THE NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES 245 



industry if the need had existed for importation from 

 Ceylon. The nearness of Penang and Singapore has 

 also been of great advantage, obviating many of the 

 difficulties of transport that would otherwise have 

 handicapped the pioneers of the industry. In the 

 matter of the construction and equipment of factories 

 for rubber plantations, the experiences of the Malay 

 Peninsula have been an invaluable guide for the 

 Sumatra estates. 



The most satisfactory distance apart for planting 

 rubber-trees in Sumatra is now generally accepted as 

 20 feet by 20 feet, and the majority of the estates 

 opened up during the last five years have followed that 

 rule. In view of the rapid growth of the trees, this 

 distance is certainly not too great, but still it gives 

 ample room for expansion during the first ten years' 

 development. This spacing gives 108 trees to the acre. 



The expansion of the rubber industry in Sumatra is 

 of such recent date that the number of experienced 

 planters in the country is not large. Naturally, the 

 ranks have been recruited from the coffee and tobacco 

 planters, and these men, accustomed to plantation work, 

 are rapidly acquiring a useful knowledge of rubber 

 cultivation. The majority of the managers and 

 assistants are of Dutch or Swiss nationality; a few 

 Englishmen are scattered through the planting districts, 

 but the number is extremely limited. The demand for 

 both managers and assistants in the Malay Peninsula 

 has been so great of late years that few men from 

 that community have cared to take up plantation 

 work in Sumatra under the Dutch flag; and so 

 it happens that, although many estates in Sumatra 



