January 1, 1917.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



231 



Rubber Planting Notes. 



RUBBEX CnjLTIVATION IN SIAM. 



HITHERTO most of the crude rubber exported from Siam 

 has been of wild origin, gathered from vines in the jungles 

 of the remote northern districts and carried by pack ele- 

 phants in Thadua and from there down the Nam-Ta (Vien- 

 Poukha) river to Luang-Prabang in French Indo-China Some 

 wild rubber also finds its way to Bangkok, capital and chief port 

 of Siam. 



With the development of Eastern rubber plantations, and 

 owing to the destructive methods of the native gatherers, the 

 gathering of wild rubber is rapidly on the decline, but Siam is 

 developing rubber cultivation. The first rubber estate in Siam 

 was established about ten years ago by a private syndicate with 

 headquarters in Bangkok. In 1907 the members of this syndicate 

 organized a company registered at Singapore as the Kombok 

 Rubber Co. 



The most important rubber plantation in southern Siam, how- 

 ever, is located at Chantaboon and consists of 25,000 trees 

 planted about six years ago, of which 20,000 trees are now ready 

 for tapping. In the Siamese Malay States, also, some attention 

 has been given to rubber cultivation in the districts of Trang 

 and Setul. 



It has been impossible to obtain reliable information regarding 

 the output of Siamese rubber plantations. During the last five 

 years the export of crude rubber through the port of Bangkok 

 has been comparatively small. Such shipments are listed by 

 the local customs authorities under the head "Rubber and Rubber 

 Substitutes," the exports under this classification amounting to 

 142,304 pounds for the fiscal year 1912, value $18,533; 229,240 

 pounds for 1913, value $32,548; 207,025 pounds for 1914, value 

 $33,431; 125,764 pounds for 1915, value $15,533, and 187,980 

 pounds for 1916, value $11,055. 



TAXATION AND BARK RENEWAL. 



In an article under this heading our English contemporary, 

 "The India Rubber Journal," states that one good effect must 

 result from the taxes now imposed on the rubber-planting in- 

 dustry. When rubber prices showed a very big profit excessive 

 tapping seemed, in a measure, to be justified, but taxation to-day, 

 however, has become so formidable as to make it inadvisable 

 to continue the policy of tapping to the limit. 



AMERICANS IN MALAYA. 



The threatened invasion of Malaya by American capital was 

 the subject of a lively discussion at a meeting recently held at 

 Ipoh, Federated Malay States, by the Central Perak Planters' 

 Association. The chairman, Mr. Ferguson, strongly opposed the 

 advent of Americans, and others spoke in the same strain ; 

 but there was divergence of opinion as to what action could be 

 taken. One member supported the influx of American capital. 

 Finally it was resolved that "this association is not in favor of 

 large areas being alienated under existing circumstances." 



SINGAPORE CRUDE RUBBER TRADE. 



That the exports of crude rubber from Singapore to the United 

 States for the first nine months of 1916 were nearly twice as great 

 as the combined exports of the same commodity to Great Britain 

 and Continental Europe, is apparent from a recent report of the 

 American Vice-Consul at that port. 



Exports from Singapore to Continental Europe during the 

 first nine months of 1916 decreased in practically all articles 

 except plantation rubber, whereas shipments to Great Britain, in 

 the main, increased. Rubber exports rose in all cases, Europe's 



purchases of 3,900 tons during the period in question being 45 

 times greater than the 1913 figure. Great Britain's increase was 

 from 6,354 tons, in 1913, to 10,914 tons in 1916, and that of the 

 United States from 1,914 tons to 26,913 tons, or about 1,300 per 

 cent. 



SOUTH AFRICA PROHIBITS RUBBER EXPORTS. 



A recent proclamation of the Government of the Union of 

 South Africa places an embargo on all exports of rubber, gutta 

 percha and balata, crude or manufactured. 



NETHERLANDS INDIES RUBBER EXPORTS TO UNITED STATBS. 



Exports of crude rubber from the Dutch East Indies to the 

 United States during the three months ending September 30, 

 1916, amounted to 8,745,635 pounds, as compared with 4,631,320 

 pounds exported during the corresponding period of 1915. 



THE SITUATION IN NYASALAND. 



The amount of trade and revenue in this British Protectorate 

 during the fiscal year 1916 not only exceeded that of 1915, but 

 showed an increase compared with 1913-14. The crude rubber 

 industry shared in the general prosperity, the exports of planta- 

 tion rubber alone showing an advance from 33,685 pounds, in 

 1914-15, to 46,002 pounds' in 1915-16. 



THE RUBBER INDUSTRY OF THE GOLD COAST. 



INTERESTING details respecting the rubber industry in 191S 

 *■ are given in a report recently issued by the Director of 

 Agriculture of the colony. 



HEVEA RUBBER. 



During the year the government's agricultural stations dis- 

 tributed 349,450 Hevea seeds and 53,305 Hevea plants which 

 Jiad been raised in their nurseries ; 238 per cent more plants 

 were distributed in 1915 than during the previous year and nearly 

 one-third of them was distributed in the Peki district. 



The agricultural stations did not distribute all the Hevea 

 seeds produced on their plantations, however, and the un- 

 distributed seeds were decorticated and pressed for oil extrac- 

 tion. Exports of crude rubber showed a decrease, the amount 

 being 647,982 pounds against 654,133 pounds in 1914. 



TAPPING, SPACING AND OTHER EXPERIMENTS. 



Tapping experiments conducted at the various agricultural 

 stations proved the half-herring bone system to be the most 

 economical method of tapping; also that better yields were 

 obtained where the lateral cuts were made on the left-hand side 

 of the tapping channel. Experiments were also conducted to 

 determine the effect of tree spacing upon yield per tapping. 

 These showed that a much higher average yield per tree per 

 tapping is obtained in plots planted 15 by IS feet as compared 

 with plots where trees of the same age are planted 12 by 12 feet. 

 In the former case the average yield per tree was 44 ounces at 

 each tapping, while in the latter the yield was only 24 ounces. 

 Yields per acre for the two systems of spacing, based on the 

 assumption that each tree was yielding the above average, gave 

 the approximate ratio of 8.7 in favor of the more widely planted 

 trees. Funtumia trees previously tapped are annually decreasing 

 in yield, and the cultivation of these trees is being abandoned. 

 Root parasites presented the most serious diseases affecting 

 Hevea. Fungoid diseases, though troublesome, in most cases 

 responded to treatment. 



