

THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



i \l xv 1. 1915. 



Some Rubber Planting Notes. 



RUBBER EXPORTS FROM THE FEDERATED MALAY STATES. 



AiRDING to a cablegram from the government to the 

 Mai. i States Information Agency, the exports of rubber 

 li rated Malay States tor the month of March 

 amounted to 3,418 tons, as compared with .1411 tons last month 

 ami 2,418 tons in the- corresponding month last year. 

 Appended are the comparative statistic-: 



1913. 1914. 1915. 



iry tons 2,131 2,542 3.473 



,ary 1.757 2,364 3.411 



'. 1.737 2,418 3.41S 



Total ■• 5,625 7.334 10,302 



RUBBER INDUSTRY IN THE FEDERATED MALAY STATES. 

 1,: the i Main Mates there were, in 1913. 734 rubber 



, tates, comprising 830,078 acres ol ground, of which 433,324 

 acres lanted in rubber; and during the year 53,131,904 



ds of crude rubber was exported. 

 The fall in the x'rice of rubber has obliged plantation com- 

 mlly study their production costs, and well situ- 

 ated • now able to place their product on the market 

 at an all m cost of less than 1 shilling per pound. 



Such a low figure is said never to have been reached in 



Sumatra, where the record for low cost of production is held 



by the Anglo-Sumatra Co.. whose total cost of production works 



ii about 31 cents (American gold) per pound. For Sumatra 



an income tax takes the place of the Malayan export duty. 



The estimated yield of the producing plantations in the Fed- 

 erate. 1 Malay States, for 1913. was 275 pounds per acre, and 

 M. labi rers were employed on these plantations. 



V-TAPPING IN THE EAST. 



\ few years ago. when the yields of many Eastern rubber 



plantations were far from being satisfactory, Y-tapping was 



A lug V encircling half the tree was to take the 



place of herring-bone and other systems. This was practically 



returning to the first method adopted when Hevea was being 



experimented on bj scientists and planters in the Middle and 



Many opposed this return to V-tapping and their con- 



t further experimenters to work, with the result that 



appears to be now giving waj to the herring-bone 



system. 



GERMAN NEW GUINEA CO.'S RUBBER PLANTATIONS. 



The annual report published in Berlin on March 30, by the 



German Xew Guinea Co., states that the company's plantations 



produced but 3':. 104 pounds of rubber of all sorts during the 



year 1913-14; showing a decrease in production of more than 



10,000 pounds. This was due partly to the fall in rubber prices 



but especially to shortage of labor brought about by a very 



idemic among the coolies. The German Xew Guinea 



i, replacil ireas of rubber plantations by cocoanut 



In some parts of its estate t li i - company has interplanted 



with rubber, and in all cases the rubber has only been 



preserved where conditions are most favorable and where the 



tree- produce especially high-class rubber. 



THINNING OUT THF. TREES. 



Many estates in the low countr\ of Ceylon are thinning out 



their rubber plantations and reducing the number of trees to 



it 100 per acre. Experience in planting in this district has 



of thinning out the over-planted areas. 



Reduction of the number of trees in shaded plantations has three 



advantages — actual increase in the yield of latex per given area. 



reduction in cost of collection and in labor force, and lastly, 



Lter freedom from the ravages of fungoid pests. 



RUBBER IN CEYLON IN 1914. 



I 111 January 1 to December 31, 1914, 35.318.269 pounds of • 

 native crude rubber was exported from I eylon, as against 25,- 

 433.551 pounds luring the same period of 1913; showing an in- 

 crease of shipments of 9,884,718 pounds. Considering statistics 

 from August 1 to December 31, 1914, during each of these five 

 months, in spite of the fact that the war was in progress, the 

 exports of rubber from Ceylon were much heavier than for the 

 corresponding period of the previous year — the aggregate in- 

 crease amounting to 4,709,396 pounds. Although public auctions 

 were suspended at the commencement of the war. and in spite of 

 the fact that figures representing private sales of rubber are un- 

 available, statistics in hand show that 13,334,557 pounds of rubber 

 was offered at public auction in Ceylon during 1914, as compared 

 with 12,013.824 pounds in 1913 and 6,260,026 pounds in 1912. 

 Diamond-pattern smoked sheet was most in demand and was at 

 a premium over other rubbers throughout the entire year. In 

 fact all good rubber was well sold, but there was a very small 

 demand for the poorer qualities. The great European war has 

 had but comparatively little effect upon the Ceylon rubber 

 industry. 



ACETIC ACID FROM COCOANUT SHELLS. 



A number of people in Ceylon have been experimenting in the 

 manufacture of acetic acid for rubber coagulation, but the only 

 place in the island where the manufacture of this coagulant 

 has been carried on in a systematic manner is on the estate of 

 the Pitakande Tea Co. (of Ceylon) Limited. This company ob- 

 tains its acetic acid by the destructive distillation of cocoanut 

 shells, and all the latex collected (which amounted to 72,747 

 pounds in 1914) is coagulated with acetic acid produced on the 

 spot. The Pitakande company contemplates manufacturing acetic 

 acid on a much larger scale and is providing itself witli the 

 proper machinery for this work. 



FREIGHTAGE AT COLOMBO. 



According to representations made to the Ceylon Association 

 in London, by the Colombo Chamber of Commerce, considerable 

 inconvenience is being felt in Ceylon through the shortage in 

 freightage created by the war. This is due to the British Gov- 

 ernment's commandeering a great number of ships for military 

 purposes, to the sinking of a certain amount of tonnage and to 

 the withdrawal of all German bottoms. Many German ships 

 captured as prizes have been set to work, but a great number are 

 interned in neutral ports and therefore unavailable for freight- 

 age. 



So far as rubber is concerned, this shortage in shipping facil- 

 ities has not as yet been keenly felt, but unless there is some im- 

 provement between Calcutta, Colombo and \cw York, trade with 

 Xorth America will sutler severely. Bulky merchandise requir- 

 ing more bottom room than rubber is badly affected by the lack 

 of freightage. 



In January, 1915, 5.475 tons of crude rubber was shipped 

 from Port Swettenham. Selangor, as compared with 2.542 tons 

 during the corresponding month of 1914. Rubber shipments 

 from Port Swettenham amounted to 2,131 tons during February, 

 1913, as against 1,200 tons shipped from there during the second 

 month of 1912. 



The United States consul stationed at Teneriffe reports that, 

 according to official statistics, rubber and manufactures of rub- 

 ber to the value of $73,242 were imported into the Canary 

 Islands during 1913 ; while the estimate for 1914, based on in- 

 formation supplied by leading importing firms, is given as $65,658. 



