November 1, 1915.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



91 



RUBBER PLANTING NOTES. 



CRUDE rubber, generally speaking, has not been injuriously 

 aflfected by the war. On the contrary, the war appears to 

 have benefited the rubber trade in many instances; this in 

 spite of the fact that one of the world's largest consumers of 

 crude rubber is cut oR from all sources of supply. In any 

 event, the war has caused some important changes in the 

 world's rubber markets. Antwerp has ceased, at least tem- 

 porarily, to be a crude rubber market and the Amsterdam 

 market has been greatly aflfected. London has become even 

 a greater center for crude rubber sales than it was before 

 the war, and a new rubber market has been created at Batavia. 



-Americans and Japanese are now purchasing rubber in 

 Batavia and having it shipped direct to destination. During 

 the first five months of 1915 the exports of crude rubber from 

 Batavia to .America direct amounted to 2,596,906 pounds, as 

 compared with 67,316 pounds during the corresponding period 

 of 1914 and 13,708 pounds during the first five months of 1913. 

 Batavia's direct exports to Japan during the first three months 

 of 1915 aggregated 191,571 pounds, as compared with no ex- 

 ports of crude rubber at all in 1913. 



On the other hand, only 532,145 pounds of crude rubber went 

 from the Dutch East Indies to Holland during the first quarter 

 of 1915 as compared with 1,572,973 pounds shipped during the 

 corresponding period of 1914. 



The difficulties experienced at the opening of the Batavia 

 market through lack of shipping facilities have been over- 

 come by the creation of regular steamship services between 

 that port and the United States and Japan. Prices in the 

 Batavia crude rubber market are based on London prices. 



EXPORTS OF BVBBEB FBOH BITRUA DURING 1914-1915. 

 The production of rubber in Burma is steadily increasing. 

 During the fiscal year 1914-1915 the exports of crude rubber 

 from this British colony amounted to 987,392 pounds, as com- 

 pared with 765,073 pounds exported during the previous fiscal 

 year. Of the exports for 1914-1915, 892,304 pounds were shipped 

 to Great Britain and 82,992 pounds to the Straits Settlements, 

 the remainder going to various other destinations. 



RUBBER IN SOUTH INDIA. 



The exports of crude rubber from the Presidency of South 

 India, British India, during the fiscal year 1914-1915 increased 

 50 per cent, in quantity and 19 per cent, in value as compared 

 with the previous fiscal year. Like many other countries, South 

 India is having its labor troubles. These are of a pecuHar kind. 

 The tremendous growth of the rubber planting industry in Ceylon 

 and Malaya creates an enormous demand for labor in these coun- 

 tries, which have been obliged to import coolies from abroad 

 and especially from South India, with the result that labor is 

 short on the plantations of the Presidency. Though the war has 

 caused emigration to slacken somewhat, it still continues on an 

 alarming scale, and several boards have been formed in South 

 India to devise ways and means for checking the tide which 

 is menacing the future of the local plantations. For the fiscal 

 year 1914-1915, in spite of war conditions, 49,028 men, women 

 and children left South India for the Straits Settlements, 79,757 

 went to Burma and 144,146 to Ceylon. During the previous 

 fiscal year these emigrations amounted to 117,783 to Malaya, 

 130,725 to Burma and 190,059 to Ceylon. 



CEYLON RUBBER PLANTATION ACREAGE. 



.\ccording to the Ceylon Blue Book for 1914 the total area 

 under rubber in the island amounted, in 1914, to 168,178 acres. 

 During that year 34,353,099 pounds of crude rubber were ex- 

 ported. 



CEARA RUBBER IN BRITISH NORTHERN NIGERIA. 



The hcrmattan, an intensely dry land-wind of the coast of 

 -Africa, has always been a formidable barrier in the way of the 

 cultivation of perennial plants in the northern provinces of 

 British Nigeria, and, according to the 1913 and 1914 annual re- 

 ports of the Agricultural Department of these provinces, pub- 

 lished recently, experiments are being conducted by that depart- 

 ment to determine how well Ceara rubber trees can be developed 

 to resist this dreaded wind. 



Ccara seed was sown at distances of 12 x 12 feet and germina- 

 tion was quite regular and uniform so that most of the saplings 

 reached a height of 6 feet during the first six months. At this 

 point the hermattan caused the leaves to fall from the young 

 Ceara plants, thus arresting their development. The experiments 

 will continue. 



MR. WRIGHT MAKES SOME ESTIMATES. 



Writing recently of the past and future of the rubber plant- 

 ing industry, Herbert Wright, editor of "The India Rubber 

 Journal," states that the world's consumption of crude rubber 

 has been increasing, for the past five years, at the rate of at 

 least 12 per cent, per annum. Though 1914 could not be con- 

 sidered a normal year, some of the world's most important 

 consumers of crude rubber being shut oflf from supplies dur- 

 ing half of the year, the consumption of crude rubber in- 

 creased normally. 



-As to the future, Mr. Wright estimates the total Mid- 

 Eastern production for 1915 at 80,000 tons. Regarding con- 

 sumption he believes that America alone will consume 80,000 

 tons of crude rubber, and if the war should terminate during 

 the year, Germany and -Austria would need at least 40,000 tons 

 to re-stock their factories and supply the urgent needs of their 

 population. In his opinion the rubber planting industry will 

 be in a much stronger position after the war than it ever 

 was before. 



PYHOLIGNEOUS ACID FOR COAGULATING RUBBER. 



Dry distillation of cocoanut shells yields crude acid of 10 to 

 12 per cent, strength. When diluted to 1 in 10 of water it can 

 be used for producing smoked rubber at a greatly reduced 

 cost. 



THE RUBBER SITUATION IN DUTCH GUIANA. 



By Our KcKular Correspondent. 

 .-^UCCK.s.^l-L'L IIK\'K.\ CL'LTI\".\TIOX IN DUTCH GUI.\NA. 

 'T'HE Compagnie Des Mines D'or de la Guyane Hollandaise 

 *■ is to be congratulated on the successful cultivation of 39,418 

 rubber trees, 9,000 of which will be tapped for the first time 

 during this year. 



M. Gufroy, the president of the company — which is located 

 in Paris— visited the colony as far back as 1906, and at the time 

 contracted the rubber fever. He purchased thousands of seeds 

 of the Hevea Brasilicnsis variety, and took them along with him 

 to the concessions, which are situated on the extreme limits of 

 the colony bordering on the Brazilian frontier. The seeds were 

 first planted out in nursery beds and afterwards transplanted on 

 the hill sides of the mine. They grew wonderfully, and in al- 

 most every case are today fully developed, and, as before stated, 

 tapping operations are to begin during this year. 



This French concern deserves great praise for the foresight 

 displayed by the president in adding to the revenues of the 

 mine, which, by the way, is the largest gold producer in Dutch 

 Guiana. In 1914 no less than 328^^ kilograms pure gold was 

 produced by the crudest methods of hand labor, and it is ex- 

 pected that by the end of 1915 their revenues will be greatly 

 increased by the addition of a big rubber production. 



It is the intention of the company to plant out every available 

 foot of land on the property with Ilevea Brasilicnsis, and so 

 create a monopoly in the business in future. 



