324 



THE INDIA RUBBER WOi^LD 



February 1, 1921 



COMMITTEE ON CRUDE RUBBER 



Superseding: "Special Committee on Uniform Crude Rubber Contract &nd 



Nomenclature" and Committee on Rubber and K.!ndrt>d Prcducts 



The advisability of appointing the personnel ot these cunimit- 

 tees was considered particnlarly in the light ol the possibility ot 

 an aftiliation of The Rubber Association of America, Inc., witl; 

 the Rubber Trade Association, whose membership consists ol 

 rubber brokers, dealers and importers. Representatives of tlie 

 crude rubber interests on the Board participated with particular 

 interest in this discussion, which resulted in the conclusion that 

 the matters formerly handled by the two committees referred to 

 might very well be given attention by a small committee of five 

 members, three representing crude rubber interests and two rep- 

 resenting manufacturing interests. The suggestion was made that 

 the name of the committee be simply "Committee on Crude Rub- 

 ber," which was considered to be comprehensive, and it was so 

 voted by the Board. The appointment of the persoiuiel of the 

 committee was left to the president of The Rubber Association of 

 America, with power to act. 



AMERICAN TRACTORS ON RUBBER PLANTATIONS 



MATKKIAI.JZIN-G in a sense llu- h(i])e of mankind that tlie 

 sword will be beaten into a plowshare, the American 

 tractor, which served as one of the powerful engines of war, has 

 ■developed into one of the foremost instruments of peace. The 

 sturdy caterpillar tractor which the Allies found so useful in 

 military operations is now being employed on a rapidly increas- 

 ing scale in the production of the necessities of civilization. 

 Particularly is this true with regard to the cultivation of rubber 

 on the vast estates in Malaya, Sumatra, Borneo, and other 

 places in the Far East, where much of the land is so encum- 

 bered with dead stumps and roots and tough underbrush that 

 plowing with oxen is practically impossible and clearing can 

 be done efficiently only with the most powerful tractors. Even 

 the most conservative estate managers, who have long looked 

 askance at labor-saving equipment, are being won over by dem- 

 onstratioiis of modern .Tsricnltural n'achinery and have placed 



Tr.\ctor Plowint, KniiiKR L.\.\u 



many orders with the recently-established .American tractor 

 agencies in Pcnang, Singapore and other adjacent cities. 



In a tractor trial a short time ago in Sumatra one of tliese 

 machines easily plowed up twenty acres of jungle-free land in 

 about five hours, a job which, it is said, would have required 

 100 coolies. The saving in labor cost and insuring rice and 

 other provisions for the workers was self-evident. Weeding by 



tractors is gradually supplanting the old method of rooting out 

 rank growth by means of plows and oxen, inasmuch as the cost 

 of oxen and labor is steadily increasing. Yet the tractor is not 

 intended to compete with either coolies or oxen, but to aid in 



r', S. Rubber Co 



-:^^'- ■■>-.- .» 



Tr.\ctor Pulling Sti'.mi's on Rubber Pl.\nt.\tion' 



their work. A large 75-h.p. American tractor has been render- 

 ing surprisingly good service in pulling tree stumps and clear- 

 ing jungles in Sumatra, as well as in doing general plowing 

 under most unfavorable conditions. Experiments are plamied 

 in breaking up the soil between rubber trees with tractors in 

 trained hands in a way that may not damage the roots close to 

 the surface. 



During the past year nearly 1,000 American tractors have been 

 sold in the Philippines, where the need of more abundant and 

 effective power for various kinds of agricultural work is con- 

 stantly growing more urgent. The tractor made its advent into 

 the islands just when the shortage of draft animals began to 

 cause grave anxiety, for, despite all the efforts to lessen disease 

 among the carabao (water buffalo), these valuable cattle have 

 been dying off rapidly. Nor have large importations of these 

 animals from Indo-China and elsewhere offset the drain. 



The labor situation is also troubling employing agriculturalists. 

 The natives bitterly resent the bringing in of coolies from Java, 

 the mainland, and other places, fearing lower wages or loss of 

 work ; and many employers are hoping for a solution of the 

 problem in the tractor, which will probably suffice, with the 

 native workers, for all agricultural needs. Another trouble which 

 the planters have long found a difficult one to overcome was 

 keeping down the growth of cogon grass, the grass used largely 

 for thatching, and which grows higher than a man's head, and 

 chokes up crops worse than weeds. 



Students of rubber conditions in Brazil believe that tractors 

 could be used in the .Amazon country with decided success. 

 Rubber trees are abundant, and will long remain so, but labor is 

 scarce and getting dearer. While the tractor may not be needed 

 at present for rubber cultivation, it would undoubtedly facilitate 

 plantation work if the latter he started ; and it should be useful 

 for food cultivation, making jungle paths for latex gatherers, for 

 hauling the raw gum to depots, and transporting supplies. 



Rubl)er growers and cotton raisers will watch with interest 

 the result of trials of agricultural tractors and self-contained 

 plows of all kinds, many of them prominent .-\merican types, 

 now being made in Egypt. The first demonstration will be plow- 

 ing medium land for cotton in the southern delta, and the second 

 of the plowing of heavy land in the northern delta. The country 

 is said to offer unusual opportunities for the sale of .Xmerican 

 agricultural machinery. 



