PREFACE vii 



of what is included in the ordinary analysis as " caout- 

 chouc " requires detailed examination. Crude rubber, 

 moreover, is not the form in which the material is chiefly 

 emplo3^ed for manufacturing purposes, and the influence 

 of the constituents other than caoutchouc on the properties 

 of vulcanised rubber has yet to be definitely ascertained. 

 The plantation rubber industry, therefore, stands to 

 gam everything from scientific research on these many 

 different problems, which are well presented and discussed 

 in the present volume. 



The management of rubber plantations has become 

 one of the most important branches of tropical agriculture, 

 a subject which depends for its advancement on the 

 application to its needs of several sciences of which 

 chemistry and botany are two of the most important. 

 The effective technical training of men who shall be 

 capable of taking up work in tropical agriculture is one 

 of the most urgent questions connected with the advance- 

 ment of our tropical colonies, and I have referred to it 

 at length elsewhere (see letter to The Times, April 29, 

 1913). A system of technical education in tropical 

 agriculture is urgently called for, which shall not be 

 less effective than that which is now undergone by 

 professed agriculturists m Europe and the United States. 

 In the provision of agricultural education in this country 

 we have made great strides in recent years, but the 

 organisation of education in tropical agriculture remains 

 to be provided. 



In conclusion, I may refer to the subject of " synthetic 

 rubber," which is briefly discussed in one section of this 

 book. As I pointed out in 1906,* when the question 

 first came prominently before the public, the preparation 

 on a large scale by chemical means of caoutchouc, 

 identical with that produced by the tree, is well within 

 the range of the modern chemist. The real question at 

 issue is whether a satisfactory material can be manu- 

 factured cheaply enough to become a serious competitor 

 with the natural product. This may well be doubted 

 in view of the reduction in the cost of natural production 

 which is now in progress, a reduction which will be accom- 

 panied by a decrease m the price of the raw material. 



* "Address to the British Association," 1906. BiiUciin of the 

 Imperial Instihite, 1906, p. 310, and 1909, p. 318. 



