INDIA-RUBBER 



FJCUS ELASTICA 



Assam. 



RUBBER YIELDING PLANTS 



By-product 

 with Tea. 



Value of 

 Improved 

 Methods. 



Chemical 

 Analysis. 



Disappointing. conclusions are disappointing. He continues, " The prospects are so doubtful, 

 and even if successful so poor as compared with the culture of Para or Castilloa 

 rubber in Ceylon, the Malay States, or even South India, that one is inclined 

 to consider any large extension of the culture of fiftin eiasttca in North-East 

 India as out of the question. And I must say that this impression has been very 

 strongly confirmed by almost all that I have seen in these districts, if the Assam 

 rubber is to be cultivated as a separate industry. On the present evidence the 

 length of time which it is necessary to wait for returns, the smallness of the returns 

 when they are obtained, the doubt as to the market fifteen or twenty years hence, 

 would seem to make investment in Assam rubber culture, as a separate venture, 

 a very doubtful speculation in North-East India at any rate. I do not see how, 

 at the rate of outturn obtained now at Tezpur, more than Rs. 15 to Bs. 18 per 

 acre profit could be obtained per annum ; and even if this were multiplied by four 

 it would hardly be attractive enough to induce an investor to wait over twenty 

 years for the result. In fact, the only possibility of *v* riantim culture would 

 seem to be as a by-product to tea culture, on land now waste and unsuitable for 

 tea. In this case, the growth of Assam rubber may afford a means of turning 

 land to profitable account which would otherwise only remain useless to its owners. 

 It may be that future discoveries with regard to improved methods of tapping, 

 new methods of growth, means of tapping the plants annually without injury, 

 or of growing a larger number of healthy heavily-yielding plants on the same area, 

 may alter the opinion above expressed. But as it stands, and with the data 

 before us in the two pamphlets under review, I feel that no other conclusion is 

 possible than that Assam rubber culture can only continue as a dependent of 

 another larger and more profitable industry, and then can only occupy the 

 inferior land." 



Chemistry. A representative sample of 1903-4 rubber from the Charduar 

 rubber plantation was submitted to analysis in the Scientific and Technical 

 Department of the Imperial Institute, and gave the following results : The rubber 

 was of a reddish-brown colour, but showed here and there small white patches. 

 It was highly elastic and tenacious, dry, clean and free from stickiness. It was 

 completely soluble in chloroform, carbon disulphide and benzene, and partially 

 in ether. The analysis was as follows : caoutchouc 76'67 per cent., resin 19'2, 

 albuminoid matter 1'5, dirt and insoluble matter 1*7, moisture 0'9, ash hi 

 dirt 0'5. A high percentage of resin appears characteristic of rubber from the 

 Charduar plantation. No precise data are available to show how the composition 

 of rubber varies with the age of the tree or locality from which produced. A 

 specimen of Assam rubber examined by Hooper gave the following : resin 

 12-65, caoutchouc 85'95, water I'O and mineral matter 0'40, while a sample of 

 Andaman rubber (from this tree) gave resin 4-87, caoutchouc 67'06, water 27'57 

 and mineral matter 0-50 per cent. There is thus a wide diversity in com- 

 position which it seems essential should be explained. 



Trade. Trade. The imports into India across its land frontier, more especially 



into Assam, are considerable. During the year 1901-2 these came to 1,470 

 cwt., valued at Rs. 1,55,656 ; in 1902-3, 733 cwt., valued at Rs. 65,912 ; 

 in 1903-4, 1,601 cwt., valued at Rs. 1,66,629 ; in 1904-5, 3,083 cwt., valued 

 at Rs. 3,50,773 ; in 1905-6, 2,587 cwt., valued at Rs. 3,56,413 ; and in 

 1906-7, 2,330 cwt., valued at Rs. 3,03,194. Of these amounts a very large 

 proportion usually comes from the Naga and Mishmi hills. Recently the 

 Government plantations have begun to contribute to the annual supply 



Exports. something like 3,000 Ib. The exports from India to foreign countries in 



caoutchouc (mostly the produce of F. elustico) were in 1903-4, 1,792 cwt., 

 valued at Rs. 3,47,196, and in 1906-7, 4,489 cwt., valued at Rs. 11,18,487 ; 

 but the traffic fluctuates very greatly, especially the supply drawn from 

 Burma, for in 1899-1900 the foreign exports were returned at 8,169 cwt., 

 valued at Rs. 15,80,729. These foreign exports are usually drawn from 

 Bengal (including Assam) and Burma, and are consigned chiefly to the 

 United Kingdom and the United States. In a report furnished by the 

 Director of the Imperial Institute (Feb. 3, 1905) the value of the Charduar 



Price Realised, rubber is stated to have been 3s. Sd. per Ib. on the London market. For 



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