EXPORT OF RUBBER 105 



may be mentioned as the commonest : Funtumia afri- 

 cana, Conopharyngia sp., Alstonia congoensis, and Holar- 

 rhena Wulfsburgii. The admixture of these is usually 

 detected by the stickiness which they impart to good 

 rubber. * 



The introduction of licences for permission to collect 

 wild rubber and that of the communal plantation system, 

 previously referred to, have rendered the position more 

 secure than previously, and insured the preservation of 

 the wild plants which were threatened with extinction. 

 This has moreover been effected in the most economical 

 manner. 



The results of the tappings on the Para rubber planta- 

 tions in different parts of the country are of interest. In 

 1911 at Ebute Metta, trees eighteen years old yielded 

 3 Ibs. 5| oz. per tree ; at Calabar six year old trees gave 

 an average of 6 oz. per tree ; while at Sapele in the same 

 year, five year old trees yielded from 14 oz. to 1 Ib. 6J oz. 

 per tree. In the following year the same trees at Ebute 

 Metta gave 7 Ibs. 4 oz., while those at Sapele yielded from 

 1 Ib. 4f oz. to 1 Ib. 11| oz. In 1915 from two Para rubber 

 estates at Sapele 94,413 Ibs. of dry rubber was harvested. 

 (Cf. Bull Imp. Inst., 1910, 1912, 1913, 1918.) 



Export of Rubber. The Commercial Intelligence Officer 

 of Southern Nigeria, in his report on the trade of the 

 country for 1907, gives a table showing the rubber ex- 

 ported from Southern Nigerian ports from 1900 to 1907 ; 

 but as these figures include large quantities of the pro- 

 duct from Northern Nigeria, shipped through Southern 

 Nigerian ports, they do not represent the output from 

 the latter country alone. Until 1907 apparently no 

 record of the Northern Nigerian rubber exported was 

 kept, but in the year mentioned 1,187,588 Ibs., valued 

 at 91,074, were recorded as having passed the cus- 

 toms post of Northern Nigeria at Ida, on the Niger. 

 The amounts, in tons, exported from the Southern 

 Provinces alone were : 1907, 690 ; 1908, 545 ; 1909, 

 620 ; and from the whole of Nigeria from that time : 

 1910, 1,180; 1911, 966; 1912, 705; 1913, 510; 1914, no 

 figures; 1915, 248; 1916, 396; 1917, 392; 1918, 157; 

 1919, 398. The rubber production of the country is to 

 some extent controlled by the market price, which is at 

 present very low (1921). 



