3^9 



The average returns of trees of different ages are given as 



7th year .. 20 % tapped gives ... 200 grammes 



8th „ 40 „ „ „ ... 400 



9th „ 8o„ „ „ ... 700 



lOth „ 200 „ „ „ ... I kilo 



The cost of collection and preparation is given at 2 to 3 francs a 

 kilo. One coolie can tap 150 trees : — Ed. 



RUBBER IN JAVA. 



The Consular Report for 1909 gives the following : "The Rubber 

 production ot Java is still inconsiderable, and will remain so for some 

 years to come. A great deal of clearing and planting of new ground 

 has been done during the past 12 months and the demand for land 

 suitable for rubber cultivation has been very strong. Numerous 

 estates which have not proved successful under coffee have been dis- 

 posed of and in cases where rubber had been planted for a year or 

 two the prices paid were very high. No figures are so far procurable 

 showing the acreage under rubber in Netherlands Indies, but an 

 attempt has been made to ascertain the amount of capital sunk in 

 rubber estates in Java, Sumatra and Dutch Borneo at the end of 1909, 

 with the following result :— 



British £2,500,000 



Dutch 1,500,000 



Franco-Belgian 145,000 



German 18,500 



Total £4,163,500 



These figures arc, however, merely approximate. 



RUBBER NOTES. 



Effect of Hurricanes. 



Mr. Everard Fm. Thurn, in his report of the hurricane which 

 struck Fiji in March, 1910, writes: — 



** 1 had always supposed that the one danger which would 

 probably attend rubber growing in Fiji would be the breaking of 

 these somewhat brittle tree? by hurricane winds. 1 am glad therefore 

 to report that our young rubber trees suffered very little on the 



