534 



tappable area of the trees being used and space being left so that more 

 than three years will elapse, with continuous tapping every other day, 

 before the healed surface will be again reached. The figures for one 

 year will be published in next year's report, but as far as they have gone 

 the yields average more than 2 lbs., per mensem per tree. The trees are 

 planted widely apart round the edges of a graveyard and are about 

 17 years old. 



There is as yet not sufficient evidence as to what yields may fairly 

 be expected over large areas of trees from 10 to 20 years old, but all the 

 data which we have at present points to the fact that estimates or 

 prophecies of probable yields at these ages will be amply confirmed. 



Comparative Tables cf Bubbeb Crops, Malaya, 1906 and 1907. 



State. 



No. of Trees 

 Tapped 



Rubber Yields 

 Lbs. 



Average 



Yield 

 per Tree 





1906 



1907 



1906 



1907 



1907. 



^ f Selangor 

 ^ I Perak 

 ^ | Negri Sembilan 

 f*i I Pahang 

 oq f Malacca 

 cq 1 Province Wellesley 

 Johore 



364,638 

 67,710 

 91,410 



-7,000 

 20,076 

 48,350 



772,656 

 132,556 

 240,401 



12,455 

 48,000 

 94,159 



620,033 

 94,848 

 146,891 



* 12,000 

 -13,560 

 47,724 



1,131,086 

 272,804 

 586,864 



23^490 

 82,131 

 182,495 



1 



2 

 2 



1 

 1 

 1 



74 



1 



7 



14 

 11 

 15 



Total 



599,184 



1,300,227 



935,056 2,278,87c 



i 



1 



12 



In Province Wellesley is included one estate in Singapore, one estate in Penang 



and one in Kedak. 



* These figures are approximate. 



Market Prices and their Effects. 



Various circumstances during 1907 led to a decrease in the extra- 

 ordinary rapidity with which land was acquired, cleared and planted in 

 rubber. In some cases, lack of the necessary superintendence and 

 labour for opening land stopped work, in others a gradual increase of 

 the cost of bringing an estate into bearing, and the fact that this in- 

 crease had led to the cost of opening and planting in some estates being 

 greater than had been estimated hindered plans for future clearings. 



The steady drop in the price of rubber, especially during the 

 last half of the year, had the effect of making the capitalist abate the 

 feverish anxiety to get as many acres planted up as quickly as possible 

 and to some extent regardless of cost. 



These circumstances did not reduce the investors' confidence in 

 the profit-earning possibilities of plantation rubber as the share prices 

 of Malayan Companies showed, but the visions of Eldorado assumed 

 more natural tints and led to a careful consideration of the most econo- 

 mic and improved methods in the cultivation of rubber. 



