March 1. 1915.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



351 



Some Rubber Planting Notes. 



WHEN war broke out, Eollowed by something like a panic in 

 Financial circles, the plantation industry of the Orient ap- 

 peared to be in a very bad way. All communication between 

 this country and the estates was, for the time being, suspended, 

 and it was impossible to transmit funds. A little later, when 

 cable intercourse was resumed, instructions were given to estate 

 managers to cut down expenditures to a minimum, to take on 

 no additional coolies and to discharge any who were not abso- 

 lutely indispensable. In Malaya, particularly, the net result after 

 six months of war has been greatly to modify the labor situation. 

 No't only have the plantations reduced their forces but the tin 

 mines as well, while the government lias temporarily suspended 

 a number of public works. Many coolies have been expatriated 

 and immigration has been stopped, ostensibly because of the ex- 

 c of smallpox at Negapatain. Vs a result, British Malaya 

 now finds itself with about 40,000 less coolies than at the time of 

 the outbreak of war. 



i nitrary to expectations, however, the rubber producing in- 

 dustry has suffered Uast of any through the European conflict. 

 The commodity has continued in good demand and prices have 

 been well maintained, even showing a tendency to advance. In 

 the circumstances, the plantation companies are beginning to re- 

 gret their hasty action with regard to labor and are already 

 clamoring for the resumption of immigration. But it does not 

 appear likely that the situation will be very quickly mended. So 

 many European assistants on rubber estates have volunteered 

 for the war that it is a question whether plantation staffs are at 

 present in a position adequately to control and supervise large 

 new groups of coolies. 



The subject is of special importance because of its possible 

 fearing upon the supply of plantation rubber. Under normal 

 conditions about 20.000 tons additional might be expected from 

 the Middle East this year; but if, through shortage of labor, it 

 should be necessary to restrict tapping operations, estimates for 

 1915 may have to he considerably modified. 



I VPITALIZATION OF RUBBER ESTATES. 



One of the largest and best known producing companies, Linggi 

 Plantations, after having paid more than 900 per cent, in divi- 

 dends within 9 years, now finds it necessary to raise further cap- 

 ital. The sum required is £50,000, which it is proposed to raise 

 by the issue of 100,000 shares of 2s each at the price of 10s. The 

 market price of the existing shares is about 14s. In this way the 

 apital account will only be increased by £10,000. Linggi Plan- 

 tations has about 7,500 acres under rubber, of which some 3,000 

 acres are not yet in bearing. Last year, the crop of rubber was 

 1.370,500 pounds, which compares with 1.132.500 pounds by the 

 Highlands and Lowlands Co. It may interest our readers to 

 know that the capitalization of the planted area of the Linggi 

 property is £15 per acre. This means that if the average pro- 

 duction all over were 400 pounds per acre and sold at a profit 

 of only one penny per pound the company could still pay its 

 shareholders 10 per cent. It may be added, however, that inas- 

 much as the company's 2s. shares are priced at over 14j., the 

 share market capitalization is at the rate of nearly £110 per acre. 



HEVEA IN COCHIN CHINA. 



In Cochin-China there are about four million Hcvea Brasil- 

 iensis trees planted on an area of about 32.500 acres. In 1913 

 Cochin-China exported 660.000 pounds of raw rubber as compared 

 with 385,000 pounds exported in 1910. Practically all these exports 

 go to France, principally to the ports of Havre and Bordeaux. 



THE PLANTING OF MANIHOT GLAZIOVII ON THE 



MAYUMBA. 



""THE climatic and atmospheric conditions at Mayumba, in the 

 1 French Congo, are particularly favorable to the planting 

 of the Manihot, as the tree requires but little rain. The soil at 

 Mayumba is composed of several different strata, which, not- 

 withstanding that they are found over practically the whole 

 district, are. however, of varying degrees of thickness, according 

 to the structure of the ground. Underneath the top stratum a 

 layer of flint is found, which is followed by a layer of rolling 

 slate, sometimes thick enough to prevent the percolation of water. 

 hi some places the top stratum is so thin that the flint comes 

 up to the surface. The region around Mayumba is for this 



Statistics of exports from French Indo-China for 1913 show- 

 caoutchouc to the value of $128,700 shipped through the port 

 of Saigon and $1,673 from Cambodia. 



Old Tapping on Manihot Half-Herringbone System, 

 Lower Congo. 



reason suitable for the planting and growing of Manihot, but 

 experience seems to have shown that the lower parts of the dis- 

 trict should be avoided, as the great humidiu of the ground is 

 dangerous to the roots of the younger plants. 



The planting of Manihot in this region dates back only about 

 ten years. Owing to its rapid growth and its small needs, the 

 tree formerly found much favor. Later, however, it lost 

 The planters heard of the unsuccessful experiments in some 

 parts of the Congo State — where the conditions were not favor- 

 able to the tree — and further grew discouraged because of in- 

 judicious and therefore ill requited attempts at tapping. In 

 consequence of this, many advised against the planting of 

 Manihot, and in one case a large number of trees were cut down 

 without the least attempt to save the rubber; and this at a time 

 when rubber was selling at something like $3 per kilogram — 

 or nearly $1.40 per pound. 



After a period of neglect, Manihot found a champion in Mr. 

 lacquer, who made extensive experiments and secured a new 

 and practical knife for tapping. lie used the herringbone inci- 

 sion. Experience has shown thai this is not the method best 

 adapted for the tree, nevertheless, the results were so encourag- 

 ing that he planted ahout 3.000,000 Manihot trees. 



Notwithstanding its poor results, the fishbone method of tap- 

 ping is still almost everywhere in use in this district. The prep- 

 aration of the trees necessary for this method is not alwaj s 



