THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December 1, 1915. 



Rubber Planting Notes. 



RUBBER AND INTERPLANTED COFFEE. 



ST.VTEMENTS that the growth and yield of Hcvca trees were 

 adversely affected by iiitcrplaiiting with coffee have in 

 several instances induced Java planters to cut out 

 tlic interplanted coffee. This not only meant the direct 

 loss of the coffee — cost of original planting and cultivation 

 and annual yield — but in many instances the rubber trees 

 were injuriously aflfected. As a result of experiments con- 

 ducted at the Besoeki Experiment Station, Djember. Java, 

 Director .K. J. Ultee issues a circular in which he admits that 

 the interplanted coffee apparently retards in some degree the 

 growth of Hevea trees, according to the planting distance, 

 the method of working employed and local circumstances. 

 Also cutting out of the interplanted coffee often injuriously 

 affects the rubber and before deciding upon this step planters 

 should ascertain by careful experiment the probable effect the re- 

 moval of the coffee would have on future rubber production. 



RUBBER EXPORTS FROM UGANDA IN 1914.16. 



The Department of Agriculture of tlie Uganda Protectorate 

 has published its annual report, covering the year ending 

 March 31, 1915. So far as rubber growing is concerned, the 

 situation there is certainly not what it might be with proper 

 attention and enterprise. 



The report discloses that "all the ruljbers are neglected 

 with the exception of Para, and, althougli the area ready for 

 tapping is comparatively small, the results obtained give every 

 encouragement to persevere, as it is an excellent standby and 

 costs comparatively little to bring into bearing when coffee 

 is grown as a catch-crop." 



.Apparently there are no circumstances peculiar to the 

 soil or climate tending to obstruct abundant and profitable 

 growth, the state of the business being mainly due to 

 neglect. The tabular statement at the end of the report 

 bears this out so far as the wild rubber is concerned. In 

 1911. 898 hundredweight of wild rubber was exported and in 

 1914, the banner year, 123,984 pounds: while for the year 

 ending March 31, 1915, none is recorded. On the other hand, 

 plantation rubber amounting to but 552 pounds in 1911, has 

 gained steadily, and by the latest figures, was exported during 

 1914-15 to a total of 22,056 pounds, valued at £1,838 ($8,944). 



Of course Uganda has suffered by the past slump in the 

 market, the harvest of 1913-14, amounting to 19,454 pounds of 

 plantation rubber, bringing £2,934 ($14,278). 



EFFECT OF TAPPING SYSTEMS ON RUBBER YIELD. 



.At a well-attended meeting of the Committee of -Agri- 

 cultural Experiments recently held at the Peradeniya Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, Ceylon. L. E. Campbell, the 

 rubber research chemist, explained the relation between the 

 physiological effects of tapping on Hcvea and the production of 

 dry rubber ; or, in other words, the connection between rubber 

 yields and storage of reserve starch. Some of the trees under 

 examination were tapped with the half-herringbone to left 

 of the channel, over one-fourth of the tree's circumference. The 

 first section of the tree, tapped continuously on alternate 

 days, gave a yield equal to that tapped daily in alternate 

 months. In the second section there was an advantage of 4 

 per cent, in favor of daily tapping in alternate months. In 

 the case of the full herringbone on half the circumference 

 tliere was an advantage of 16 per cent, in favor of regular 

 alternate day tapping in the first sections, but in the second 



sections the acKanlaKr «a> iiuicli smaller... The yields from 

 trees lapped dail\ in allcinate months and those tapped 

 continuously e\ery other day were apparently about equal. 

 The experiment demonstrated that with the systems under 

 observation it makes little difference as far as latex yield is 

 concerned, whether tlie trees are tapped continuously on 

 alternate days, or daily in alternate months throughout the 

 year. 



INDIVIDUAL PLANTATION BRAND. 



r)n Ilis return from England to Ceylon recently, M. Kelway 

 Bamber reported that some large manufacturers expressed 

 the opinion tliat estates should have an individual mark 

 stamped on all rubber produced, thus enabling the manu- 

 facturer to know the estate which produced the rubber best 

 suited to his purpose. 



RESTRICTION ON BELGIAN CONGO RUBBER EXPORTS. 



.An ordinance of the acting Governor-General of the Belgian 

 Congo, dated August 1, 1915. prohibits the exportation of rubber 

 from the colony, except to Great Britain, France, or to the port 

 of New York. It is necessary to obtain special permits for ex- 

 ports to New York, which must be consigned to the Belgian Con- 

 sul at New York, subject to the terms of the rubber guarantee. 



AFRICAN RUBBER AND PLANTATION COMPETITION. 



For some years past .African wild rubber exports have 

 displayed a consistent tendency to decrease in volume, largely 

 owing to the low prices prevailing in rubber markets and the 

 ever-increasing production of well-prepared plantation rubber. 

 The average price during 1914 was the lowest in the last five 

 years. Exports of crude rubber from the British Gold 

 Coast Colony fell from 3,223,365 pounds in 1910 to 654,133 

 pounds in 1914, the value of the exports declining during this 

 period from £385,875 | $1,877,861] to £21,632 [$105,272]. It 

 is also claimed that the prices offered are no longer sufficient 

 to encourage enterprise in this languishing industry. 



DYNAMITE TO FERTILIZE RUBBER PLANTATIONS. 



I'.xperiments are being conducted in Malaya to test the 

 value of dynamite for liberating the plant-foods in the soil. 

 The Department of Agriculture of the Federated Malay 

 States is conducting these experiments and reports that the 

 trees in dynamited plots increase more rapidly in girth than 

 trees in similar plots not dynamited. The average increase 

 of girth of trees in dynamited plots was, at the end of six 

 months, .48 inch, and, at the end of nine months, .71 inch 

 greater than trees in neighboring plots. The plot treated 

 with dynamite comprised two acres and was blasted in 

 March, 1914. 



RUBBER EXPORTS FROM TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 



The exportation of rubber has been prohibited during the 

 war, but, according to the report of the Agricultural Society 

 of Trinidad and Tobago, 810 pounds of this commodity was 

 shipped, on special permits, in June. Exports from January 

 1 to July 1 of 1914, amounted to 3,785 pounds ; for the same 

 period in 1913, 1,505 pounds, and for the first six months of 

 1912, 2,076 pounds. 



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