4 RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON 



ticity than recovered rubber. This irregularity I find in all the forms of 

 pancakes, whether thick or thin, translucent or opaque, except those which 

 have been smoked; which, whether owing to the smoke or some other 

 reason, have in the lots (from three separate plantations) which I have 

 tested, proved even in quality throughout. I have been favored by one 

 plantation with unsmoked samples (separately treated and marked) from 

 eighteen year old trees, and from young five year old trees. Each of these 

 samples proved regular throughout, but the quality was very different, 

 that from the old trees being tough and very elastic, while that from the 

 young trees was soft and green. It appears to me, therefore, probable 

 that the irregularity I have noted in the quality of shipments may arise 

 from the varying ages of the trees, and that until they have reached abso- 

 lute maturity, the latex of one season's planting should not be mixed with 

 that of younger or older trees, but that each year should stand on its own 

 merits to attain regularity in quality. The smoked samples may have come 

 from old trees only, and the smoke perhaps had nothing to do with the 

 quality. This want of regularity utterly shuts out Ceylon rubber from 

 fine work, such as thread, cut sheet, bladders, etc., and as the strength 

 of a chain is but that of its weakest link, it cannot at present, for general 

 work, be classed higher than the good mediums. For the special purpose 

 of making cement, however, it has found a place for itself on account of 

 its extreme cleanliness, and the very convenient form of the pancakes in 

 which it is shipped, practically ready for the naphtha bath. I believe in 

 a great future for rubber planting, properly carried out. It might be 

 done by the government forest department, and the trees rented when 

 old enough." 



Thus the only "out' 7 about the rubber, from the viewpoint of the 

 user, seemed to be the presence of immature, or partly cured gum, some- 

 thing to be expected when the fact is remembered that the plantations 

 are young and the planters without long experience in gathering or pre- 

 paring for market. The added fact that it brings the highest price 

 in the market led me to believe that I had before m? a most inter- 

 esting series of plantation visits, once I should reach Ceylon and 

 the Federated Malay States. 



As I said, therefore, I took train at Dover, crossed the channel, 

 landed at Calais (so called from the way they handle one's luggage), 

 shivered all the night in the absurd little French train de luxe, and finally 

 arriving at Marseilles, stepped aboard the steamer that was to be my 

 home for nearly three weeks. In due course we left the granite quays, 

 the shipping, and the splendid limestone cliffs of the French port behind 



