252 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



is too small or too insignificant so long as he 

 can see a profit in the handling of it. 



Mr. Wickham is here with a coagulator and 

 a new tapping tool for Para rubber. He 

 invited me to inspect the latter at his hotel 

 the other day. It is a very ingenious tool. 

 Designed to do away with all bark removal, 

 it is constructed to follow as near as possible 

 the work performed by the Brazilian serin- 

 gueiro in tapping his trees. Into a steel frame 

 three chisel head blades are fixed, 1 inch apart, 

 in a perpendicular position. A back spring 

 controls the action of these chisels, which in- 

 cline at an angle of 45° in the frame. The 

 tapper is armed with a mallet, and when the 

 tool is placed in position, he gives the back 

 spring a sharp blow, the chisels make three 

 incisions after this style : 



/ 



/ 



the milk being allowed to How down the trunk. 

 I am afraid the Ceylon planter will not take on 

 the thing very readily, inasmuch as it must in- 

 crease enormously the output of "bark-scrap," 

 which is already an abomination on young plan- 

 tations. 



Quite a craze has recently set in for thinning 

 out three and four-year-old Para plantations 

 throughout Ceylon, where it was the rule to 

 plant about 220 trees to the acre. I was on an 

 estate the other day where fine four-year-old 

 trees full of milk lay on the ground as thick as 

 leaves in Vallambrosa. Half the plantation was 

 arubbed up. The superintendent informed me 

 that it was done by the agent's orders. Trees 

 were not to stand in future closer than 100 to 

 the acre, and the company had no money to 

 spare to find labour to tap the trees to death. 



Many of the old proprietary planters condemn 

 it unreservedly. They point to their 200 per 

 acre trees yielding 3001b. of dry rubber to the 

 acre, and protest that nobody in the Island is 

 anything but a mere infant in knowledge as to 

 the correct way of growing and tapping Para 

 rubber, and it will take years before anyone can 

 pronounce definitely pn the matter one way or 

 the other, 



ELECTRIC POWEH IN CEYLON AND 

 EL6EWHERE. 



OUR ISLAND BEHIND THE TIMES. 



The vast possibilities of engineering develop- 

 ment in Ceylon have frequently been pointed out 

 in our colums, but further than an investigation, 

 and a brief report on the matter, little has been 

 done. This is to be greatly regretted for other 

 countries are stealing a march on us in the develop . 

 ment of their waterpower projects, and among 

 them, one of our neighbouring island colonies in 

 the Orient,that of the Philippines. Through H*M. 

 Cousul-General at Manila, we learn that a com- 

 pany has been formed there with a capital of 

 £153,000 for the purpose of generating electric 

 power from the Agno river, for supply to the mi- 

 ning plants and saw mills on the river, and for 

 the lighting of Baguio, the summer mountain 

 capital of the Philippine islands. This is a re- 

 markable undertaking, in view of the fact that 

 they have no such falls as we possess in the Elfin, 

 and other falls in Ceylon, and will have to con- 

 struct a dam system to secure the needed pre- 

 cipitation and power, while here we have a 

 natural water-power of great and useful force 

 if properly harnessed. Both the Japanese, and 

 the Dutch government in Java have been making 

 exhaustive investigations into the natural 

 generating powers of their respective water- 

 ways, and extensive projects are now 

 under development by them, as well as in 

 Australia and New Zealand. In view of the 

 above, it is interesting to reproduce at this 

 time, what we recently wote and which might 

 be again seriously considered by Government 

 aud some enterprising firm in Ceylon, with 

 a view of undertaking the development of our 

 natural waterpower without further delays. 

 The article says in part : Nature has so de- 

 signed Ceylon as to make of it a very play- 

 ground for the engineer as well as the tourist. 

 The enterprising planter has made the land a 

 bource of riches. It promises by the help of the 

 specialist in civil and electrical engineering to 

 become a profitable wonderland. But both 

 planting and public works of the kind that we 

 have in mind require heavy initial expenditure 

 before rewards can be reaped. The planting in- 

 dustry has been able, generally, to get the re- 

 quisite capital. When it comes to a question of 

 great public works that open out immense pos. 

 sibilities,we find many and curious difficulties in 

 the way of financing them sufficiently. Govern- 

 ment is in a chronic state of having no funds to 

 spare, Sources of revenue are fairly restricted, 



