CHAPTER XVIII 

 THE NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES : JAVA 



Locality of rubber estates Altitude of plantations above sea- 

 level Meteorological conditions Characteristic features of soil 

 Extension of the rubber plantations Origin of the Java rubber 

 industry Trees of the black variety of Hevea BrasiliensisLand 

 tenure Revenue and taxation Capitalization of rubber planta- 

 tions Cost of establishing a plantation, including four years' 

 maintenance Annual expenditure on a rubber plantation 

 Revenue from young plantations Superintendence of estates 

 Spacing of trees on plantations Construction of factories and 

 preparation of latex. 



IN many respects the characteristic features of Java 

 and Ceylon are not unlike; similar vegetation is 

 common to both, agricultural industry is the source of 

 wealth in the two islands, and the same products are 

 cultivated under almost identical conditions of climate 

 and soil. Java has the advantages of a very much larger 

 population and a greater area of land suitable for all 

 descriptions of tropical agriculture ; Ceylon, on the other 

 hand, is better situated for the sale of produce in the 

 European markets. The two islands have been in 

 friendly competition for nearly a century past in con- 

 nection with various enterprises, amongst these being 

 the production of coffee, tea, cinchona bark, and, latterly, 

 rubber. So far as coffee was concerned Java showed a 

 greater power of resistance to the ravages of leaf disease 

 than did Ceylon, and the cultivation has survived ; in 

 regard to tea plantations Ceylon has more than held 



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