and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— Jan,;, 1910, 



75 



Technical Trials. 



The two samples of rubber were submitted to 

 rubber manufacturers for technical trial and com- 

 mercial valuation, with the following results : ~- 



One firm reported that after a caretul exami- 

 nation thoy found that the rubber from the 

 Bathurst district (No. 2) is somewhat better 

 than that from the Kommbo district (No. 1). 

 The loss on washing was 6'2 per cent, in the 

 case of the former, and 7'1 per cent, in the 

 latter. They valued the washed rubber from 

 No. 2 at Is lid per lb, and that from No. 1 at 

 Is 7d per lb, with fine hard Para rubber quoted 

 at 2s 9d per lb (Nov. 1908). 



A firm of cable manufacturers reported that 

 this rubber could not be employed for their pur- 

 poses, but might be useful in other branches of 

 the industry. They stated that the rubber is 

 very sticky in working and possesses very little 

 elasticity or resilience; the stickiness, moreover, 

 increases as the rubber is worked. 



Coiclusions. 

 These two samples of Ficus Voqclii rubber cor- 

 respond fairly closely in composition with the 

 previous specimen forwarded from the Gambia 

 to the Imperial Institute. It is evident that 

 the rubber is of very resinous character, the 

 three samples examined containing 29"9, 35-4 

 and 31*8 per cent, respectively, of this con- 

 stituent, but the results of the manufacturers' 

 trials show that the product could be utilised 

 for certain technical purposes, and that if well 

 prepared it will realise a very fair price in the 

 market. The tree, therefore, appears to deserve 

 attention in those countries where it is suffi- 

 ciently abundant to furnish commercial supplies of 

 rubber. — Imperial Institute Bulletin, No. 3., 1909. 



FUTURE RUBBER SUPPLY. 



PROBABLE WORLD'S PRODUCTION 

 IN 1915. 



Malacca Plantations' report Criticised by Mr 

 Stanley Arden. 



The report of tho directors of the Malacca 

 Rubber Plantations Ltd., submitted to the 

 third annual meeting of the shareholders on tho 

 26th November and adopted unanimously, should 

 provide food for reflection for those interested 

 in the probable supply of rubber in the not ar 

 distant future. 



In this report the directors inform us, that 

 " the time has now arrived when they feel 

 justified in passing on to tho shareholders the 

 carefully prepared estimates of future yield 

 made by tho local management.'' 



These "carefully prepared estimates" allow 

 for a production of 750,000 lb. in 1910, increa- 

 sing steadily to 7,500,000 lb. in the year 1915 : 

 as there are, according to the report 2,750,000 

 trees planted on 15,000 acres, this is equivalent 

 to an average yield of 2'72 lb per tree or 500 lb. 

 per acre. 



It is not my intention to criticise these 

 estimates; but, on tho assumption that they 

 are fair and reasonable, to follow the lead 

 which the Malacca directors have given us and 



to endeavour to deduce from them an approxi- 

 mate estimate of the supply of plantation rubber, 

 say 5-6 years hence. 



The average age of the trees on the Malacca 

 }<ubber Co.'e estates works out at 2'83 years, but 

 owiug to lack of data I am unfortunately unable 

 to state definitely the average age of the whole 

 of the 573, 138 acres under cultivation, though 

 from the data at my disposal, I should put it at 

 just under 3 years at the time of writing. How- 

 ever, as we are not dealing with anything planted 

 during the current year, I think we are certainly 

 justified in assuming that the average ago and 

 the average yield of the area under cultivation 

 will compare favourably with that of the Malacca 

 Rubber Co. estates ; and it will probably come 

 as a surprise to some to find that on the basis 

 allowed by the directors of this Company — viz. 

 500 lb. per acre — the production of plantation 

 rubber from Southern Asia alone will amount to 



NO LESS THAN 127.932 TONS IN THE YEAR 1915. 



At one-third the present price this would be 

 worth £38,379,600 sterling. 



I offer no comment upon these figures beyond 

 stating that although acquainted with the majo- 

 rity of rubber estates in the Malay Peninsula and 

 Sumatra, I have yet to learn that the Malacca 

 Co.'s estates enjoy any special advantages in the 

 matter of soil, climate, labour supply, transport, 

 or immunity from plant diseases and pests ; so, 

 allowing that the condition of these estates is 

 neither better nor worse than that of the average 

 rubber plantation, and that the estimates of the 

 management are approximately correct, we are 

 confronted with an estimated ioorld , s output of 

 just under 200,000 tons in the year 1915, assu- 

 ming the yield from present sources remains 

 stationary at about 7 l; i000 tons. 



The estimated output for the whole of 

 Southern Asia has been put by various autho- 

 rities at from 25,000—35,000 tons by the year 

 1914 or 1915 : occassionally someone has had 

 the temerity to suggest that the probable out- 

 put will be much more, but oven the estimate 

 of 35,000 tons has been questioned by those 

 who should be in a position to form their own 

 opinion. Let us, however, look stern facts in 

 the face, and see how the production works 

 out on the basis allowed by the Directors of 

 tho Malacca Rubber estates. 



We find in the annual report of the director 

 of Agriculture, F.M.S., for 1905, that there were 

 241,138 acres planted in the Malay Peninsula by 

 December, 1908; while the Ceylon Directory gives 

 the area under rubber in that Island as 184,000 

 acres in June 1909 — say 182,000 acres by Decem- 

 ber, 1908 as only 4,000 acres were planted during 

 the year ending June, 1909. It is not possible 

 to obtain accurate figures of the area planted 

 with rubber in other countries, but Sumatra, 

 Java, Borneo, India, Burmah and New Guinea 

 propably account for at least another 150,000 

 acres. As we are dealing with Asia, we will not 

 take into account Africa and tropical America, 

 although planting is proceeding on a large scale 

 in both countries. Excluding these countries, 

 then, wo have a total of 573, 138 acres planted 

 by December 1908, an average which has pro- 

 bably been increased to considerably over 600,000 



