41 



The Scientific worker got data from the practical man and the 

 practical man learnt the why and wherefore of many things he 

 had observed. 



The expert brokers from London gave their views freely and 

 had explained to them all the difficulties and intricacies of the 



The British planter is always a pleasant man to meet at work 

 or at play and the social side of the Exhibition was with the 

 personal patronage of Their Excellencies Sir HENRY and Lady 

 Blake and the cameraderie of the Ceylon planting man, in safe 

 hands. 



With regard to the preparation of rubber for the market the 

 lessons learnt at the Ceylon Exhibition were : 



That the present practice of coagulating in separate vessels 

 of small capacity was impractical for any but the smallest estates 

 with few trees in bearing. 



That the making of separate sheets or biscuits has many 

 disadvantages such as the necessity for large rooms for storing the 

 large area which the rubber exposes to the attacks of mildew and 

 bacteria and to the falling of dust particles all of which decreased 

 the market value of the rubber. 



That the making of continuous sheet or crepe had also the 

 disadvantages of exposing large surfaces. 



That these dangers of damage to the rubber were practically 

 removed by the making of block rubber which the representatives 

 of the buyers in London who were present at ihe Exhibition as 

 judges asserted to be sure of being well received in the home 

 markets. This opinion has been since' fully endorsed by the prices 

 which have been paid for block rubber in London. 



That the present methods of careful washing and drying 

 plantation rubber may be defeating their own purpose. The desire 

 to eliminate all trace of resins and proteids from the rubber has led 

 to repeated washings, so that the percentage of these substances is 

 reduced to a minimum. In the same wav the extraction of as much 

 of the water as possible has been the aim of the planter in Ceylon 

 and Malaya and rubber is now often so thoroughly dried that less 

 5% of water is present. The effect upon the physical properties 

 of the rubber by the extraction of practically all the water and the 

 proteids and resins has not yet been thoroughly investigated and 

 without analyses of a series of rubbers which have been kept with 

 and without these substances it cannot definitely be stated whether 

 the Eastern planters methods improve or decrease the pin sical 

 properties which give rubber high market value, viz., elasticity and 

 resilience. 



That Brazilian Para rubber possesses these desirable ch racters 

 more than plantation rubber has been demonstrated by testing 

 machines, and is accepted as a fact by both producer and buyer. 

 The causes of this superiority in elasticity and resilience have not 



