io RUBBER AND 



Rise of the Plantation Industry in the East. 



In Ceylon in the eighties, when the coffee plantations 

 were practically exterminated, some attention was paid 

 to the cultivation of Ceara rubber, but difficulties of 

 tapping soon caused this product to be almost entirely 

 neglected. From 1900 onwards further trials were made 

 with this species and with Castilloa, but it was soon 

 found that neither was so well suited as Hevea for the 

 conditions generally prevailing in the planting districts 

 of Ceylon. In fact, except in Africa, the fortunes of the 

 rubber planting industry are almost entirely bound up 

 with those of the last-named genus. Even in the Dutch 

 East Indies, plantations of Assam indiarubber (Ficus 

 elasticd) are now being cut down to make way for Hevea 

 brasiliensis. Our further remarks apply therefore mainly 

 to Hevea. 



In 1890 about 300 acres had been planted with 

 rubber in Ceylon, and in 1900 about 1750 acres. 

 Planting continued steadily until 1904, when the area 

 was estimated at 11,000 acres, and then came the 

 historic rush into rubber which characterised the years 

 10,05 1907. In 1906 the first World's Rubber Exhibi- 

 tion was held at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, 

 and by the end of the year 100,000 acres had been 

 planted. The present area under rubber in Ceylon may 

 be estimated at upwards of 250,000 acres. 



In the Federated Malay States the development of 

 the industry was even more rapid. In 1897 rubber 



