162 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February i, 1908. 



RUBBER PLANTATION TOPICS. 



HOW WIDE APAET TO PLASH 



'T'HE subject of wide versus close planting of Hevea rubber 

 * in the Far East continues to be discussed in The Financier 

 (London). It may be, says our contemporary, that in parts of 

 Ceylon and Malaya Hcvca Brasilicnsis will mature on the lines 

 of the giant forest trees found in the Amazon basin, while in 

 other districts development may (from causes of which little or 

 no knowledge now exists) develop sufficient dimensions to admit 

 of successful tapping, and fail, after say 10 or 12 years, to in- 

 crease to any great extent in girth. 



In other words, a new variety of Hevea, peculiar to certain 

 districts in the East, may be evolved, which, while yielding a few 

 pounds of good ruhber each year, will cease to increase in size 

 to an e-xtent, at any rate, which would not only render planting 

 up to 180 trees to the acre permissible, but, from the profit earn- 

 ing pomt of view, eminently desirable. But if the Hcvea retains 

 in the East all of its characteristics in the Amazon valley, it is 

 not easy to see how the close planting theory will work out 

 profitably in practice. 



Many of the most experienced planters, says The Financier, 

 are now advocates of wide, or, at any rate, less close planting, 

 and their change of opinion has not been brought about by any 

 other means than a study of the conditions which are likely to 

 achieve the best results from their labors. Hezea trees planted 

 24 X 20 feet, or even 20 X 17 feet, have, as Mr. Carruthers 

 pointed out in his 1906 report on Federated Malay States agricul- 

 ture, chances which are denied those planted 15 X IS feet or 

 closer. They are bound to get the benefit of sunlight all over the 

 ground ; when matured they are easier to work ; and at all times 

 the dangers from disease are lessened. 



On the whole, there seems very little to be said in favor of 

 close planting, for even if the trees, as already suggested, might 

 prove in some districts to be permanently smaller than those on 

 the Amazon, the increased ease in working the avenue system and 

 decreased risk from loss through disease are at least two factors 

 wliich seem to Ths Financier's writer of outstanding importance. 



PRICES OF PLANTING SHARES. 



In reporting on the rubber plantation share market for 1907, 

 J. Russell Grant & Co. (London) say that it was only natural 

 that prices of shares should have shrunk toward the end of the 

 year, with the decline in the selling prices of rubber. The mar- 

 vel, they say, is not that share values should have fallen, but 

 that they did not go lower. They regard current prices as justi- 

 fied, however, and remark: "With rubber at 2 shillings per pound 

 practically all the wild rubber at present available would be sold 

 at a heavy loss, while plantation rubber could be sold at a very 

 considerable profit." 



THE COMING LONDON RUBBER EXHIBITION. 



A PRELiMiN.\RY prospectus has been issued of a Rubber and 

 Allied Trades' Exhibition, to be held in London on September 

 21-26 ne.xt. The object is to direct attention to the great advances 

 made in recent years in the various branches of the rubber 

 interest, and of enabling the planter and dealer in the raw product 

 to cooperate with the manufacturer in this projected education 

 of the public. Provision will be made for the exhibition of raw 

 rubber of every kind — even the so-called rubber product of the 

 Colorado "rabbit weed" — and by means of lectures those who 

 attend the exhibition will be given an idea of the difference 

 between the various sorts and the distinctive qualities of each. 

 Incidentally all the mechanical and other appliances for the 

 preparation of crude rubber, whether on plantations or in the 

 forest, will be on exhibition, and their uses explained. The 

 machines and apparatus used in the rubber factory likewise will 

 be shown, together with an extensive collection of manufactured 

 goods into which rubber enters. The catalogue of intended ex- 

 hibits provides for "india-rubber substitutes," and it is to be 



hoped that a niche will be reserved also for "synthetic rubber" — 

 if any can be found — in order that the public may have a fair 

 opportunity to see how far their alarm at this bugaboo has been 

 justified. The committees in charge embrace names identified 

 with the rubber industry, planting, tropic commerce, colonial 

 development, and so on — a list which guarantees the bona fides of 

 the undertaking. The organizing manager is A. Staines Manders, 

 75 Chancery lane, Holborn. W. C, London. 



TWO NEW RtTBBER TAPPING TOOLS. 



Wh.m is said to be the best tool yet for tapping the Castilloa 

 rubber tree has been already described in The India Rubber 



World (April i, 1907 — page 219). 

 The cut used at that time, how- 

 ever, did not show the details satis- 

 factorily. The present illustration, 

 taken from the patent specifications, 

 which shows all but the handle of 

 the tool, is so self descriptive that 

 it tells its own story. The knife is 

 the invention of Mr. Charles A. 

 Lesher, of La Zucualpa Rubber 

 Plantation Co., in Mexico. 



Lesher's Tapping Tool. 



The "Secure" rubber tapping 

 knife is referred to as cutting either 

 pulling or pushing, and as being 

 capable of being adapted according to the thickness of the bark 

 to be tapped. ,\s will be seen from the illustration, the blade is 

 joined to the circular base by means of a bolt, and fitted so as to 



The "Secure" Tapping Knife. 

 rotate in a slide to any angle required. The circular base and 

 disc is toothed, and securely locks in any position. The pin has 

 a square shoulder to prevent turning, and the shank is riveted in 

 the handle. 



MALAYSIAN PLANTERS TO ECONOMIZE. 



The United Planters' Association in the Federated Malay 

 States, which had contributed so much to the development of the 

 rubber culture there, was formally dissolved at a meeting held at 

 Kuala Lumpur on December I, immediately after which a larger 

 organization was formed, under the name Planters' Association 

 of Malaya. It is intended to embrace members not only from 

 the Federated States, but from the whole Malay peninsula. The 

 headquarters and offices are to be at Kuala Lumpur. R. W. 

 Harrison, chairman, and H. C. E. Zacharias, secretary, of the old 

 association were elected to like positions in the new, to serve 

 until the first annual meeting, in April. The association is ex- 

 pected to deal actively with the question of importing labor, and 

 at the meeting above referred to it was pointed out that a neces- 

 sary st..dy was the reduction of plantation expenses. If rubber fell 

 much lower the situation would be serious, for already the outcry 

 at home [in England] against expenditure was extreme. Wages 

 are higher in Malaya than Ceylon, one speaker claiming that the 

 latter had an advantage of about 25 per cent. The meeting was 

 attended by 30 planters, representing eleven local associations. 



RUBBER PLANTERS OF MEXICO. 



Mr. William Vernon Backus, of Mexico City, who presided 

 at the recent meeting at which vias organized the Rubber Planters' 

 Association of Mexico, and to whom was delegated the selection 

 of a secretary, notifies the appointment of Mr. William A. Jones, 

 of Mexico City, to that position. The first regular meeting of 

 the association is scheduled for February 12. 



