March 1, 1919 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



291 



Bale of Guayule Shrub. 



According to Whittlesey (1905, p. 5), guayule plants contain 

 rubber as follows : Per cent. 



Trunk bark 21.4 



Root bark 19.5 



Branches and leaves 9.7 



Trunk wood Nil. 



Root wood 1.7 



The yield of marketable rubber from the wild plants varies ac- 

 cording to the condition of the plants and the process of extrac- 

 tion employed. Tlie extraction runs from 6 per cent for ex- 



GuAYULE Bales in Factory Yard. 



periments with average Texas guayule to 15 per cent for some 



of the highest grade of Mexican, a fair average yield equaling 



12 per cent of the weight of the moderately dry plant. 



(To be continued.) 



PROSPECTS OF RUBBER PRODUCTION IN 

 QUEENSLAND. 



UNDER the title "Neglected Industries," the "Queensland 

 Agricultural Journal" for August, 1918, announces that 

 Para, Ceara, and other rubber-producing trees thrive luxuriantly 

 in tropical Queensland, but that capitalists, when they are asked 

 why they invest no money in rubber plantations in that country, 

 inquire : "How can Queensland, where wages are high and 

 where strikes threaten at critical moments, try to compete with 

 countries where there is an abundance of colored native work- 

 ers, where wages are low and where land can be leased at low 

 rent, such as British New Guinea?" 



At first glance that settles the whole matter, but on closer 

 examination we find that rubber planting is just as profitable 

 in Queensland under labor conditions suitable to white people 

 as it is in a country where colored workers are used. Without 

 going into details, the estimated cost of a rubber plantation in 

 Queensland, comprising 500 acres bearing 75,000 trees, includ- 

 ing wages, buildings and equipment, is £34,000. These trees 

 should be ready for tapping after six years, and in the first 

 year of tapping would bring in £15,000; the debit of £19,000 

 should be changed in the seventh year by a £30,000 crop into 

 a profit of £11,000 above the cost of the plantation; the profit 

 for the eighth year and every year after that should be £45,000 

 a year. 



But even on a smaller scale the business pays. In New 

 Queensland on the east and west coast of the peninsula, land is 

 chiefly planted with sugar, as the climate and rainfall leave 

 nothing to be wished for. The profit and loss account of 20 

 acres of rubber is as follows : the price of cleared land is £20 

 an acre; the total cost of exploitation for the first five years 

 is £432. After six years the tapping can begin, each tree giving 

 one pound of dry rubber, the seventh year two pounds, the 

 third year three pounds, and so on, so that in the first three 

 years of tapping, 18,000 pounds of rubber will be obtained, 

 which, at three shillings a pound, means £2,700, from which the 

 cost of collecting the rubber — one shilling per pound or £900 

 for the crops, including cases and freight — must be deducted. 



Many plantations in Queensland are surrounded by forests 

 and shrubs which offer a danger of fire. These could be re- 

 moved and replaced by rubber trees, so that the profits may be 

 continually increased. 



RUBBER PRODUCTION ON HAINAN ISLAND. 



The report of the commissioner of customs of the port of 



Kiungchow, Hainan — an island belonging to China, between 



latitude 18° and 20° N., deals with the increased production 



of rubber in that territory. It sums up the situation as follows : 



At present the industry is chiefly undertaken by returned emi- 

 grants from the Malay States. Since 1910 the Kiung An Co. 

 has planted 6,000 rubber trees in the Kachek district, and the 

 Ch'iao Hsing Co. 45,000 trees in the Nodoa district. The latter 

 company has not yet begun tapping its trees. Two years ago 

 the Kiung An Co. tapped 2,000 trees and this year the number 

 was 3,000, from which 14 pounds was produced daily. 



Rubber to the amount of 3.066 pounds was exported to 

 Singapore during the year, either direct or through Hongkong 

 and Bangkok. Export is made in sheets averaging 16 inches 

 long, 10 inches wide and !4-inch thick. Prices on the last ship- 

 ment reached only $48 per picul (133-1/3 pounds as against $100 

 per picul on the first consignment sent to Singapore, said to be 

 first-quality. 



Some months ago Lin I-shun, a Cantonese merchant in Singa- 

 pore, obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce 

 a grant of 100,000 acres of land on which to grow 5,000,000 

 rubber trees, in return for which he guarantees lo pay a royalty 

 of $5,000,000 to the Government when the trees have reached a 

 flourishing condition. In December Mr. Lin sent three men to 

 the island to look for suitable areas for planting rubbe- A 

 large part of the entire island is said to be suitable for rubber 

 growing. 



