THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



If), TOHIH 1. I'MO. 



by public auciioii, are maJe under certain conditions of cidtiva- 

 tioii. In all grants up to 500 hectares, one-tenth of the grant 

 must be planted each year with at least 120 rubber trees per 

 hectare, so that half the grant is under rublier cultivation at the 

 end of five years, under the penalty of forfeiture of all or part 

 of the estate. This time is extended to ten years in the case of 

 grants exceeduig 500 hectares. For the remainder of the con- 

 cession the holder may leave it in waste land or pasturage or 

 plant it to rice or other cultures. But a definite title will not be 

 granted until half the plantation is under cultivation. An admin- 

 istrative committee visits each grant in Xovemher of each year 

 to see that all these terms are complied with. 



For the first seven years a rubber grant is exempt from land 

 tax. .^t the beginning of the eighth year one-tenth of the estate 

 is subject to the impost levied on the first class of "various cul- 

 tures" (2.75 piastres per hectare), and the uncultivated half is 

 subject to the impost on the third class of various cultures (48 

 cents per hectare). After the tenth year one-half of the estate 

 is subject to the first-cla.ss tax, the other half to the third-class 

 tax. 



-Ml these terms and conditions are apjilicable to forcigner.s 

 wider the same conditions as to French citizens or colonists. 



Rubber lands, planted or unplanted, may also be purchased ot 

 private individuals from time to time. During the past year sev- 

 eral small plantations were ottered for sale. The foreigner 

 should be wary about purchasing a small estate, for rubber pro- 

 duction in the past has been largely an experiment, and there has 

 been some reckless tapping, especially on the smaller plantations. 

 The larger estates are generally held by joint-stock companies. 

 Their shares are sometimes offered for sale by the notaries ot 

 Saigon through the columns of the local papers and especially 

 those of the "Bulletin Financier de ITndochine." At present it 

 is practically impossible to purchase stock in the better planta- 

 tions. 



A few cases may serve to illustrate the prices at which these 

 plantations have been sold or offered for sale during the past 

 year. The most important deal in rubber plantation property 

 since the beginning of the European war was the sale in May, 

 1915. of the plantation of Tan-thanh-dong. One of the leading 

 stockholders of this firm was a German ; so the firm was dissolved 

 and the property sold. The amount received was 225,000 piastres. 

 This wa.s considered a very low price; but the sale took place 

 before the phenomenal rise in the price of rubber and under 

 conditions which may have restricted the number of bidders and 

 limited the amounts offered. In November, 1915, a small planta- 

 tion near Saigon was offered for about 30,000 piastres. Thi.; 

 plantation consisted of 450 hectares, of which 150 hectares were 

 planted with 50,000 trees a little more than five years old and 

 ready to be tapped, a nursery containing more than 150,000 young 

 trees and some timber and buildings. While these cases may 

 have some significance, they do not indicate the prices at which 

 the best rubber plantations are now held. 



CLEARING AND PLANTING. 



Some of the older plantations were located on cultivable or 

 prairie land ; but in the red soil region the clearing of the planta- 

 tion is a more serious problem. The vegetation is tropical and 

 dense, and the stumps and roots must be removed or in the moist. 

 hot season they will furnish a hotbed for mold and other plant 

 diseases. In spite of the cheapness of native hand labor (10 to 

 20 cents per day), tlie clearing of a plantation sometimes costs 

 as much as 25 piastres per hectare [over $S per acre]. How- 

 ever, the vegetation is less dense, the rainfall less constant and 

 the cost of clearing less expensive than in the more tropical cli- 

 mate of neighboring rubber producing countries. 



Before the plantation is ready, a small tract of land is prepared 

 as a nursery. Here the seeds are planted, generally toward the 

 end of the rainy season (September to January). The young 



plants are sheltered from the sun during the dry season and at 

 the beginning of the rainy season ( May or June) they have 

 attained a height of 1.50 to 1.80 meters [5 to 6 feet] and are 

 ready to be transplanted. Holes are dug 80 centimeters to 1 

 meter [32 to 40 inches] in depth and wide enough to accommo- 

 date all the roots. On the earlier small plantations the trees were 

 planted very close together. Tlie larger plantations — Xatrach 

 and Suzannah — at first adopted 4J/2 by 5 meters ; but this distance 

 was found loo small, and the later plantations have generally 

 left a si>ace of 6 or 7 meters lietwcen trees. 



( Al<r. OF Till". I'l ANTATION: DRAIX.\GE, CtrLTIVATinX, IKRI- 

 CATION, FERTILIZATION. 



The question of drainage is sometimes an important one in 

 Cochin China; for the whole delta region is subject to inunda- 

 tions from July to November, while in some parts of Cochin 

 C hina the rainfall from May to October, inclusive, averages over 

 20 inches per month, and during some months it is sometimes 

 as great as 30 inches. Up to the present time no precautions 

 have been fnund necessary against the invasion of the waters 

 of the Mekong and other waters coming from lower levels, and 

 it is unlikely that any such precautious will ever be necessary, 

 because most of the good rubber iands are somewhat higher than 

 the llooded delta district. But it has been found necessary on 

 nearly all these plantations to provide ditches and sometimes 

 large reservoirs for the drainage of excessive rainfall or the 

 overflow of neighboring streams during the long, wet season. 



The soil betw-cen the trees is kept soft by plowing and kept 

 clean by constant weeding. The larger plantations have steam 

 ]ilows of 60 to 100 horse-power but the smaller ones use native 

 wooden plows or ordinary American steel plows drawn by na- 

 tive cattle or caraJxin. The weeding is generally done by hand. 



The dryness of the months from November to April, and espe- 

 cially from Jainuary to March, makes irrigation necessary on 

 nearly all the rubber plantations of Cochin China. The rainfall 

 during these months averages as low as 2 inches per month. 

 Sometimes there are month.s with no rain, but this is not com- 

 mon; and the uniformly cool nights during this season combined 

 with the always humid tropical atmosphere provide a little 

 moisture by condensation. Water can often be stored during 

 the rainy season. At any rate, streams are abundant and under- 

 ground veins are everywhere near the surface. Ditches and 

 reservoirs, useful for both drainage and irrigation, are found on 

 practically all the rubber plantations. A few of the smaller 

 plantations employ stationary hand-pumps or movablt double- 

 balance, two-cylinder, suction drainage pumps of 4,000 or 5,000 

 gallons capacity per hour. On the larger plantations the type 

 of pump most in use is a mounted centrifugal, gas or petroleum 

 motor-pump of 10,(X)0 to 50,000 gallons per hour. The type and 

 make of pump used varies with conditions, but Worthington 

 pumps of various styles find a comparatively good sale. 



Up to the present time the use of fertilizer has lieen very small 

 and practically confined to some of the older gray soil plantations 

 and the nurseries. The substances used have been stable manure, 

 oil cake, malt, azote, potash, phosphates and superphosphates. 

 On the red soil plantations nothing but stable manure has been 

 used. The larger plantations have small herds of cattle and 

 employ the manure in the nursery and around the roots of the 

 young trees. The time will undoubtedly come when the use of a 

 small amount of fertilizer will be necessary- to supply the lacking 

 soil constituents discussed in a previous paragraph of this report. 



TREE ENEMIES AND DISEASES: NEW PLANTS AND SEEDS. 



As has been stated in a preceding paragraph, the principal 

 enemies of the rubber tree in Indo-China are water, drought and 

 typhoons. This region seems to be singularly free of rubber 

 diseases. The long, dry season has its drawbacks, but it seems 

 to insure the trees against mold and similar maladies common 

 to other rulil^er regions of the more tropical Orient. There has 



