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it on the market, and since the natural rate of replenishment is far less 

 rapid than the present rate of collection, it is obvious that exhaustion 

 of the wild supply must sooner or later come about. 



It was lately pointed out in one of the leading rubber journals 

 that the danger of an appreciable fall, under ordinary circumstances, 

 in the prices of rubber was improbable, since, assuming such a drop to 

 take place temporarily, the product would at once be available for a 

 large number of uses for which the present price is prohibitory, and 

 for which more or less inefficient substitutes have now to be found. 

 Such an enhanced demand would, of course, tend again to put up the 

 price, until a natural equilibrium was one more established. 



Another point to which attention may be drawn in considering 

 the prospects of plantation rubber is the fact that while the demand 

 is universal, the area of production is a comparatively limited one, 

 since all the commercial rubber-yielding plants flourish only within 

 the tropics. In this respect rubber differs from sugar. The demand 

 for the latter article is universal also, but production is carried on in 

 temperate as well as in tropical regions, and the supply is limited only 

 by considerations of profit. Even within the tropics, it is only in 

 suitable districts that rubber cultivation can be carried on, and it would 

 appear that in the future, dealers will have to look chiefly to the Malay 

 States, Ceylon, Northern and Western Brazil, Central America, a por- 

 tion of the West Coast of Africa, and it may be hoped, the West Indies, 

 for the supply of plantation rubber which will be needed to replace the 

 annual out-put now obtained from wild sources. 



It is evident from the above considerations that estate owners 

 and others who may be debating the prospects of rubber culture, need 

 have no fear as to the ultimately profitable nature of the industry, 

 provided of course, due judgement is exercised in the selection of the 

 variety grown, in planting only on suitable soils, and in the actual 

 planting aperations and after management. 



As regards the present status of the rubber industry in the West 

 Indies, Trinidad and Tobago are the islands in which the greatest ad- 

 vance has been made. More than a year ago there were thirty-three 

 estates engaged in rubber production in Trinidad, and shipments were 

 taking place in fairly large quantities. Prices varying from 4s. 3d. to 

 5s. 3d. were reported for Castilloa sheet rubber. The Castilloa tree 

 appears to do very well in Trinidad, the conditions of soil and climate 

 being congenial. About ten estates are also planting Para rubber as 

 well. In Jamaica, too, many planters are now seriously taking up 

 rubber cultivation, Para and Castilloa being the kinds receiving chief 

 attention. 



The rubber industry is likely to become prominent in British 

 Guiana in the near future. The colony possesses large tracts of land 

 well suited to the requirements of Para and Castilloa, while it is fortu- 

 nate is possessing quick-growing native species of Sapium, which are 

 reported to be very hardy, and to give good returns of rubber two or 

 three years earlier than Castilloa, and three or four years earlier than 

 Para trees. Different varieties of rubber are being experimentally 

 grown at the Onderneeming Farm School, and have been under obser- 

 vation for some years. The Combined Court of British Guiana has 



