88 PARA RUBBER. 



As yet there are insufficient trees in bearing in rubber alone to 

 enable the Kalutara planters to estimate with any degree of 

 certainty what the yield per acre is likely to be. 



During the year 1905 the Kalutara Rubber Company, Limited, 

 tapped 1,135 trees, and obtained a yield of 1^ lb. of rubber per tree. 

 The Ceylon Tea & Cocoanut Estates Co., Ltd., tapped in 1905, 1,751 

 trees, and obtained 958 lb. of rubber. 



The rubber trees on the property of the Rayigam Tea Co., Ltd., 

 were tapped in 1905, 2,2201b. of rubber being obtained from about 

 1,800 trees. 



The Neboda Tea Co. of Ceylon, Ltd., in their annual report for 

 1905, state that 370 trees reached the tapping stage during the year, 

 and gave 820 lb. of dry rubber or an average yield of 2| lb. per tree 

 per annum. 



The Vogan Tea Co. of Ceylon obtained in 1905 a crop of 3,056 

 lb. of rubber from 2,800 trees, the cost of harvesting, including all 

 expenditure on tapping knives, cups, &c, being Re. 105 per lb. of 

 rubber. 



The Yataderiya Tea Co. obtained, in 1905, 2,855 lb. of rubber 

 from 5,324 trees, the greater number of the trees being only lightly 

 tapped towards the close of the season. 



The Southern Ceylon Tea & Rubber Co., in their report for 1905, 

 state that in about 8 months' tapping, from 577 trees, 614 lb. of 

 rubber have been obtained, most of the trees being in their 

 seventh year. 



The Putupaula Tea Estate Co., Ltd., in their annual report for 

 1905, state that 4,982 lb. of rubber were harvested, the crop being 

 equal to If lb. of rubber per tree. 



The Yatiyantota Ceylon Tea Co., Ltd., report that during 1905 

 the crop of rubber amounted to 8,212 lb. from about 4,636 trees, or 

 an average of 1-^g lb. per tree. 



The Eastern Produce & Estates Co., Ltd., report for 1905 that 

 12,515 lb. of rubber were obtained, and that 12,000 trees will be 

 available for tapping in 1906 ; it is, therefore, probable that a little 

 over 1 lb. per tree was obtained during last year. 



During 1905 one hundred Para rubber trees on the property of 

 the Sunnygama Ceylon Estates Co., Ltd., gave 3 \ lb. of dry rubber 

 each. 



Yields on Gikiyanakanda for 1905. 



The results obtained on the above estate for 1905 are of 

 importance as showing reliable details of yield and dimensions of 

 trees. During the year, 5,598 trees were tapped ; of these, 2,207 

 had been previously tapped. Between January and March 1,346 

 new trees were operated on for the first time, and again between July 

 and October other 2,045 trees were tapped for the first time. The 

 minimum girth of the trees, which were tapped for the first time, was 

 20 inches at a yard from the ground, and the census at the end of the 

 vear showed that 3,811 out of the 5,598 had a circumference of 24 



