72 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December i, 1903. 



important in quality. For a generation after the discovery 

 of vulcanization there was practically nothing available for 

 the " rubber man's library " outside of a single work each 

 by Goodyear and Hancock — books which now possess 

 little more than historic value. Twenty years ago there 

 did not exist so much as a trade journal devoted to rubber 

 interests. To day, while the number of volumes devoted 

 to rubber science is not extensive, a few books have ap- 

 peared which are particularly notable in helping to make 

 clear some of the complex problems connected with the 

 nature of India-rubber, and its employment in industry, 

 while in several journals devoted exclusively to the trade, 

 as well as in a host of other technical journals, there are 

 constantly appearing articles by competent men which 

 mark a distinct advance in our knowledge of rubber, and 

 which cannot fail to prove of benefit to the rubber indus- 

 try and all who are employed therein. All of this is the 

 outcome of expert investigation done in connection with 

 rubber, and in this utilitarian age such work would not be 

 persisted in for the mere love of labor ; somebody is bene- 

 fiting by it. 



We are far from belittling the work of the founders of 

 the rubber industry, none of whom were men of scientific 

 training. It is vastly to their credit that, imbued with an 

 idea of the possibilities of the industry, they struggled 

 against so many disadvantages and wrought so much. But 

 they were contemporaries of men in other industries who 

 groped in the dark and made discoveries often by acci- 

 dent. Constantly working with their hands, their minds 

 became trained through thinking over the results. The 

 more modern idea is to start with a trained mind, for the 

 better guidance of the hands. Not that every technical 

 graduate may hope to step into a rubber factory and dis- 

 place a graduate from the mill room who was at work be- 

 fore the college man was born ; he may count himself 

 fortunate if he ever knows as much as the older man has 

 learned about rubber under the old regime. But the time 

 must come when, with two boys starting in life together, 

 and both made of the same material, the one with a tech- 

 nical preparation will have a better chance for a high posi- 

 tion in the rubber industry than the one who laboriously 

 educates himself in the factory. 



•RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON. 



/~*EYLON is experiencing a veritable "boom" in the 

 ^-' rubber planting interest, evidenced by the organiza- 

 tion of many joint stock companies for the opening of new 

 plantations on an extensive scale. The new companies are 

 basing their estimates of profits upon the success attained 

 by a number of tea planters who are already producing 

 rubber on a small scale, and the further fact that consid- 

 erable private planting of more recent date gives promise 

 of equally good results. There certainly is encourage- 

 ment to be found in the early productiveness of the Hevea 

 species in Ceylon, as compared with the same trees in Bra- 

 zil, in the rate of yield, in the quality of rubber pro- 

 duced, and the high prices obtained in London. It does 

 not follow, however, that uniform success is to be attained 



in every case, or that all the promises of the company 

 prospectuses can be made good, especially where a heavy 

 initial outlay is made for some estate which has proved 

 unremunerative under other crops, or if an expensive ad- 

 ministrative system is planned. But every business is 

 bound to show some failures, and the prospect for rubber 

 culture in Ceylon, on the whole, appears distinctly favor- 

 able. 



The financial details of the new Ceylon companies may 

 be of interest to those engaged in forming rubber planting 

 companies elsewhere. The articles of association provide 

 generally for a " nominal " capital of a certain amount, in 

 shares of 100 rupees [=^£6 13^. 41/., or $32.44]. An " initial 

 issue " of shares of less than the whole capital is offered 

 for public subscription, to apply to purchase money and to 

 provide the first working capital. The intention is to issue 

 shares only as development capital is needed, through a 

 term of several years. The vendors of lands, improved or 

 otherwise, as a rule accept shares in part payment. Gen- 

 erally tea or coffee or some other product already on an 

 estate is mentioned as promising returns during the period 

 required for the development of rubber, though no definite 

 rate of dividend is assured. But estimates are given of the 

 cost of cultivation and management, and the expected re- 

 turn of rubber, so that, even in the event of a decline in 

 price, " there still remains a very handsome profit." A 

 circumstance favorable to the new undertakings is the fact 

 that the large tea plantations of Ceylon as a rule are owned 

 and managed by joint stock companies, so that the invest- 

 ing public there is accustomed to putting money into plant- 

 ing enterprises, and much English capital has also been 

 placed there in this way. 



The Ceylon press has properly advised some caution in 

 regard to the new planting interest. For example, where 

 company prospectuses, referring to current London prices 

 of Ceylon rubber, have provided for the contingency of a 

 fall of 2,Z'/i per cent, before the new plantations are pro- 

 ductive, the Times of Ceylon suggests that the figure should 

 be 50 per cent. Another suggestion by the same journal 

 is the possible danger of the rubber tree in Ceylon suffer- 

 ing from pests or maladies. Already some discussion has 

 appeared in that journal on the rubber " canker," which is 

 being investigated by Mr. J. B. Carruthers, the govern- 

 ment mycologist. Mr. R. W. Harrison, chairman of the 

 Kalutara Planters' Association, having objected to any 

 public mention of the matter as injudicious, the editor of 

 the Times of Ceylon remarks : 



Most of us remember the indignation of the cacao planters at the 

 publicity which helped so much to secure scientific aid in time to put 

 that industry on its feet again. Nowadays planters are better off, and 

 there is more prompt attention given both by producers and by the agri- 

 cultural department to the first indications of trouble ; but it is useless 

 to demand secrecy which would do more than anything else to under- 

 mine public confidence. 



It would be strange if the acclimatization of the Hevea 

 in Asia should be unaccompanied by some malady to 

 which it has not been known to be subject in America. 

 The transference of some other economic plants from their 

 native habitat has developed in them unfavorable condi- 

 tions which in time have been remedied by science, and 



