66 ilUBBER 



grows bigger and taller, until the trees completely 

 overshadow the dwarf bushes. 



In Java, about 160,000 acres are under rubber. 

 Hevea brasiliensis has sole possession of about 92,000 

 acres, the remainder of the rubber lands being planted 

 up with Ficus, Castilloa, Ceara, and Manihots, with 

 some Hevea in their company. The rubber in this 

 country has not been planted long enough for the 

 production to be very large, but it is estimated that 

 after the year 1916 at least 20,000 tons of Para and 

 1,500 tons of other sorts will be exported yearly. 



Throughout the East there are thousands of acres 

 of rubber-trees that have not yet reached the producing 

 stage. It is estimated that when all the trees now 

 planted are yielding, the output of plantation rubber 

 from the East alone will probably be three times as 

 large as the Amazon crop of to-day. 



Can the world make use of all the rubber that will 

 be available in the near future ? If not, the manu- 

 facturer will be in a position to say whether he will 

 buy more wild than cultivated rubber, or more of the 

 cultivated than of the wild. Which will he favour ? 

 These are the great questions that are occupying the 

 minds of everyone who is interested in rubber pro- 

 duction. 



It is sheer folly for anyone to attempt to prophesy 

 what is going to happen in the Rubber World ; there are 

 far too many possibilities to be taken into considera- 

 tion. For instance, the world may find that it wants 

 all the increasingly large amount of rubber that is 

 produced. There are already many known ways in 

 which the material could be used with advantage if it 

 could be bought at a cheaper rate ; for instance, our 



