July 1, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



543 



Some Rubber Planting Notes. 



BITBSEa SJAXOARDIZATIOVI IN IH£ FESEBATED MALAY STATES. 



MR. LE\VTO.\-ER.\IX, the Director of Agriculture of the 

 Federated Malay States, has been prominent in advocat- 

 ing the standardization of rubber. He has recommended 

 the appointment of two additional chemists to supplement the 

 present staff, with a special view to the efficient treatment of 

 the question. 



In supporting the proposal of Mr. Lewton-Brain, the "Malay 

 Mair enumerates various points in which the fact that the 

 average planter is not deeply versed in chemistry would render 

 invaluable the advice and suggestions of thoroughly professional 

 men. Among such points is the question of premature tapping 

 in order to provide dividends for expectant shareholders, as 

 well as whether age does or does not increase the rubber content 

 in the latex. 



The opinion is finally expressed that some very useful results 

 may be anticipated from the proposed addition to the chemical 

 staff of the Department of Agriculture, in conjunction with the 

 new experimental vulcaruzing plant acquired by the government 

 of the Federated Malay States. The information thus obtained 

 should, it is added, do much toward bringing about the general 

 standardization of Mala>-an rubber, which the plantation in- 

 dustry now so greatly desires. 



DK. &IDLET OS PEOSPECTS OF BUSHES CtJI-TrVATIOS. 



Dr. H. N". Ridley, late Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Singapore, recently expressed the opinion, in a newspaper inter- 

 view, that there is a great future before Malaya, the rubber 

 plantations of which are enormous as compared with Ceylon. 



As to manuring, he thought the time was coming when 

 planters wotdd go in for it scientifically and regularly. In 

 the same way as in the cultivation of agricultural crops, he 

 thought fertilizers would play an important part in rubber 

 production in the future. 



Referring to his recent visit to India, he stated that the 

 whole of the plains, from Rajputana to Travancore, was in 

 a backward way as regards agriculture and should be developed. 



With reference to processes of curing, he had seen Mr. 

 Wickham's system work and thought it extremely usefuL 



VABJATIOH IS atTALnr OP PLASTATIOS BTTBBEB. 



The report of the Rubber Growers' Association for 1912 

 speaks of the New York Exposition having been a great success, 

 especially with regard to trade. It is added that the chief 

 American criticism was on the great variation in quality of the 

 plantation product. 



At the annual meeting the chairman, Mr. Xoel Trotter, urged 

 that if lower grades were better prepared more could be sold 

 on reputation instead of on sample. He urged the standard- 

 ization of the lower qualities, attention to washing and pre- 

 paring scrap, and the uniform packing of various grades. 



With regard to the near future of prices, Mr. Trotter was 

 optimistic, urging, however, the necessity of economy in cost 

 of production, freights and dock charges. 



Mr. Xoel Trotter was elected president of the .Association 

 and Mr. John McEwan vice-president. 



CESTBAL FACrOBIES FOB SKAIX EtTBBEB ESTATES. 



The plan of central factories for small rubber estates has been 

 advocated by the Malajan press, and the idea has met with ap- 

 proval in the English financial papers. Such an arrangement, it 

 is urged, is likely to make for economy in working and for uni- 

 formity in the type of rubber produced. 



KB. lAJTPAED OK THE EtJBBEB OUTLOOK. 



Presiding recently over the annual meeting of the London 



-Asiatic Rubber and Produce Co., Ltd., Mr. Arthur Lampard 

 expressed his conviction that there was nothing in the statistical 

 position to cause the slightest uneasiness to shareholders. 

 Stocks in Liverpool and London at the end of December were 

 lower than in either 1911 or 1910. At the end of March, 1913, 

 stocks were 5,968 tons, or 1,530 tons more than in 1912, but 

 considerablj- less than at the same date in 1911, when the pure 

 was 6s lj4d, ($1.47> compared with 3s 8d. (88 cents) on March 

 31, 1913. Practically the whole increase had been in plantation 

 rubber. He believed that the drop in price would not be 

 permanent, and that it would not be injurious to the cultivated 

 rubber industr>-, though it might chasten it a little. 



EXFEELHEIITAL STATIOH OH THE IfADBK SE DIOB. 



Don Emilio Castre, a rubber expert who represented Peru at 

 the International Rubber Exposition in London in 1910, is on 

 his way, with a staff of assistants, from Callao, Peru, by way of 

 Cuzco, to the Madre de Dios river, where they are going to es- 

 tablish an agricultural experimental station in some place to 

 be selected by them which combines the best prospect of pro- 

 ducing not only rubber, but food supplies. Don Castre has spent 

 some time in Ceylon, studying rubber cultivation in that part 

 of the world. 



EAETEBS CBOP BETTrBSB TO EBS OF KAT. 



According to cabled returns to the end of May, the largest 

 plantation companies still show a progressive increase of output. 

 Thus the Anglo Malay Rubber Co. reports for five months 

 516,080 pounds, against 307,498 pounds for the corresponding 

 period a year earlier. For a similar time the London Asiatic 

 Rubber and Produce Co. shows 362,589 pounds, as compared 

 with 218,705 pounds; w^hile the Selaba Rubber Estates produced 

 161^28 pounds in comparison with 111,288 pounds. The Simgkai 

 Chumor Estates record for the 11 months ending May 31 a crop 

 of 253.214 pounds, against 98,249 pounds for a similar period 

 in 1911-1912. 



The United Serdang CSimiatra) Rubber Plantations (Ltd.) 

 produced in the 9 months ending Maj-, 1913. 800,976 poimds, 

 the product for a similar period terminating May, 1912, having 

 been 347,658 potmds. 



POUSroS OB TOSS. 



It has been suggested that the returns of the monthly output 

 by plantation companies should be published in tons instead of 

 pounds, the present form becoming increasingly unwieldy and 

 being likely to become still more bewildering to the reader as 

 production further increases. Forward contracts are already 

 made, as a rule, in tons, but at prices per pound. The long ton 

 of 2,240 pounds being about equal to the metric ton of 1,(XX) 

 kilos or about 2,204 pounds, comparison of statistics would be 

 facilitated by the proposed new form of return. 



A EUBBEE EZSG Uf LOSTKJSI 



The annual report of the Selangor (Malaya) Chamber of 

 Commerce for 1912 states: 



'Tor the producer, a serious development has lately taken 

 place in London, where the dealers and brokers have come to 

 an understanding, and formed a ring, making it impossible 

 for the manufacturer in the future to deal direct with the 

 producer." 



Should be on every rubber man's desk — Crude !,„,....- and 

 Compounding Ingredients; Rubber Country of the -Amazon; 

 Rubber Trade Directorv of the W^orld. 



