August i, 1903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



373 



RUBBER PLANTING GENERALLY. 



PLANTING RUBBER WITH TEA IN CEYLON. 



THESE pages have recorded from time to time the prog- 

 ress in the planting of rubber in connection with coffee 

 in Ceylon and the Straits Settlements, or the replacing 

 of coffee with rubber, on account of the declining 

 profits of coffee culture, and the feeling of the planters that 

 it is better not to have "all of one's eggs in one basket." Of 

 late a similar attitude in regard to rubber has been shown by 

 the tea planters, whose interests in these colonies are even more 

 important than the coffee interest. At the fifteenth annual meet- 

 ing (June 1 5) of the Ceylon Association in London — maintained 

 for the promotion of the sale of the Ceylon product — the tea 

 situation in that colony was reviewed at length by Mr. H. K- 

 Rutherford, who has sent us a copy of his remarks. In spite 

 of the energetic efforts made to promote the sale of Ceylon tea 

 [$273,234.86 was spent for this purpose in America alone in 

 1902 by the Ceylon planters] the lower price at which Chinese 

 tea can be bought gives the latter an advantage, even in Brit- 

 ish markets, without regard to any question of quality. The 

 production of Ceylon tea has increased rapidly, while the 

 prices obtained have declined, and the prospect for extending 

 the consumption does not now seem bright. After referring 

 to these points, Mr. Rutherford said : 



While I am on the subject of supply and demand, I would like to 

 bring to your notice another factor, a factor which I do not think has 

 been taken into account, but which I believe will be a most important 

 factor in the near future in the Ceylon tea enterprise. As you are aware, 

 during the last three years the tea proprietors of the low country have 

 been certainly making no profit, if they have not been working at a loss. 

 On that account, as you will remember in the days of coffee, when they 

 turned their attention to cinchona, they are now turning their attention 

 to planting these tea estates with rubber. I was astonished to find it 

 stated in the administrative report of the Kegalla district that no less 

 than 4000 acres of rubber had been interplanted among the tea in that 

 district. That is only one district, and if we consider what is being 

 done in other districts, I would not like to say how n.uch rubber has 

 been planted, but I would not be at all astonished to learn that from 

 10,000 to r 5, 000 acres of low country estates have been interplanted with 

 rubber. In the Kelani valley, Kalutara, and minor low country districts 

 there are 60,000 acres of tea. planted in land all more or less suitable for 

 the cultivation of Para rubber, and producing 25,000,000 pounds of 

 [black] tea. It becomes a question that is worthy of consideration as to 

 what is going to happen, for if we take also into consideration the possi- 

 bility of green tea being a permanent production, even if it does not in- 

 crease beyond the 12,000,000 pounds now produced, we are face to face 

 with the fact that if this rubber succeeds better than tea the whole of 

 that 25 ,000,000 pounds may in time vanish altogether from the black tea 

 output. 



Mr. Rutherford was elected president of the Ceylo.i Associa- 

 tion for the ensuing year. He is also a director in The Ceylon 

 Tea Plantations Co., Limited, one of the largest planting en- 

 terprises in the colony. The extent of their operations is 

 shown by the fact that they now have invested /24S 460 [=$1,- 

 209,129.49] of capital, the amount having been increased several 

 times since 1887, when the amount stood at ^75.000. During 

 sixteen years the net profits have aggregated ^587,598 5J-. 12,/. 

 [ = §2,859.548.70], and after paying liberal dividends, and writ- 

 ing off for depreciation, a reserve fund of _£ioo.ooo has been 

 accumulated. Part of this has been invested satisfactorily in 

 planting cocoanuts, and now the planting of rubber has been 

 introduced on the estates. These details, by the way are de- 

 rived from recent annual reports of the company. In addition, 



Mr. Rutherford writes to the Editor of The India Rubber 

 World : 



My company, The Ceylon Tea Plantations Co., Limited, have planted 

 up about 2000 acres of their low country tea estates with Paia rubber. 

 The work was started in 1697 and completed this yea*. The rubbers 

 are interplanted throughout the tea and thriving well. - -.- I am also in- 

 terested personally in the cultivation of rubber in the Klang district 

 [state of Selangor) of the Straits Settlements, and in that quarter of the 

 world the product promises great things. 



BATAVIA COMPANY. 



[Plantation " Batavia," near Santo Domingo, in the district of Cuicathin, stale 

 ic, Mexico, Office: Wells Building, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.] 



INCORPORATED March 12, 1903, under Wisconsin laws. Own 

 10,000 acres in the region above referred to, about 75 miles 

 southeast of Port Alvorado, on the gulf, and conveniently 

 reached by rail. When acquired by the company there were 

 400 acres under cultivation, mainly in sugarcane and coffee, 

 with 20,000 rubber trees two and three years old. Six thousand 

 shares have been issued, for each of which when issued, one 

 acre is to be planted and brought to a productive stage, while 

 the shareholders have an interest in the reserve acreage, how- 

 ever that may be utilized or disposed of. These shares are of- 

 fered at $300 each, on the instalment plan if desired. The 

 company purpose planting rubber extensively, as well as other 

 crops. The company is composed of substantial business men 

 of Milwaukee and elsewhere. The plantation was purchased 

 from Alfrado Oest, and its development was begun iy his 

 brother, Cecilio Oest before the latter became identified with 

 the Isthmus Plantation Co. Ceylon E.Lyman is president; 

 Charles W. Morris, vice president ; Vernon T. Wakefield, sec- 

 retary ; H.J. Paine, treasurer. C. M. Kendall, who is general 

 agent, was connected in a similar capacity for some years with 

 the successful Isthmus Plantation Association of Mexico, also 

 established at Milwaukee. 



NEW TOOL FOR TAPPING RUBBER TREES. 



A device for grooving or tapping India-rubber trees is the 

 subject of a United States patent [No. 730,299] granted to Fay- 

 ette S. Robinson, of Boston. It has been designed for use par- 

 ticularly on plantations of Caslilloa elastica. Briefly described, 

 the device comprises a tongs-like structure having jaws to em- 

 brace or partially embrace a tree, and an adjustably supported 

 knife adapted to cut the groove in the tree. When the device 

 is in position, the movement thereof up or down the tree, or 

 around it, causes the knife to cut the proper channel in the 

 bark. The construction of the tool permits the jaws to widen 

 as they are drawn downward, to allow for the increasing diam- 

 eter of the trunk. A vertical groove may be cut, or a horizon- 

 tal groove, or a spiral groove around the tree, as desired. W' hile 

 it is supposed that a single grooving knife will be used prefer- 

 ably, the plan of the invention permits additional knives to be 

 inserted. The patent has been assigned to Ferdinand E. 

 Borges, secretary of the Consolidated Ubero Plantations Co. 

 (Boston). 



LA ZACUALPA RUBBER PLANTATION CO. 



THE San Francisco journal, The Mining and Er^ineirirtg 

 Review, in answering an inquiry in relation to rubber planting 

 enterprises, quotes from a letter by Mr. O. F. Cook, of the 

 national department of agriculture, who says : " We visited ' La 

 Zacualpa ' last year and saw rubber produced from planted 

 trees. A report on the results of our studies is in press." A 



