274 THE RUBBER INDUSTRY 



only are spoken by the labouring classes, and Malay 

 is practically unknown. In the planting districts of the 

 extreme East, such as Bangoewani and other parts of 

 Besoeki, the majority of the plantation hands are re- 

 cruited from the island of Madoera, and only understand 

 their own dialect. 



The spacing of trees on estates in Java varies in every 

 district. On some of the older plantations the trees are 

 only 7 feet by 7 feet, 8 feet by 8 feet, and 12 feet by 

 10 feet. In most cases these are being thinned out, 

 but the process leaves an uneven growth and is unsatis- 

 factory. Other estates have gone to extremes in the 

 opposite direction and planted 24 feet by 24 feet, and 

 24 feet by 30 feet. Again, instances occur of 12 feet 

 by 36 feet over a considerable area. Probably as an 

 average 15 feet by 20 feet, giving 149 trees to the acre, 

 or 20 feet by 20 feet, with 108 trees to the acre, may be 

 taken as average distances for purposes of calculation. 



Many estates have recently erected factories devoted 

 solely to the preparation of rubber, but until a year ago 

 the area in bearing was so limited that makeshifts were 

 employed by adapting a portion of the existing coffee 

 stores for preparing the latex. 



The system followed in the Malay Peninsula has 

 been adopted generally as the basis for the Java factories; 

 but in many cases water-power, already applied for pur- 

 poses of coffee machinery, can also be utilized, and this 

 will prove a saving in future years. A disadvantage 

 in Java, however, is the excessive humidity of the 

 climate, necessitating six to eight weeks for drying 

 crape of medium thickness. When the larger estates 

 come into full production, it will be impossible to handle 



