April i, 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



231 



THF PROGRESS OF RUBBER PLANTING. 



RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON. 



THE annual meeting of the Kalutara Planters' Associa- 

 tion was held on January 28, being well attended. The 

 secretary's report showed 34 estates on the register, 

 against 28 in the preceding report. The finances were 

 shown to be in a good condition. The report contained the 

 following references to India-rubber: 



Acrtage. — The acreage under rubber alone is 3123 acres, against 1103 

 in iqoj ; planted through the tea, 6759 acres. There are 49.484 trees 

 in bearing = 24J acres at 200 trees per acre, which have yielded 23^ 

 tons, against 15 tons last year. The estimate of dry rubber for 1905 is 

 30 tons. Extensions during 1905 will be about 2425 acres. 



Prices. — I'rices for rubber have steadily risen, and those estates which 

 have recently sold biscuits at 6j \d. per pound are to be congratulated. 

 A large quantity cf plants and seed have been sold from the district, 

 not only in the island, but to all parts of the East and, we understand, 

 have generally given satisfaction. The rubber canker, which was men- 

 tioned in your last report, is still in evidence, but we have no hesitation 

 in saying that, if the instructions of Mr. Carruthers, the late government 

 mycologist, are carefully carried out, there is little to be feared from it. 

 We trust that government will continue to carefully watch the disease 

 at their Edingoda and Yatipawa plantations, on the road to Ratnapura, 

 where the disease is said to be eradicated, and that they will take steps 

 to cope with it at Badureliya as well, where up to date nothing has been 

 done. 



The chairman, Mr. C. Henly, and the secretary, Mr. P. W. 

 N. Farquharson, declining reelection, the first office was filled 

 by the election of Mr. C. C. Mee, proprietor of the Neuchatel 

 estate, Naboda, and Mr. Inglis was chosen as secretary. 



» » « 



At the annual meeting of the Matale Planters' Association, 

 at Matale, on January 28, encouraging expressions were heard 

 in relation to rubber planting prospects, The annual report 

 contained the following paragraph : 



Rubber. — This product has come to stay. The prospects of this pro- 

 duct are extremely brilliant, and a large acreage will soon be planted 

 with it in Matale. The district, with its rich soil and forcing climate, 

 should be peculiarly favorable to the growth of rubber. The wretched 

 prices prevailing for Matale grown tea should be an additional incentive 

 to press on the cultivation of what is perhaps the most hopeful cultiva- 

 tion ever undertaken by Ceylon planters. 



At the annual meeting of the Passara Planters' Association, 

 on January 28, the report read contained the following para- 

 graph : 



Rubber. — Pari rubber was largely planted during the year. Over 

 1500 acres are now under this cultivation. It grows well, and there ap- 

 pears a bright future for this product in the district. The few trees 

 tapped are giving satisfactory results, and consignments sold on the 

 London market have fetched top prices. 



At the annual meeting of the Kegalle Planters' Association, 

 on February 4, the chairman reported 815 acres planted to 

 Pard rubber in the district to the end of 1904, exclusive of in- 

 numerable rubber trees planted through the tea. Reports sub- 

 mitted by the members indicated that the acreage planted to 

 rubber alone would reach 1700 during the current year. 



At the annual meeting of the Ambegamuwa Planters' Asso- 

 ciation, on February I, considerable discussion was given to 

 the subject of the damages done to young rubber plantations 

 by the villagers' cattle, it being asserted that thousands of 

 rupees were being lost owing to rubber being destroyed. A 

 resolution was adopted requesting the government to warn the 



villagers to restrain their cattle, and to enforce penalties for 

 neglect of the warning. 



At the annual meeting of the Kurunegala Planters' Associa- 

 tion on February 11 the report presented contained the follow- 

 ing: 



Rubber. — The product has been planted to a very large e.xtent in this 

 district during the last three years, and the prices obtained for rubber 

 sent out of the district have reached the top of the market. I-"urther 

 areas are being opened this year. 



» « • 



At a meeting of the Ceylon Board of Agriculture, on Febiu- 

 ary 6, the governor of the colony. Sir Henry E. Blake, who 

 presided, read a letter from Sir Thiselton Dyer, director of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from which the following is an 

 extract : 



I believe you have a good thing in rubber. Kew introduced it into 

 Ceylon in 1S76 at the expense of the Indian government. I hear you 

 have already 12.000 acres planted up with it, which is not a bad begin- 

 ning. Ceylon Pata rubber has fetched bs. id. a pound, which is the 

 highest price rubber has ever fetched, at any rate in modern times. I 

 hear from private sources that Manchester will take any quantity, as, on 

 account of its extreme purity, it lends itself at once to manufacturing pur- 

 poses without previous preparation. The demand for rubber is grow- 

 ing, and is practically inexhaustible, and Brazil is showing signs of not 

 being able to keep pace with the demand. I hope to start this cultiva- 

 tion on the Gold Coast, and I sent our man there, to Ceylon, to see what 

 was being done. He has written a useful book as a result. [This book 

 was reviewed in The India Kuhber World, February i, 1904 — page 

 163. — The Editor ] 



The Times of Ceylon contains an interview with Mr. G. B. 

 Leechman, of Colombo, upon his recent visit to the rubber 

 plantations in the Malay States, where he found the outlook 

 very bright. There was no means of estimating the area plant- 

 ed to rubber thus far, but it is certainly large, and a good deal 

 of Malay States rubber has now come into bearing, the trees 

 being 7 years old. The planters and the government have 

 joined hands to employ Mr. P.J. Burgess, of the botanical 

 gardens statf, in the capacity of rubber expert, and Mr. Bur- 

 gess will shortly spend some months in travel in Europe to in- 

 quire into the various aspects of the rubber industry, with the 

 idea of putting any knowledge gained at the disposal of the 

 planters at home. He has already delivered some lectures to 

 the planters both in the Malay States and in Ceylon which have 

 been well received. Mr. Leechman thought that in the matter 

 of employing a rubber expert the planters of the Malay States 

 were ahead of those in Ceylon. The Malay States planters are 

 also hopeful of good results from the work of the new agricul- 

 tural department, the head of which, Mr. J. B. Carruthers, is now 

 pursuing some studies at the National History Museum in Lon- 

 don, where the name of Carruthers is well known, his father, 

 Dr. Carruthers, having been an official there for many years. 



RUBBER IN REPORTS OF CEYLON TEA COMPANIES. 



The annual meetings of shareholders of a number of Ceylon 

 tea planting companies were held in February, and from The 

 Times of Ceylon it appears that as a rule rubber figured in the 

 reports presented and in the discussions which followed. Be- 

 low are summarized some of the details in these reports, with 

 a view to illustrating the nature of the interest which the tea 

 planters are taking in the new product. 



At the eighth annual meeting of the Ceylon Tea and Cocoa- 



