130 THE RUBBER INDUSTRY 



alarming proportions that the majority of the coffee 

 estates were abandoned. In this extremity the planters 

 turned their attention to the cultivation of cinchona 

 and tea, and for several years struggled hard against 

 adverse circumstances. At the time when the yield 

 from the cinchona plantations should have brought relief, 

 all hopes in this direction were shattered by a heavy drop 

 in the value of the bark owing to over-production. 

 With the cultivation of tea the community was more 

 fortunate, and after a long period of constant struggle 

 this industry was successfully established on a profitable 

 and sound basis. The training undergone by the planters 

 in the successive experiences of the cultivation of coffee, 

 cinchona, and tea, served them in good stead when the 

 question of the creation of rubber estates came to the 

 front, and they are now reaping the reward of the 

 knowledge they acquired under less prosperous con- 

 ditions. The most important facts concerning the 

 Ceylon rubber industry are summarized in the follow- 

 ing brief description of the present situation : 



It is in the districts of the south-west portion of the 

 island where the principal rubber plantations are 

 situated. They are comprised within an area lying 

 five miles in a direct line from the seaboard, and extend 

 from Galle on the south coast, northwards to Kandy 

 and Matale ; from the latter point westward to Kurune- 

 gala, and from that place in a south-westerly direction 

 towards Negombo ; thence to Colombo, Kalutara, and 

 Alutgama. Nine-tenths of the rubber-producing indus- 

 try is within this zone. 



The total extent of the rubber estates of Ceylon in 

 1911 was 215,000 acres ; in 1912 it increased to 234,000 



