17 



Klondyke deal than one requiring the utmost economy 

 in management; they lose sight of the fact that rubber 

 is as likely to fall in price as it is to rise, that labour 

 will in all probability become dearer year by year, and 

 that so far the difliculties which must arise, when im- 

 mense fields of young rubber trees with only secondary 

 and subsequent bark are being tapped, are unknown. 

 They should realise that no effort is being, or has been, 

 made to in any way interfere with their legitimate pri- 

 vileges, but only a desire to make rubber cultivation a 

 success in the event of the raw product sinking in value 

 to the price predicted by some experienced commercial 

 men. The majority of planters, however, fully recognise 

 the difficulties of the situation, and the present storm 

 should soon be over. 

 Rubber Acreage in Ceylon and the East. 



In the year 1900 I rarely heard of rubber cultivation 

 in Ceylon; most planters to whom I showed microscopic 

 slides depicting the origin and structure of the laticifers 

 of Hevea regarded them, as did the writer, more from 

 an academical than a practical standpoint. At that time 

 Ceylon had very few acres of rubber trees — nearly, but 

 not all, Para; the whole Eastern industry was then re- 

 presented by only about 20,000 acres mostly occupied 

 with young and scattered trees and owned by English 

 and Dutch planters. Now the island of Ceylon alone 

 can claim about 155,000 acres, Malaya nearly the same, 

 and Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and South India quite suffi- 

 cient to bring the total to 350,000 acres. That is a 

 magnificent record, indicative of energy and application 

 of which every individual — and especially if he be a 

 Britisher — may feel proud and satisfied. It is admitted 

 on all sides that the Eastern rubber-planting industry is 

 at the present time largely controlled by men of British 

 nationality, who have had a long and varied experience 

 of tropical agriculture in Ceylon, Straits Settlements, 

 and Federated Malay States. The Dutch possessions, 

 more notably Sumatra and Java, have quickly adopted a 

 cultivation which has given every indication of being 

 effectively and profitably managed ; in age of trees and 

 actual planted acreage they are, however, behind British 

 areas. 



