CULTIVATION 



INDIA-RUBBER 



Mod'-rn Demand 



.irs latiT M.i.'kjrit.ish created the waterproofing trade b\ .ng 



ruhh..r iti naphtha. Nelson Goodyear in IH.V.t vul. -ani -.-.I it, an. I thi-, rapidly 



WUrprooflnc. 



Treat nd 



. flu- pr.iiliicii..n ..t .-(.unite. Rubber and itn prodiK-ts may now bespoken Ebonite. 

 "i' '. .;iM. i . tli,< ill. mi- lir life and to manufacturing and engineering 



.nt.-rprisort of tin- i-ntirf lutiiiaii race. J. Q. linker wrote in 1886 ((lard. Chr<> 

 \\\ ., :;t,;i) an int. Tilting article on th< production of this all-important Hiibctonce. 

 pply, he then wrote, come* fn-rn SMITH AMI:I:I. \. hhippod from 

 inl ('arth.-c'cii;i. purl from SiKRRA L.EONK, Mozambique ami Madagascar. 

 and th" remainder t'r.-m tropical Asia. After exhibiting the botanical and 

 geographical supplies, Baker dealt \\ith tho future, and what h tli.-n 

 regarding cultivation has proved the keynote to present successes. So in the 

 y Sir George King, while reporting the introduction of /..,,,>/,,/,, into 

 tin- liotanj'o Gardens of Calcutta, observed that the exotic rubbers "with the 

 exception of t t-m-,1 are either very largo trees or climbers : and although it may 

 pay well to collect rubber from thorn in their native forests, where th<-v have 

 s,'i-o\\ n to maturity without cost to the collector, it is quite a different matter when 

 their j>lanting and protection have to bo paid for, and their coming to maturity 



be aw.iitod for years." That opinion has since been somewhat nun I 

 t hou^h, so far as the interests of the European planters (who are at most temporary 

 residents in the tropics) are concerned, not materially. The plantations established 

 by tin- ( ',. ivornment of India have, however, begun to prove of considerable value, 

 vo also some of those made by private enterprise. Indeed, the experience 

 of the past few years would seem to show that perhaps greater success may 

 attend private enterprise in this direction than was currently l>elieved a few 

 years ago. 



Conditions of Success. The whole question of rubber production Success. 

 seems to turn on the cultivation of quick-yielding species, on superior 

 methods of causing and securing the flow of milk, and on the high prices 

 prevailing for carefully prepared rubber. The production of caoutchouc 

 by the spontaneous change of the hydrocarbon isoprene is not at present 

 of practical importance. Many of the oxidised-oil products now being 

 manufactured manifest not a few of the properties of rubber and seem 

 destined to relieve the strain for supplies of the natural article, but they 

 have all one serious defect, namely they possess no elasticity. Accordingly, 

 the fear of over-production of natural rubber, most writers think, is at 

 present infinitesimal. [Cf. Ind. For., 1898, xxiv., 187 ; Kew Butt., 1899, 27 ; 

 Journ. Soc. Chem. Indust., 1902, xxi., 56 ; 1904, xxiii., 556.] 



Modern Demand. The growth of modern demand for rubber may be Demand. 

 manifested by the following : the exports from the Amazon valley alone in 

 1864 came to close on eight million pounds, and thirty years later (1904) 

 they came to sixty -seven million pounds, a quantity that represents the 

 systematic tapping of twenty million trees, and which fetched over thirteen Twenty 

 million pounds sterling (see p. 660). In India, Ceylon and the Federated J 

 Malay States rubber cultivation is being vigorously prosecuted, and the 

 future seems destined to see a still further expansion in these countries. 



Asiatic Production. In Ceylon during 1905 there are believed to have Ceylon. 

 been 40,000 acres devoted to I/crcn and to a lesser extent to < V/.s7///o</ 

 rubber trees. The plantations are mostly within the valleys, but some 

 extend up to an altitude of 2,000 to 2,500 feet. It seems an accepted 

 iixioni that the higher llrrcfi is planted, the slower it will grow and 

 the less the yield. <'<isti//(nt ceases to be profitable in Ceylon at 

 altitudes above 1,500 feet. It has recently been urged, regarding 

 Ceylon, that it might pay to extend plantations of these rubbers into 

 tracts that have to be systematically irrigated. Speaking of South India, 

 Mr. Proudlock, Curator of the Government Gardens on the Nilgiri hills, 

 made an interesting discovery, viz. that 1'ustillim trees three or four 

 years old, in the Barliar plantation (2,400 feet), yielded a somewhat 



649 



