there are two important items of economy' in 

 the use of vacuum drying. One is in the labor cost, since a 

 given lot of rubber requires to be handled and cared for only 

 a small part of a day, as against weeks by other methods, 

 and there is the further advantage of being able to market 

 his rubber so much more promptlj'. The other economical 

 feature is in the great saving of space as against the em- 

 ployment of the typical rubber drjMng room now in use 

 in the East. A single small dryer such as described above, 

 operated 10 hours, would handle 1200 pounds of wet rubber 

 per day or 7200 pounds per week — an amount of material 

 which would require a great deal of space for spreading out 

 on the shelves of a drying room, where it would require 

 weeks to become ready for market. This feature will be- 

 come of great importance when, in the near future, the rub- 

 ber production of the Far East amounts to millions of 

 pounds a year. 



FEDERATED MALAY STATES. 

 A NKW rubber planting company is the vSungei Kapar, 

 with headquarters at 49, Castle street, Edinburgh, formed to 

 acquire vSungei Kapar estate (i.wS acres) and Brafferton 

 (1000 acres), in Klang district. Federated Malay vStates. On 

 the first named property iioo acres have been planted to 

 Para rubber, and 200 acres, planted in 1907, it is planned to 

 tap next year. A large amount of planting is now under 

 way. The capital is $110,000 [=$535,315], of which no 

 part is available to the public. Mr. W. W. Bailey is one of 

 the directors. 



RUBBER PLANTING MISCELLANY. 



A CORRESPONDENT of Ihe Joi/ma/ of the Jamaica Agricul- 

 tural Society, writing in an unfavorable vein in regard to 

 rubber planting, mentions that near Sinis river, in the de- 

 partment of Bolivar, in Colombia, "there exists a rubber 

 plantation of Castilloa elastica, belonging to American capi- 

 talists. They have some 300,000 trees, and the plantation 

 is 15 years old. They began tapping in 1901, but it is re- 

 ported to barely pay the expenses of the place. This, too, 

 in the very district where Castilloa grows wild." The edi- 

 tor of the Journal comments : " It is a fact that of the many 

 American companies got up to plant rubber in Central 

 America, not a few were simply promoted by stockholders 

 for their own benefit, and have not been successful. But 

 this does not at all indicate that the growing of rubber is 

 not, and will not be, a profitable concern, even if only a few- 

 such companies have so far proved paying concerns." 



Writing of rubber planting in the Congo Free State, in 

 The Financier (London), Arnold H. Malet says that the 

 vines that are being planted under governmental regulations 

 are the Landolphia Owariensis and L. Klainei. He predicts 

 a good 3'ield when these vines come to be tapped, under 

 European supervision, and that the rubber will be prepared 

 with the aid of machinery, instead of the crude methods 

 now in vogue among the natives. 



The well known rubber machinery makers, Messrs. J. 

 Robinson & Co. (Manchester, England), offer for use on rub- 

 ber estates a two roll washing mill, with rolls 12 inches in 

 diameter by 15 inches long, grooved rolls being supplied for 

 crepe rubber and smooth rolls for sheet. This apparatus 

 does not differ from the washers used in rubber factory work 

 and their introduction in plantation practice is of interest as 

 being along the line of suggestions made by the Editor of 

 The India Rubber World while visiting rubber estates in 

 the Far East. 



Dr. A. H. Suggett, of Marysville, California, who is in- 

 terested in an important way in rubber planting in Mexico, 

 sailed from New York during the month for Ceylon, with a 

 view to studj'ing methods of rubber culture there. 



At a recent sale of government lands in Kalutara a num- 

 ber of lots aggregating 780 acres were sold to five purchas- 

 ers, for rubber planting, at an aggregate of 79,600 rupees 

 [=$25,824.89 gold], or an average of $33.10 per acre. 



The administration report for Kalutara district, Ceylon, 

 for 1905, states that the output of plantation rubber during 

 that year was 45><tons [=101,920 pounds], and that 88,667 

 trees were in bearing at the end of the year. This would 

 give an average of about i }% pounds per tree. 



Payment has been made on preference shares of the 

 Malacca Rubber Plantations, Limited, at the rate of 7^ per 

 cent, per annum for the half year ended June 30, 1906. 



