i7i 



same way that they find out which grades of tea pay them best, will 

 ship the class of rubber which pays them best also. LEWIS and 

 PEAT certainly will not get trade by running plantation Para down. 

 Nine-pence a pound over fine Para, I think, answers their letter. 

 Besides, I could quote you cases where big manufacturers of the 

 finest special articles would use biscuits and none other if they 

 could get enough. At present they do not like to so greatly im- 

 prove their goods at certain times, by the use of nothing but the 

 purest plantation rubber, because they fear that the return of their 

 goods to the usual sort of thing would be "spotted," and would 

 afford much greater dissatisfaction than keeping closely to the 

 original output, until the real thing can be produced in sustained 

 qualities." 



Rubber at High Elevation 



Resuming the conversation about which were the best districts 

 for rubber, Mr. Hoffman said, " I have come to the conclusion 

 that what rubber wants is heat, and that, if you can get adequate 

 heat at a high elevation, I see no reason why rubber should not 

 do well there. 



" The temperature at which rubber seems to thrive best is an 

 average yearly temperature of 80 per cent. Below that it will 

 grow slower. At a higher temperature it might possiblv do well 

 provided a good average rainfall takes place, as evaporation must 

 be excessive. But there is plenty of land at a v low elevation. What 

 do you want to go to a high elevation for?" 



Don't Buy Worn-Out Tea Lands. 



To intending purchasers Mr. HOFFMAN advised : "Don't buy 

 worn-out tea lands. Don't gamble in shares. Buy virgin land and 

 plant it and wait your turn patiently." 



He, himself, he said, had been offered acres of worn-out tea land, 

 which he had refused to purchase. All his interests were jungle 

 land. Speaking of the 



Prospects of the Rubber Industry, 

 Mr. HOFFMAN said : " I am afraid that with all the planting that 

 is going on in this part of the world the most important thing to be 

 considered is labour, and if labour is going to cost 50 per cent, more 

 in other countries than Ceylon this will take off value of quite £40 

 to £50 an acre for estates in bearing. The experiments now going 

 on at Heneratgoda, so very ably conducted by Mr. WRIGHT, will 

 teach the planter eventually how to get the best value out of his 

 trees. Yields for the old trees there are so astounding that figures 

 would only be misleading. Mr. Wright's "latest" is collecting 

 troughs carried from tree to tree, which, if not practical, is, at any 

 rate, amusing." 



Rubber Factories. 



11 1 don't think there will ever be rubber factories here. I don't 

 see why they should be installed here. I do not see the necessity of 

 it any more than I can see the necessity of making chocolate here 

 or sweets in Mauritius. 



