and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultwal Society.— Jan., 1910, 



81 



RUBBER ON THE GOLD COAST. 



[By a Recent Visitor to Peradeniya.] 

 The rubber ab present exported from the 

 Gold Coast is the product of several latices, the 

 most important of which is that of the 



FUNTUMIA ELASTICA. 



The jungle vine (Landolphia owariensis) also 

 furnishes a good deal of ball rubber. The 

 quality of most varieties of Gold Coast Rubber 

 is poor, owing to the sticky, resinous, un- 

 attractive mass which it presents. This is 

 mainly due to two causes : — (1) the native igno- 

 rance of improved methods of preparation ; and 

 (2) their habit of collecting and mixing every 

 latex having a white milky appearance, in the 

 belief that they profit by having for sale a 

 greater quantity of so-called rubber. Much 

 attention has been drawn to this product 

 of late and to the wasteful system of 

 tapping which has been going on. The 

 Department has done much good work in de- 

 monstrating various improved methods in the 

 manufacture of rubber and in afforestation, 

 several million plants and seeds having 

 been raised and distributed from the Agricul- 

 tural Stations for planting in the forest areas. 

 The system of tapping practised by the un- 

 in struct ed natives is very wasteful, and the 

 trees, where they have not been killed, have 

 been very much disfigured by excretionary 

 growths due to injury to the cambium, which 

 renders a second, or repeated, tapping in Bub- 

 sequent years, well-nigh impossible. 



It has now been clearly demonstrated that 

 rubber of very fine quality, second only to the 

 very finest Para, can be made from the latex of 

 Funtumia elastica ; moreover it would appear 

 that the trees reach maturity, when favourably 

 planted, almost as soon as the Para variety. It 

 is true also that the older the trees, the better 

 will be the quality and greater the quantity of 

 rubber produced as in the case of Para ; and it is 

 somewhat reassuring to know that trees of this 

 species can be replaced in such comparatively 

 short time from seed. 



The chiefs have of late been interesting them- 

 selves very much in the work of the Agricultural 

 Department, and if we are able to get their 

 hearty co-operation, as well as that of their 

 followers, it should be possible to effect a marked 

 improvement in the quality of this product in 

 the course of a few years, and a considerable 

 increase also in the quantity exported. 



The trees of this species on the Agricultural 

 Stations have not yet proved altogether satis- 

 factory rubber yielders ; but it is possible that 

 the best method of growing the trees has not 

 yet been ascertained, and I propose to institute 

 experiments in this connection. No exhaustive 

 experiments, however, have yet been made to 

 ascertain the exact amount of rubber yielded 

 per tree, and this is a subject worth careful in- 

 vestigation (see previous reports of this De- 

 partment.) " Funtumia '' offers one considerable 

 advantage over ' Para," i.e. a greater quantity 

 of latex can be extracted in a single tapping, 

 and for this reason it is perhaps better suited 

 to native methods. 



11 



Krepi Ball or " Pempene " Rubber. 

 The jungle vine, Landolphia owariensis, from 

 which the ball rubber of commerce is mostly 

 obtained, appears to be of slow growth. Experi- 

 ments made at the Agricultural Station indicate 

 that a long time must elapse after planting 

 before it can be tapped. 



In any case, this is not a species that could be 

 cultivated in the ordinary sense of the world ; 

 it is purely a jungle plant and climber , but 

 when found in the open country, it seems to de- 

 velop a tuberous, rubber-yielding root, speci- 

 mens of which have been collected in the Nor- 

 thern Territories and identified at Kew. 

 Memleku Rubber. 

 Another indigenous rubber tree worth men- 

 tioning is the Ficus vogelii, which in certain 

 parts of the Colony, notably the Krobo-Afram 

 country, is fairly abundant. 



The rubber obtained from this species is of a 

 very poor quality owing to the large percentage 

 of resin it contains, but as each tree yields a 

 large quantity of latex this rubber is possibly 

 worth more attention. In continuation of pre- 

 vious tests I hope to send a large sample of this 

 product to the Imperial Institute for commer- 

 cial tests. The previous valuations of it were 

 from 2s. to 3s. 6d. per lb. ; but even at 

 these prices it was not certain whether a market 

 could be established in this article. (See 

 Annual Report for 1907.) 



The Product is more after the nature of 

 Balata and I presume that if a market could be 

 established it would be used for somewhat 

 similar purposes. A small area was planted with 

 this rubber tree at Aburi Botanical Gardens 

 from cuttings, and it is evident there is more 

 than one variety of Ficus yielding this rubber 

 but a close examination has not yet been made.' 

 PARA RUBBER. 

 Amongst the many other introduced products 

 that promise fairly well is that of Para rubber 

 (Hevea brasiliensis.) A few trees were first 

 introduced at Aburi in 1893 and rubber was 

 extracted from them in 1903. Small plantations 

 were formed at the' Aburi and Tarkwa Agricul- 

 tural Stations in 1900-1 and 1904 respectively. At 

 Tarkwa the trees were planted at experimental 

 distances, particulars of which will be found re- 

 corded under the notes on the station in this 

 report They have not yet been tapped, but the 

 rate of growth is very satisfactory and compares 

 favourably with that of the same species in the 

 federated Malay States and Ceylon, where it is 

 now being cultivated on an extensive scale. 



In the East, when a tree has attained a circum- 

 ference of 18 inches to 20 inches at 3 feet from 

 the ground, it is considered tappable. This is not 

 usually reached before the sixth year after plan- 

 ting, so an average of 17 inches for every tree 

 H years old on the plantation at Tarkwa shows 

 great promise for the species in the Gold Coast. 



At Aburi the small plantation of 154 trees 

 planted at 15 « 15 ft. in 1900 and 1901, shows 

 an average circumference of 20A inches at 3 ft 

 from the ground which is also very grati- 

 fying, as the soil here is more dry and stony 

 and not therefore what is usually considered 

 quite suitable for Para rubber. 



