July, 1912.] 



7 



Saps and Exudations. 



A MILLION ACRES OP PLANTATION 

 RUBBER. 



(Prom the India Rubber World, Vol. 

 XL VI., No. 2., May 1, 912.) 



While estimates affecting other parts 

 of the world are necessarily more or less 

 approximate, the figures available with 

 regard to Asiatic rubber plantations are 

 sufficiently exact to afford a basis of 

 calculation. 



In a recent issue the "Revue Inter- 

 nationale" after discussing the various 

 items of which ic is composed, put for- 

 ward an estimate of the surface plauted 

 in Asia with rubber, of 826,541 acres. 



By a detailed comparison of this 

 estimate with the recent figures of Mr. 

 D. Milton Pigart, United States Vice- 

 Consul General at Singapore (published 

 by The India Rubber World, January 1, 

 1912, p. 161) the following results are 

 shown : — 



Estimated Rubber Acreage, 1910. 



Revue Inter- 

 nationale. Mr. Figart. 



Malaya ... 362,853 362,853 



Ceylon ... 238,822 241,885 

 Java ... 106,664 

 Sumatra ... 80,000 

 Netherlands India, 



(Java & Sumatra) ... 150,000 



India and Burma 26,202 43,525 

 Borneo ... 12,000 



Cochin China 11.000 



Total 826,541 809,263 



The first estimate, while higher than 

 others which have recently appeared, is 

 considered by the writer of the article to 

 fall short of the exact conditions. 



With regard to Africa, it is added 

 that the cultivation of rubber is extend- 

 ing, there being in the German East 

 and West African colonies and in the 

 French colonies several thousand hec- 

 tares (of 2'47 acres) planted with Funtu- 

 mia, Ceara and Hevea part of the trees 

 being in a productive condition, 



In Mexico there are, it is stated, 100,000 

 acres planted in rubber. The acreage in 

 British Guiana is stated to be 1,700 acres, 

 of which 1,000 are in Hevea alone. In 

 Dutch Guiana there are said to be 800 

 acres in Hevea Brasiliensis, 17 planta- 

 tions being engaged in the cultivation of 

 of this variety. Trinidad and Tobago 

 have, it is added, 2,300 acres under culti- 

 vation, planted with about 85 per cent, 

 of Castilloa, 11 per cent. Hevea, and 4 

 per cent, of Funtumia. 



Taking as a basis the French estimate 

 for Asia quoted above, and adding to it 

 the figures given for the other parts of 

 the world, the result would be approxi- 

 mately as follows : — 





Acres. 



Asia 



826.541 



Africa (say) 



10,000 



Mexico, etc. (say) 



100,000 



British Guiana ... 



1,700 



Dutch Guiana ... 



800 



Trinidad and Tobago 



2,300 



Total ... 



941,341 



These figures applying to 1910 and be- 

 ing, moreover, avowedly incomplete, it 

 is evident that by allowing for 1911 even 

 a, normal amount of new planting, the 

 "million acres in plantation rubber" 

 which has been spoken of has possibly 

 been already exceeded. 



In its concluding sentence the article 

 thus deals with the general question of 

 plantation vs. wild rubber : 



•' Plantations may therefore seriously 

 compete with the production of wild 

 rubber ; but the contest, while becoming 

 keen, is not destined to cause wild rub- 

 ber to disappear, if its production is 

 rationally conducted, if the methods of 

 extraction correspond with the physio- 

 logy of the trees, and if . . . replanting 

 takes place under conditions of natural 

 vegetation." 



