PARA RUBBER. 



some trees when four or five years old may yield rubber of market- 

 able value, and in exceptional cases individual trees about eleven 

 years old have given no less than 12 lb. of dry rubber in eight 

 months, and others as much as 25 lb. per tree in twelve months. 

 In the same way steady progress is to be seen in the substitution of 

 paring and spur knives for the carpenter's chisel for tapping opera- 

 tions ; in washing machinery for cleansing crude rubber, revolving 

 cylinders for rapidly coagulating rubber and the use of chemicals 

 and hot air apparatus for hastening coagulation and curing the pro- 

 duct as rapidly and effectively as possible. Simultaneously with 

 general improvements in yield and methods of manufacture there 

 has been a steady rise in price to over 65. per lb. for some samples 

 of plantation rubber and a large increase in the acreage under 

 cultivation. 



The progress in Ceylon is illustrative of what has taken place in 

 other tropical countries, and the following tables show the range in 

 value of Para rubber, the export, the price per lb., and the approxi- 

 mate acreage in Ceylon from 1884 to 1906 : — 



* From the Principal Collector of Customs, Colombo, Ceylon. 

 f Bulletin of Miscellaneous information, Kew, No. 142, 1898. 

 X From the " Ceylon Directory." 

 § Official figures up to April 7th, 1906. 



