September 1, 1916] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



649 



Plantation Rubber In Cochin China. 



/;v iM'.crciicc I'. Briii-s, United States C\ 



(I at Saigo 



THE production of plantalion rubber is a comparatively iieu 

 industry in Cochin China. Several years after Ceylon, 

 Java, Sumatra and the Federated Malay States were pro- 

 ducing rubber in considerable quantities, it was thought thai 

 Cochin China lacked the requisite soil and climate for the suc- 

 cessful cultivation of the rubber tree. The first real plantation 

 was established in 1900. In 1908 the first plantation rubber was 

 exported from Saigon, .\bout this time several large plantations 

 were established. In 1915 the port of Saigon exported over 350,- 

 000 kilos of plantation rubber, with a customs valuation of over 

 $300,000 (United States cur- 

 rency), but with a market price — ;;; — 



nearly twice that ligure. On 

 the first of January, 1916, there 

 were in Cochin China about 

 100 plantations, with a total of 

 nearly 70,000 hectares and over 

 five million trees, of which only 

 about 400,000 have yet been 

 tapped. It needs only the nor- 

 mal exploitation of the trees 

 already planted to make plan- 

 tation rubber in 1920 second in 

 value to rice among the ex- 

 ports from Saigon. 



wir.i) ri'i;bei<. 

 For many years Saigon has 

 exported native rubber — years 

 ago in much greater quantities 

 tlian now. This rubber was 

 brought from the forests of 

 Cambodia and Laos by natives, 

 who obtained it from sev- 

 eral varieties of wild trees 

 and tropical lianes, especially 

 the Ecdysaxthcra glandnVifcra. 

 These lianes are tapped by 

 making, with a knife or other 

 sharp instrument, longitudinal 

 slits in their vine-like trunks, 

 in which the latex or sap is 

 coagulated. After coagula- 

 tion these strips of rubber are 

 smoked on the tree, then nillcd 

 into a ball. This trade lias 

 declined greatly during the 

 past few years, partly because 

 the easily available trees were 

 nearly ruined during the years 

 of high price and partly be- M \i> m Fkin- 



cause from 1912 until recently 



the price has not been sufficiently great to make it worth while 

 to transport this product the necessary distance. The exporta- 

 tion of native rubber during the years 1899-1915, inclusive, has 

 been as follows : 



I!i;(-.1.\.\INC.S Ol- PI..\.\T.\TION RUBIIER, ISSulWi/. 

 There is some dispute about the exact time and place of the in- 

 troduction of plantation rubber (Hcvea Brasilieiisis) into Cochin 

 Cliina. Old pioneers recall that a few rubber trees wore planted 

 in the Botanical Gardens at Saigon in 1880 or 1881, but these 

 trees seem to have disappeared within four or five years from 

 that dale. According to the best authorities the rubber tree was 

 permanently introduced into Cochin China in 1897 by M. Raoul, 

 chief pharmacist for the Colonies. During a visit to Ceylon thi.> 

 official sent to the Saigon Botanical Gardens several thousand 

 seeds. From these seeds about 

 1,800 plants appeared in 1898. 

 In October of that year, 1,000 

 plants were sent to the govern- 

 ment experimental station at 

 Ong-Yem in Cochin China, 200 

 were sent to Dr. Yersin, direc- 

 tor of the Pasteur Institute at 

 Nha Trang in southern Annam, 

 and a few hundred were dis- 

 tributed among various planters 

 of Cochin China. 



The rubber plantation at the 

 Ong-Yem experimental station 

 still continues. Less than 400 

 of the original trees survive, but 

 new plantings on this and the 

 adjoining plantation of the 

 House of Correction raise the 

 present number of trees to 16,- 

 500. The joint production of 

 these two plantations for 1914 

 and 1915 is said to be about 

 3,700 and 6,000 kilos, respect- 

 ively. Dr. Yersin's plantation 

 at Suoi Qiao near Xha Trang is 

 more extensive. This planta- 

 tion now consists of about 

 (>0,000 trees. Its production dur- 

 ing the various years since tap- 

 I)ing began is shown in later 

 pages of this report. 



The next year (1899) sev- 

 eral thousand seeds were im- 

 ported from Ceylon and the 

 plants were distributed among 

 various planters. The first suc- 

 cessful plantation was estab- 

 lished by M. Francois Belland, 

 , . ^ . ai that time chief of the Saigon 



liolice. In 1900, this colonist 

 ))lante<l 6(K1 irees on lii- plantalion at Phu Nhuan. about three 

 miles from Saigon. The next year he planted 4,500 more, and 

 in 1902 another 9,(X)0. This plantation, with that of Hanh-thong- 

 tay a few miles away, purchased later by M. Belland, contains 

 about 25,000 trees. The first tapping, in 1908, yielded about 1,500 

 kilos of rubber. This amount has been gradually increased, 

 especially during the jiast two or three years. Nearly all the 

 l)lantalion rubber exported from Saigon before 1913 came from 

 \he Holland plantations. 



DKVEI.OPMENT OF RUBBER PLANTATIONS. 1907-1916. 

 I'ho plantations at Plin Nhuan and Ong-Yem were located on 



Fran 



23.8 cents 



about 50 



