July 1, 1915.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



571 



EFFECT OF TAPPING ON THE STORAGE OF PLAUT FOOD IN HEVEA 

 BRASILIENSIS. 



A very interesting pamphlet on the above subject, written 

 bj I.. I-. Campbell, rubber research chemist, was recentlj pub- 

 lished by the Ceylon Department of Agriculture. After de- 

 scribing the structure of the Hevea, Mr Campbell explains that 

 starch is the principal storag< form of plant food and that bj 

 observing to what extent the starch has been removed and re- 

 constituted, it is possible to determine the extent to which the 

 strength of the tree has been drawn upon in tapping it. Most oi 

 the fund stuff, which consists in sugar and starch, is formed in 

 the leaves oi the pl.nn. Sugar is solubli in water and it is in 

 this form that food is carried by nature to the parts of the tree 

 that need it. Winn the tree i- tapped the bark needs i 1 to n 



build the severed tissues. When the supply of Eood is greatei 



than is necessary for renewing the hark, it is converted by nature 

 into a form of starch which is insoluble in water and stored in 

 this form until required, when it is again converted into sugar and 

 conveyed from the storage cells to the part oi the tree where it 

 is needed. Therefore an adequate suppl) of food is necessary for 

 health and good hark renewal. 



With this theory in mind Mr. Campbell carried out a number 

 of experiments bj examining tapped trees for the presence of 



i Istuff to obtain indications as to the must suitable tapping 



systems for the maintenance of this starch reserve. Two trees, 

 planted in 1906 and tapped first in July, 1913, were taken for 

 experiment. They were tapped dining six months on the full 

 herring-bone system, tapping taking place every third day and one 

 side only being tapped. It was determined that the Food supply of 

 the hark did not, during the experiments, disappear from below 

 the tapped area, but onl) from an area extending about a half 

 inch in width below the cuts and about one-third inch in width 

 to the side of the cuts, the process of bark renewal causing the 

 removal of starch food immediately behind the cut. Other ex- 

 periments made by Mr. Campbell on different Hevea trees 

 throughout Ceylon led him to conclude that the effect of careful 

 tapping is localized around the cuts and that food for bark re- 

 newal is rarely drawn from below the tapped area. And from 

 this he concludes that intervals between tapping are of great 

 benefit to the reconstitution of the bark and that the resting 

 period of each area tapped on the change-over system, i. e., the 

 full herring-bone with five cuts one foot apart over one-half the 

 tree — the tapping being changed over from one side of the tree 

 to the other every six or eight weeks — is nearly as effective as 

 if the whole tree were allowed to rest. This change-over system 

 appears to be effective both in renewing the bark and in increas- 

 ing the rubber yield of the tree. 



FUNTUMIA ELASTICA IN BELGIAN CONGO. 



Funtumia elastica grows wild in the forest of the Bangala dis- 

 trict, Belgian Congo. Plantations were started in 1904 at Musa 

 and Kutu. Those in the latter place did not give satisfactory 

 results and have since been abandoned. Experiments have been 

 made with 620 trees from eight to nine years old at Musa. 

 Tapped on alternate days over a period of ten to eleven days, 

 twice each year, these trees yielded about 6 ounces of dry rubber 

 per annum, equivalent to 164 pounds of dry rubber per acre, per 

 year. The cost of production was high, amounting to about 14 

 cents per pound, owing to unskilled tapping. With plantation 

 Hevea rubber at 58 cents per pound, the Funtumia product was 

 valued at 54 cents. 



A correspondent on one of the daily papers published in the 

 East advances the opinion, based on considerable observation on 

 his part, that rubber tappers who work by the day bring in less 

 Xo. 1 rubber and a larger quantity of scrap than is the case with 

 contract tappers, who naturally are more anxious to bring in the 

 best quality of rubber and are less concerned with the lower 

 grades; consequently the contract tappers are more alert and 

 more successful, in bis opinion, in gathering first quality rubber. 



RUBBER EXPORTS FROM THE DUTCH EAST INDIES. 

 The following "ii of tin .-poll, from Sumatra and 



Java i"r January. 1915, and January, 1914. shows that : li < r < has 

 been a substantial increase in the volume ot exports. Bui 



most inten ture of .his tabulation is the fact that, while 



in January. 1914, no rubber was shipped direct from Sumati 

 tile United States, and but verj little from Java, the direct 

 shipments in Januarj of the present yeai from both of iln-r 

 islands to thi ci unti d in the a i i early 



430,000 pounds. 



PORTS l ROM MM \l RA. 



[ai iry, — Decn 



To— 1915. -flncrei 



u ind founds 136.477 208,714 + 72,237 



England 528,323 77.'. li 



■ 237,784 



Singapore 7,917 - 20.423 



ing 248.287 29,266 'UJ21 



Total 



To- 



941,427 1,255,927 +314,500 



POB FR( 'M J \\ A. 



Holland / ids 282,539 105,576 —176.964 



England '. . . 221,549 44 = ,1 1 1 



Germany 1,498 — 1,498 



Belgium 43.690 —43,690 



Othc Europe 6,185 — 6,185 



United States 20,064 188,795 +16 



Singapon 19,030 25.623 + 5,593 



Other countries 19,554 + 19 



Total 594,555 



784,659 +190,104 



RUBBER EXPORTS FROM JAVA AND MADURA. 

 During March exports of rubber from Java and Madura 

 amounted to 286,270 pounds, against 337,891 pounds exported 

 during the same month last year; showing a decrease of 51,- 

 621 pounds. During the first three months of 1915, 1,007,015 

 pounds of crude rubber were exported, as compared with 

 883,403 pounds exported during the same period in l'il4. 

 showing an increase of 123,612 pounds. 



A CENTRAL RUBBER TESTING STATION FOR THE DUTCH EAST INDIES. 



The creation of a central rubber testing station for the Dutch 

 East Indies, which was practically decided upon at the Rubber 

 Exposition at Batavia, is the realization of a scheme that has 

 long him recognized as a necessity. 



This station will he installed in Batavia with branches through- 

 out the colony, and its principal objeel "ill he to ii tigati 

 improved methods of preparing and curing rubber, to create 

 standards for the classification of qualities of crude rubber bj 

 exercising a regular control over the monthly shipments, and to 

 issue certificates bearing on the quality of the rubber. 



MEETING OF RUBBER MEN AT THE HAGUE. 



At the general meeting of the International Association fir 

 Rubber-Cultivation in the Netherland Indies, held at The 

 Hague on May _'(). tin council presented their report for the 

 \iar 1914 and the program of work for 1915. The chairman. 

 A. G. X. Swarf, and the retiring members of the council- I 1 

 de Beaufort, Dr. A. 11. Berkhout, Jacques Bernard, Noel Bing 

 ley, P. C. Bruyn and Ed Bunge— were re-elected, and A. Ed. 

 Dinger, director of the "Internationale ("rednt- en Han- 

 vereeniging Rotterdam"; F. de Fremery, director of the "Deli- 

 ia Rubber Maatschappij," and 0. F. Weise, partner in the 

 firm of Weise »x Co., arere elected to the vacancies in the 

 council caused by the deaths of W. Geuken, I". Koch and 

 Jac. Musly. 



RUBBER TRADE IN SHANGHAI. 



During 1913, 3,822 pairs of rubber shoes for Europeans were 

 imported at Shanghai, as compared with 2.124 pairs imported for 

 same trade in 1912. (Inly 1.402 pairs ,,f rubber shoes made 

 specially for the Chinese were imported in 1913, as compared 

 with 26,868 pairs imported in 1912; showing a den.. J5.466 



pairs. 



