636 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[August 1, 1914. 



RUBBER IN BURMA. 



Vol. 50. 



August 1, 1914 



No. 5. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Editorials: Page. 



No Psychology in the Auto. Trade 581 



A Minor But Vastly Popular Rubber Sort 581 



When the Rubber Trade Genuinely Mixes 582 



Colombia Ought to Throw in Her Rubber Trade 583 



"One of the Five Largest Producers" 583 



North American Banks in South America 583 



The Fourth International Rubber and Allied Industries Exhi- 

 bition 



Illustrated 584 



Britain's Tropical Gardens and What They Have Done... 



Illustrated 591 



Cowboy's "Chaps" Now Bein.; Made of Rubber 



Illustrated 593 

 The Rubber Club's Annual Midsummer Outing 



Illustrated 594 



The Production of Sulphur 



Illustrated 597 



India Rubber Goods in Commerce 599 



\V hat tne Kubber Chemists Are Doing 600 



Interesting Letters trom Uur Readers 6oi 



The Kubber Trade in Akron 



By Our Correspondent; Illustrated 602 



The Rubber Trade in Boston 



By Our Correspondent 603 



The Rubber Trade in Chicago 



By Our Correspondent 604 

 The Rubber Trade in Rhode Island 



By Our Correspondent 604 



The Rubber Trade in Trenton 



By Our Correspondent 605 



The Rubber Trade on the Pacific Coast . . .' 



By Our Correspondent 606 



Lieut. Col. Arthur F. Townsend 



fortrah 606 



Mew Rubber Goods in the Market 



Illustrated 607 



News of the American Rubber Trade 



Illustrated 609 



New Machines and Appliances 



Illustrated 615 



The Editor's Book Table 



Illustrated 618 



New Trade Publications 



Illustrated 620 



The "Duplex" Collapsible Core 



Illustrated 621 



The India Rubber Trade in Great Britain 



By Our Correspondent 622 



Rubber Notes from Japan 



By Our Correspondent; Illustrated 624 



The Batavia Rubber Exhibition 625 



Notes from British Guiana 



By Our Correspondent 626 



Notes from Para 



By Our Correspondent 627 



Recent Patents Relating to Rubber 628 



[United States. Grc.Tt Uritaiii. France. Germany. Belgium.] 



Review of the Crude Rubber Market 632 



Rubber in Burma 636 



An additional cable is to be laid during the summer between 

 New York and Colon on the Isthmus of Panama. The laying 

 of this cable, the necessity for which has been brought about 

 by the increased use of the lines to Centra! and South .America, 

 will probably be completed by the first of December. The cable 

 is being made in England for the Central & South .Xmerican 

 Telegraph Co., and its cost will be about $1,500,000. The cable 

 steamship Colonia on November 1 will leave England for New 

 York. It will begin laying it off Coney Island, proceeding south- 

 ward at the rate of seven knots an hour. 



A L.\TE report from Consul Maxwell K. Moorhead, stationed 

 ^"^ at Rangoon, India, contains some interesting information 

 regarding the production of plantation rubber in Burma, of which 

 the principal features are given below : 



Ilevca rubber was first introduced into Burma in 1877, when a 

 small consignment of plants was sent from Kew Gardens to 

 Mergui. A second consignment was obtained from Ceylon in 

 1879. This was the beginning of the Government experimental 

 garden, the results obtained from which proved conclusively that 

 Hevca rubber could be grown in Burma. In 1910 the Govern- 

 ment sold the experimental garden to the Mergui Crown Rubber 

 Estates. There is on this estate a 50-acre block of 35-year-old 

 rubber trees. Girths of 70 to 80 inches are common, the largest 

 tree measuring 108 inches, and their average yield is 12 to 15 

 pounds per tree. 



The chief planting centers are Mergui with King Island 18 

 miles distant, and Victoria Point lying 220 miles south of Mergui, 

 distant two days by steamer and forming the frontier between 

 Burma and Siam. Weekly steamers ply between Rangoon and 

 Mergui, taking two days for the trip. Other important districts 

 where rubber has been planted are in Amherst district, near 

 Moulmein ; at Twante, near Rangoon ; at Hlawga, 15 miles from 

 Rangoon ; at Shwegyin, Toungoo district, and in the far north 

 close to the Chinese border, at Myitkyina. 



The climate of the rubber-producing areas of Burma may be 

 divided into four seasons, viz., the dry season, December 1 to 

 March 31, in which practically no rain falls ; the rainy season, 

 June 1 to September 30, during which 90 per cent, of the total 

 precipitation of the year occurs, 62 to 147 inches ; the prelimi- 

 nary rainy season, April 1 to May 31, when 9 to 24 inches fall; 

 and the declining rainy reason, October 1 to November 30, 9 to 

 12 inches. In the year from April 1, 1912, to March 31, 1913, the 

 rainfall varied in the several districts mentioned from 85.12 to 

 182.63 inches and from 113 to 143 days. 



While the rainfall is not as evenly distributed throughout the 

 year as in the Federated Malay States, there is no season of 

 prolonged drought, the dry season consisting of only four months. 

 There are also heavy dews throughout the dry months. The 

 mean daily temperature on the rubber plantations for the year 

 is 80 degrees F. 



The present area planted in Hci'ca rubber is 29,404 acres, and 

 the total production for 1913 is thought to have been 650,000 

 pounds, as against 510.000 pounds in 1912. The commissioner 

 of settlements and land records estimates that the area planted 

 under rubber up to the end of 1913 should be 34,544 acres, and 

 that the future new plantings and total production will approxi- 

 mate : In 1914—3,666 acres, production, 1,000,000 pounds; 1915— 

 5,278 acres, production, 1,500,000 pounds; 1916 — 6,660 acres, pro- 

 duction, 1,800,000 pounds; 1917—11,047 acres, production, 3,000,- 

 000 pounds. 



The exports of raw rubber, including wild rubber, from Burma 

 during the fiscal years ending March 31, 1913 and 1914, were 

 526,176 pounds and 765,408 pounds, respectively. 



The authorized capital of the rubber companies in Burma is 

 $4,063,690, of which $2,804,070 has been issued. 



The laborers on the rubber estates are mainly Indian coolies, 

 although Burmese are employed on some plantations. The av- 

 erage daily rate of pay is 16 cents for weeders, 18 cents for tap- 

 pers, whose task consists of 250 trees, tapped on the third sys- 

 tem, varying from one cut to three cuts per tree, according to 

 size. 



Most of the rubber produced in Burma is converted on the 

 estate into smoked sheet and pale crepe of various qualities. 

 Recently Burma pale crepe brought the top price on the London 

 market. 



