April i, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



227 



The Progress of Rubber Culture. 



PLANTING CONDITIONS IN CEYLON. 



THE Ceylon Observer reports an interview with Mr. L. \V. B. 

 Davidson, who recently visited Ceylon after an absence of 

 several years in England. He found that some rubber he 

 planted 14 years ago had been mostly cut down at a time when 

 those in charge of the property did not appreciate the value of 

 rubber. One of the few surviving trees, he says, "has just given 

 a crop of 16 pounds for the year." Mr. Davidson thinks that 

 where tea has been interplanted with rubber the tea will gradually 

 die out, and this will tend to keep up the satisfactory price of tea. 

 On one estate in Kahitara Mr. Davidson found rubber produced 

 at a cost of is. ol-id. [=24?'8 cents] per pound, "including man- 

 agement and all charges f. o. b." Mr. Davidson remembers when 

 the cost of producing tea in Ceylon was 2J/2 times as high as now, 

 and he is hopeful that the cost of producing rubber can be further 

 lessened. 



The members of the planters' association in the Kalutara dis- 

 trict of Ceylon reported at the end of 1907 having 23,060 acres 

 planted to rubber alone — an increase of 8,722 acres during the 

 year. The amount of rubber secured was 195,766 pounds in 1906 

 and 285,209 pounds in 1907. They estimate the 1908 production at 

 449,400 pounds. There are about 7,000 acres planted to rubber in 

 the district but not represented in the association. 



The Matale Planters 'Association reports 19,723 acres planted 

 to rubber, whereas at the end of 1905 it was estimated that in this 

 district there were 1,359 acres of cacao interplanted with rubber 

 and only 538 acres with rubber alone. The rubber yield for 1908 is 

 estimated at 67,670 pounds. 



Sir Thomas Lipton, who is so largely interested in tea plant- 

 ing, was a recent visitor to Ceylon, when he said in an interview 

 published in the Ceylon Observer: "1 intend materially to in- 

 crease my financial interest in rubber. I do not think there can 

 be a sounder investment. The uses of rubber will develop very 



much yet, and the talk of a substitute being found for the pur- 

 poses rubber is now used for is in my opinion all nonsense. Be- 

 fore I leave the island I shall have further involved myself in the 

 rubber industry, and I have already a fair amount on my [tea] 

 estates." 



In a recent lecture on Ceylon before the Colonial Institute in 

 London, Sir Henry A. Blake, formerly goV'ernor of that colony, 

 predicted that by 1913 the Ceylon output of rubber would amount 

 to 14,560 tons. The chairman who presided at the meeting said 

 that all looked forward to the time when Ceylon rubber would 

 pave London streets. 



Rubber was quoted at Colombo on January 23 at 2.30 rupees 

 l=74V3 cents] per pound, against 3-87H rupees [=$i.25J4] one 

 j'ear previously. For several months prior to January 23, with- 

 out regard to the decline in London, plantation rubber sold stead- 

 ily at Colombo at 3.30 rupees [=$1.07], owing to large contracts 

 made at that price. These contracts having been completed, rub- 

 ber at once fell a rupee on the pound. 



Ceylon and the Federated Malay States have been visited lately 

 by Mr. Fred T. Waterhouse, of Honolulu, as special commis- 

 sioner of the Hawaiian Rubber Growers' Association. His ob- 

 ject was to study rubber growing conditions generally, but espe- 

 cially as related to Ceara (Manihot) rubber, a species which 

 grows rapidly and well in Hawaii. An account of the Hawaiian 

 planters' association appeared in The Inw.\ Rubber World De- 

 cember I, 1907 (page 87). 



EUBBEH PLANTING IN NICARAGUA, 



The Tuma River Plantation Co., of Nicaragua, incorporated 

 under the laws of South Dakota, November 5, 1907, with $375,- 

 000 capital, have acquired an estate of 3,000 acres in the depart- 

 ment of Matagalpa, Nicaragua, near the city of the same name. 

 The company have considerable Castilloa elasiica on the ground, 



"Castilloa Elastica." 



[Top of tree about 38 feet high, photo- 

 graphed in August, 1907, after leaves 



"Castilloa Elastica." 



had fallen, showing appearance of seed 

 branches.] 



"Castilloa Elastica." 



[Seed branch, natural size,] 



Views Supplied by The Tuma River Plantation Co. of Nicaragua. 



[This view, of a man carr>nng two seed 

 branches from a cultivated tree, will 

 give a fair idea of the length of the 

 latter.] 



