42 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



| November i. 



The Progress of Rubber Planting. 



A 



VIFWS OF A CEYLON COMPANY'S CHAIRMAN. 



Ml IRE than ordinarily interesting address on rubber plant- 

 ing was made by Mr. Francis A. Govett, chairman of 

 Rubber Plantations, Limited, at the fifth annual meeting 

 of that company, in London, on September 29. It filled three 

 newspaper columns. 



Hi said that Ceylon has recognized that the conditions under 

 which rubber planters work there are not as good as where the 

 rainfall is more regular, and the growth of the trees must neces- 

 sarily be more slow. He thought Ceylon eighteen months, or 

 possibly more, behind the Straits Settlements and other similar 

 ions in point of growth. But when the trees did become 

 tappable, the yield was just as good. Likewise, the altitude of 

 his company's plantation was less favorable to the early develop- 

 ment of rubber trees than lower levels. 



Mr. Govett chose to deal with rubber yields per acre rather 

 than per tree. He thought that the yield per acre would be about 

 the same, no matter how many trees were planted; the fewer 

 trees the greater the growth and the larger the yield per tree. 



"In any closely planted field," he said, "at least half the trees 

 are going to be behind the other half, while some are liable never 

 to mature at all. You have an example of this in the 31-acre 

 field, where some 3,900 out of 6,400 trees are being tapped. Now 

 these are old trees; nearly nine years old. Of these, 1,500 others 

 are gradually coming into tapping, but the rest will probably 

 never be of any use at all." 



The current high prices of india-rubber the speaker regarded 

 as nothing short of a calamity, since the effect was likely to 

 be such a deluge of new capital invested in rubber plantations 

 as to lead to over-production, and consequent smaller dividends 

 on plantation shares. However, he did not think the danger 

 point would be reached earlier than 1915, and it might be that 

 the expansion of the demand for rubber might even then be 

 sufficient to keep prices up. 



"I admit," said Mr. Govett, "there are certain safeguards. 

 Many of these companies are sure to be mismanaged. A large 

 portion of the land may not be suitable. Labor is likely to be 

 wholly insufficient. Production is liable to be delayed by prema- 

 ture tapping, and so forth." 



As to the tapping system followed on the company's estates, 

 Mr. Govett said : "We have tried full spiral, with the worst re- 

 sults, and half spiral, which is less trying to the tree; but our 

 present method is that which is known as the half-herrir.g-bone- 

 four year system. The tree is divided into two parts vertically, 

 and one side is tapped up as high as possible at intervals of 12 

 inches. After 6 inches have been used up, the year's work is 

 done. Xext year the other side is tapped. The third year the 

 original side is finished, and the fourth year the cycle is com- 

 plete." 



The company referred to is not yet a large producer of rubber, 

 but has more than 1,800 acres planted, in addition to productive 

 fields of tea and cocoanuts. The share capital issued to date is 

 £55,000; there were outstanding already £ 10,000 in 5 per cent, 

 debentures, and at the recent meeting it was voted to issue ad- 

 ditional debentures of £11,000, in order to hasten as far as possible 

 the development of the rubber plantation, in order to make it 

 all productive before the era of possible over-production men- 

 tioned by Chairman Govett. The name of the company was 

 changed to Dangan Rubber Co., Limited, since the former name 

 was not considered sufficiently distinctive. 



CIOFIY ESTATES AFFAIRS. 



The favorable report of results of the Cicely Rubber Estates 

 Co., Limited, presented at the last annual meeting [see The 

 India Rubber World August 1, 1900, page 399! is supplemented 



by -"me figures presented at a recent special meeting of the 

 company in London. There had reached London from the estates 

 in the Malay peninsula during four months of the new fiscal year 

 22,595 pounds of rubber, of which 13.815 pounds had been sold, 

 realizing 7s. 2d. [ = $1.74.3], gross and 6s. g l / 2 d. [ = $1.65.2], net, 

 per pound. The company's £1 shares are being split up into 2 

 shilling shares. The Cicely issues of late have been quoted at 

 more than eleven times their face value. The company has 

 suffered a deep loss in the death of one of their directors, Mr. 

 H. W. Brett. 



Herbert Wilfred Brett, of London, who died suddenly on 

 September 28, is described by The Financial News as "one of the 

 most prominent men in the rubber world," reference being made 

 to his membership on the hoards of no less than seventeen rubber 

 plantation companies, some of them — Anglo-Malay, Cicely, and 

 Pataling, for example — being among the most important in 

 existence. 



SUMATRA PARA RUBBFR ELANTATIONS, LIMITED. 



The company reports net profits of £16,231 4s. yd. [=$78,989] 

 for the year ended June 30, after charging to revenue one-half 

 the administrative expenses, although the latter really relates in 

 larger proportion to the portion of the estate not yet productive. 

 The actual cost of producing rubber is stated at less than 6d. 

 [ = 12 cents] per pound, against 13.87^. [=28.1 cents] last year. 

 The average price realized for rubber during the year was 6s. 6d. 

 [=.$1.58.1] gross, or 6s. i.22d. [=$I.48K'] net. The dividend is 

 15 per cent. The company have adopted the policy of planting only 

 ico trees {Hevea) to the acre. This they recognize to be the 

 most suitable number, as trees so widely planted probably yield 

 more later, are better grown, and the bark renewal is more 

 satisfactory than on estates where close planting is practised. 



AN INQUIRY REGARDING "LANDOLPHIA." 



To the Editor of the India Rubber World: I am greatly 

 interested in a Landolphia plantation and I am advised, in view 

 of labor difficulties, that the best means of handling the same is 

 to cut the plants three feet from the ground, remove the bark 

 from the cut portion and by means of a decorticating machine, 

 obtain the rubber, which I am told is better and cleaner than 

 tapped rubber. I am informed that the cut portion will grow 

 again, and that Hevea and other trees can be grafted on to the 

 stumps. Is that so? Are there any plantations where Landolphia 

 is being cut and is growing again, or where other trees have been 

 grafted on to the stumps, or where the decortication of Landol- 

 phia has been a commercial success? s. goldreich. 



;t>, Cornhill, London, October 6, 1909. 



[If any reader is aware of the treatment of Landolphia vines 

 as here referred to, whether with successful results or otherwise, 

 The India Rubber Would will be pleased to have a report on 

 the same. — The Editor.] 



CEARA RUBBLR IN GERMAN EAST AFRICA. 



The East Africa Rubber Plantation Co., Limited, has been 

 formed in London, with £90,000 [=$437,985] capital, to acquire 

 three plantations of Ceara rubber {Man ihot Glaziovii) in German 

 hast Africa, now represented to be Hearing a tappable stage; 

 also, certain uncultivated land on the adjacent "Lewa" estate, 

 which latter is already producing rubber. "Lewa" estate is the 

 property of Deutsch-Ostafrikansche Plantagengesellschaft A.-G. 

 of Berlin, founded in 1886, with 2,000,000 marks [=$476,420] 

 capital. The prospectus of the new company states that "Lewa" 

 is now producing at the rate of more than 100 tons a year, 

 and that the product— Ceara rubber— has sold at prices almost 

 equal to fine Para. At the London auction of September 21 some 

 of it realized over 9 shillings [ = $2.19] a pound. The three 



