412 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September i, 1904. 



A RIVER VIEW FROM KLANQ. 



came down again in torrents. We each selected a big tree, un- 

 der which we stood for a while, but ere long even that was no 

 protection, so we started for the railway station. We were now 

 drenched to the skin and the walking was very bad. We, how- 

 ever, caught our train, and in due time arrived in Klang, where, 

 after a change of clothing and a substantial dinner, we felt as 

 well as ever. 



I had hoped to have time to run down to Port Dickson and 

 visit Mr. V. R. Wickwar, who has a fine plantation of Hevea, 

 but I found my time would not admit of it. Nor did I visit the 

 Pears plantation in Muar, as the owner, to whom I had letters, 

 was absent in England. 



Speaking of close planting and hand weeding, I could not 

 but be struck with the fear that the planters have of fire. Mr. 

 Bailey, who once had charge of a large plantation in Johore, 

 told me that the fire once got into some thousands of acres of 

 his sago, and although he had 500 men of his own and 900 lent 

 him by the sultan, they were weeks in getting it under. He 

 had, by the way, some hundreds of acres of Ceara rubber which 

 were also destroyed. 



There is little Castilloa planted in Selangor. I saw a little on 

 Lowlands, which bled freely, but the planters do not care for it, 

 as they believe that either the Hevea 

 or the Fiats is superior. The latter 

 tree is of course a native of this 

 land, and grows to great size. There 

 are reports of as much as 100 pounds 

 being taken from a single tree. Ten 

 year old trees are said to produced 

 from 12 to 15 pounds. 



The time came all too soon for me 

 to say good by to the Baileys, whose 

 generous hospitality I shall always 

 remember, and the following fore- 

 noon saw me in a sampan headed for 

 the Sappho, which lay far out in the 

 river. I got aboard finally, and was 

 greeted by Captain Foster like a 

 long lost friend. The voyage back to 

 Singapore was uneventful, the sea 

 being perfectly smooth, and the tem- 

 perature bearable. 



Along toward evening we came in 

 sight of Malacca, but, much to my 

 regret, did not get a chance to go 

 ashore. In fact our captain being in 

 a hurry, did not even anchor, but 

 hove to in the open roadstead and 



there received the agent, the health officers, port warden, and 

 a few passengers. Here at Malacca is quite a large plantation of 

 Hevea owned by a Chinaman, who speaks good English and 

 who is the proud possessor of some 300,000 rubber trees. I 

 wanted mightily to have a look at it, but time did not permit. 



Again in Singapore I called upon Mr. Murray, a partner of 

 Mr. Bailey's, who had in the beginning smoothed my way 

 appreciably, had tiffin with him, at the Singapore Club, and 

 then hurried to get my passage arranged for on the Malta to 

 Hong Kong. By the way I took from Mr. Murray two bottles 

 of oil made from the nuts of the Hevea, which were packed as 

 carefully as possible and which were all right until the stren- 

 uous baggage smashers of the United States got hold of my lug- 

 gage — and then the bottles broke. 



I was also fortunate enough to have the time for another 

 rickshaw ride over Orchard road to the Botanic Gardens. 

 Here I found that Director Ridley's right hand man, Mr. De 

 Alweis, had made a set of photographs for me that embraced 

 the whole of their varied growths of India-rubber and Gutta- 

 percha trees. One of the most striking of these was the photo- 

 graph of the Hevea seed beds, in which the effect of various 

 manures was shown. The experiments covered the use of 

 poudrette, mixed lime and soil, burnt earth and leaves, cow 

 dung, and burnt earth. As may be seen in the illustration on 

 this page, the rubber trees planted with cow dung far surpassed 

 all the others in height and sturdy growth. 



The next day I said farewell to Singapore and was well on 

 my way to China, Japan, the Sandwich Islands, San Francisco, 

 and home; that in brief is the finish of my visit to the rubber 

 plantations in the Far East. 



On my way home I met those who were deeply interested in 

 rubber culture, as a future development of the rich lands in 

 French Indo China, British North Borneo, and Sumatra — in 

 fact, wherever there is the conjunction of proper soil, climate, 

 and cheap labor. Even the Japanese are preparing to plant 

 rubber in Formosa. In the Philippines there is little present 

 interest, as the shutting out of Chinese and Javanese labor 

 makes the installation and care of a plantation far too costly 

 to be remunerative. 



YOUNG HEVEA" SEEDLINGS IN BEDS, IN MANURE TEST. 



[No. 2.] Poudrette. [No. 3.! Mixed Lime and Soil. [No. 4.] Burnt Earth and Leaves, 



[No. 5.] Cow Duiik. [No. 6.] Burnt Earth. 



