612 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



(JL 



In Burma the Government has decided to advance 100 rupees 

 at 6yi per cent, interest for every acre that is planted with rub- 

 ber, with the hope of restoring the importance of the industry. 



While the chief commercia; product of the Fiji Islands is 

 sugar and something is done in copra, the British administra- 

 tors expect that the new rubber industry will become one of 

 the most important. There are 225 islands in the group, 80 of 

 which are inhabited, the largest being Viti Levu, on which is 

 Suva, the capital and chief port. While there is steamer com- 

 munication with .'\ustralia, New Zealand and Canada and the 

 trade with the United States is by schooners, anxiety is ex- 

 pressed about American competition in Fiji, and still more is 

 felt about Japanese enterprise. 



Rubber conditions in Indo-China were in a bad state in the 

 last half of 1918, owing chiefly to the French Government's 

 prohibiting the exportation of rubber to any country but France, 

 which coincided in point of time with the impossibilty of secur- 

 ing freight steamers and the very unfavorable course of ex- 

 change. Besides this the carelessness and inexperience of many 

 planters sent rubber to the market that was irregular in 

 quality, and especially in appearance. The result was a crisis which 

 piled up 25,000,000 francs worth of rubber in storage and came 

 near making many plantations give up work. A few orders 

 amounting to about 1,200 tons, secured by the efforts of M. 

 Gamier of the Marseilles Colonial Institute, have saved the sit- 

 uation to a certain extent. The planters have decided to organ- 

 ize their industry better and to establish a laboratory at Saigon. 



Exports from Sumatra East Coast in 1919 exceeded by far 

 those of previous years, as is shown by the figures compiled by 

 the Medan Chamber of Commerce : 



The Hevea rubber exports were 96 per cent more than in 

 1918. The increase is due to increased production, that for 1919 

 being over 36,000 tons, while the 1918 production was abnormally 

 small, owing to the intentional restrictions. The stock on hand 

 was 4,000 tons at the beginning and 1,000 tons at the end of 

 1919. 



The Incorporated Society of Planters at Kuala Lampur in 

 the Federated Malay States, formed in October, 1919, has 237 

 members, and at the January meeting elected officers, as follows : 

 Chairman, A. B. Milne. Ipoh ; vice-chairman, H. Nixon, Malacca; 

 secretary, C. Ward-Jackson. It is the first association of planters 

 to be formed in Malaya, though there is a similar organization 

 in Southern India. The object of the association is not commer- 

 cial, but to promote the mutual welfare and to bring the planters 

 and the companies that employ them into greater harmony of 

 purpose. 



RUBBER TREE DISEASES. 



WHEN the number of diseases and enemies to which rubber 

 trees are subject are considered, the casual observer is 

 inclined to wonder how rubber trees manage to survive at all. It 

 is something like the study of a medical treatise by which the 

 reader can easily persuade himself that he has symptoms of al- 

 most every known complamt. Fortunately, however, as in the 

 latter case, all diseases do not attack every tree or every planta- 

 tion at once. To-day brown bast easily takes first place among 

 the enemies of rubber plantations. So far as the general public 

 is concerned, this is practically a new disease. In point of fact, 

 however, it has been known for many years, but only recently 

 has attention been drawn to it to any considerable extent. In 

 the old days when plantations were closely planted, it was a 

 simple matter to eliminate altogether trees effected with this fatal 

 disease. With the wider planting now generally practiced every 



tree counts for a tree, and, as every rubber shareholder knows, 

 the question has recently assumed considerable prominence. 



The first sign of brown bast is a big increase in the latex yield 

 of the tree affected, but this soon diminishes and ultimately ceases 

 altogether. The bark discolors and hard burrs appear, and if the 

 disease is neglected the tree becomes useless. The disease is 

 very prevalent throughout the East, few estates having less than 

 5 per cent and some as high as 60 per cent of their trees affected. 

 Curative methods such as resting, liming and manuring have been 

 tried without success ami the "iily rcmetly known so far is that 



(."The Rubber .-Ige," l.ordon.) 



Advanced Stage. Final Stage. 



Brown Bast. 

 of stripping the bark from the portions attacked, afterwards shad- 

 ing the cambium until a new growth of bark has developed. It 

 is obvious that a disease of this kind is likely to exert a powerful 

 influence on overproduction and should no remedial measures be 

 found its increase at the worst might involve wholesale replanting 

 of trees in from 15 to 20 years' time. 



Up to quite recently brown bast was described as a physiologi- 

 cal disease of the tree, the term in reality being only a confession 

 of ignorance as to its true nature. It was supposed to be due to 

 the effects of tapping and has been compared with anemia in a 

 human being. Recently, however, a mycologist in Sumatra claims 

 to have isolated a definite bacterium to which the disease is due, 

 and should further research support this discovery, the search for 

 a remedy would appear to be not so hopeless once the cause is 

 known. 



Among other diseases with which estates are troubled may be 

 placed in order after brown bast, the well-known Fames, Ustulina, 

 pink dieback, striped canker, and a new enemy called patch 

 canker, while it is well known that any diseased wood is liable to 

 attacks from white ants. Apart from brown bast, however, which 

 has so far defeated the best efforts, most of these diseases are 

 well understood and can be adequately treated if taken in time. 



ELCH GUM IN KURDISTAN. 



In the part of Kurdistan which is now in British hands, at the 

 head waters of the Tigris, a gum, resembling the lower grades 

 of gutta, is obtained from a tree which the Arabs call Buttom 

 and the Kurds, Gkraswam. The gum is called elk (elch) in 

 Arabic and is obtained by tapping the tree, just as rubber trees 

 are tapped. The tree produces also fruit which is used for food 

 and is pressed for the oil it contains. The elch gum is trans- 

 ported to Aleppo and also to Bagdad; it is used for sizing cloth 

 and as chewing gum, and also as medicine and in making arrack 

 liquor from dates. The trees grow only in the valleys and attain 

 a height of SO feet and a girth of 8 feet. 



