Feuruary 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



23S 



Some Notes on Rubber Planting. 



riVE TONS OF RUBBER STOLEN. 



ACCORDING to details received, the United Temiang Rub- 

 ber Estates (Limited), State of Negri Sembilan, Federa- 

 ted Malay States, had met with a loss which reduced its 

 shipments for the year ending July 31, 1911, from 35,839 pounds 

 (as they should have been, according to the total of the monthly 

 outputs) to 25,702 pounds. This loss of about five tons was 

 caused by the stealing of the rubber which had accumulated dur- 

 ing the erection of the factory, now completed. 



POSSIBLE PROHIBITION OF COOLIE LABOR IN MALAY STATES. 



It is reported from Singapore that a law has been passed em- 

 powering the government to withdraw the present sanction for 

 the employment of coolie laborers, this step being due to a gross 

 case of lack of supervision upon a rubber estate. In view of the 

 actual and prospective further importance of coolie labor in the 

 rubber production of Malaysia, such a change would have far- 

 reaching consequences. The action of the authorities will there- 

 fore be observed with interest. 



THE RECENT DROUGHT IN THE MALAY STATES. 



In the report of the Federated "Slzlay States Rubber Co., of 

 Antwerp, reference is made to the fact that from March to June 

 last, the drought in the Malay Peninsula and the Sunda Islands 

 affected the yield of all plantations in those parts of the Far 

 East. Fortunately, it is added, such a trouble is rare, no similar 

 instance being on record since 1898, at which time rubber cultiva- 

 tion had only assumed very modest proportions. 



FIRST TAPPINGS OF KAMERUN COMPANY'S FUNTUMIA TREES. 



The Kamerum-Kautschuk-Compagnie A. G., at the recent 

 Berlin meeting, reported that about 4,500 acres were under cul- 

 tivation; the number of trees including 1,740,000 Kickxia (Fun- 

 tuinta) and 240,000 Hevea. During last summer, the oldest 

 Funtumias (planted in 1906-7) were tapped; the average re- 

 sult being about J^ oz. per tree. Encouragement is expressed 

 at the prospects indicated by the results of these first tappings. 



COOLIE CATCHING AND RUBBER PRODUCTION. 



The fact that the total number of coolies arriving in Ceylon 

 for the seven months ending July 31 was only 48,653, while 

 Malayan arrivals in the si.x months ending- June 30 numbered 

 54,602, has been commented upon in the "Malay Mail" as illus- 

 trating the progress of the younger country. It is added that the 

 inducements which contributed to this result ought to achieve 

 much more in the future ; this being particularly the case as to 

 free passages, as well as the efforts of planters to make the 

 lives of their estate coolies more than merely bearable. 



HEXAGONAL PLANTING. 



In a statement made at the recent meeting of the Tandjong 

 Rubber Company, whose property is situated on the East Coast 

 of Sumatra, Mr. Victor Ris, the agent who had lately visited 

 the plantation, reported that it is planted 21 feet by 21 feet in 

 hexagons, each tree forming the center of a circle divisible by 

 the radius into six equal parts. In ordinary planting in squares 

 where all the sides of the squares are 21 feet, 99 trees are 

 planted to the acre, while by hexagonal planting the number is 

 increased to 115, each tree being exactly 21 feet from the 

 other. The only difference is that the row is about 18 feet dis- 

 tant from the next one. 



SCOTTISH MALAY RUBBER CO.. LTD., (FEDERATED MALAY STATES). 



Registered February, 1906 ; planted area, 1,577 acres. Crop 

 to November 30, 1910, 26,580 pounds; 1911, 88,411 pounds. 



COMPARATIVE RESULTS OF HEVEA AND FICUS. 



Dealing witli the above question at the recent meeting of the 

 Langkapoera (Sumatra) Rubber Estate, Limited, Mr. W. O. 

 Burt, chairman of the company, stated that until lately the theory 

 was strongly held in Netherlands India that Ficus elastica, be- 

 ing an indigenous tree, would in the end prove more satisfactory 

 than Hevea, owing to its hardness and immunity from disease. 

 Results have, however, shown that regular yields cannot be de- 

 pended upon from Ficus, the very best yields of that variety be- 

 ing much poorer than those of Hevea. Planting with Hevea is 

 now being proceeded with, interplanted with Robiista coffee. 



TEMPEH (JAVA) RUBBER. 



Various facts of interest were reported at the recent meeting 

 of the above company. Mr. Brugmann, the Amsterdam expert, 

 had pointed out that while some of the ground is undoubtedly 

 high, judged by the F. M. S. standard, it is sheltered from 

 strong winds by high mountains. Mr. Turner, an English au- 

 thority, had stated that some of the best-grown trees are on 

 the highest land and that from the free flux of latex he had no- 

 ticed in experimental tappings, the yield would, in his opinion, 

 not be appreciably affected by the altitude. The planting has 

 chiefly been of Hevea, which policy will be pursued, as indicated 

 by the contemplated addition of 300 acres in that variety. 



DUTCH GOVERNMENT ENCOURAGEMENT OF RUBBER PLANTING IN 



JAVA. 



At the annual meeting of the United Serdang (Sumatra) Rub- 

 ber Plantations, the chairman (Mr. Arthur Lampard) referred 

 with appreciation to the fact that the Dutch government, with 

 the desire of developing the wonderful territory of Sumatra, had 

 adopted the English method and had extended a cordial welcome 

 to all capital from whatever source it came. With the object of 

 encouraging the rubber plantation industry in the Dutch Indies, 

 the government had abolished all export duty on cultivated 

 rubber, 



TAXATION IN THE FEDERATED MALAY STATES. 



Dissatisfaction has been expressed at the fact that the Fed- 

 erated Malay States, with a surplus exceeding $40,000,000, is 

 needlessly penalizing the rubber industry, by the imposition of 

 an export tax of IVz per cent., although such a duty exists neither 

 in South India nor in Ceylon. As Mr. Arthur Lampard has 

 lately remarked: "The policy of the authorities appears to be 

 that they consider rubber so profitable that they can tax it 

 without giving anything in return. ... There is no money 

 for making Port Swettenham into a proper port." 



RUBBER IN NIGERIA. 



Official reports indicate that under the influence of high 

 prices, combined with the opening up of certain districts in the 

 western province, exports of rubber from Nigeria rose from 

 1,388,009 pounds valued at $545,375 in 1909 to 2,634,023 pounds 

 valued at $1,558,455 in 1910. The respective quantities from 

 Northern and Southern Nigeria in 1910 were 519,943 pounds 

 and 2,123,080 pounds, the preponderance of the latter as a source 

 of rubber being thus illustrated. 



Much interest attaches to the experimental tapping of several 

 thousand Funtuiiiia elastica trees of the native communal planta- 

 tions, the rubber being prepared under the supervision of and by 

 members of the Forest Department in the presence of the owners. 

 Rubber of the first quality was prepared by means of simple ap- 

 pliances, easily procurable by the natives. The clear amber- 

 colored biscuits thus obtained were eventually sold in the English 

 market at within 12 cents of the price at the time of the best 

 Para, while the loss of weight through evaporation of moisture 

 was 37.7 per cent. 



