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



93 



to grow Hevea brasiliensis so as to yield good 

 latex freely. That these were the consider- 

 ations that led him as a matter of duty to the 

 public, to record the opinion which has been 

 called in question. With regard to Castilloa 

 elasticity the chief points he made were as to its 

 being a serious source of vermin (scale insects) 

 and of its "sucking" cocoa when planted as 

 shade for that crop. 



Mr D Campbell said he had visited Costa Rica 

 and found Castilloa Rubber trees there that had 

 been tapped and tapped for years with rough 

 treatment until they were all scars and yet they 

 did not die. He learned from there that there 

 were several varieties and he thought we had 

 been supplied from the gardens with the wrong 

 variety. He had a goodly number of Castilloa 

 rubber trees and they had grown splendidly and 

 never suffered from white scale. He would now 

 like the Department to tap the trees system- 

 atically and settle the question whether they 

 would yield rubber in payable quantities or not. 



The Director of Agriculture— said he had 

 been looking into the matter and found that the 

 Castilloa plants that had been supplied here 

 came from Kew, and were of the best variety. 

 There was no doubt at all that they had the right 

 sort. With regard to the tapping of the trees, 

 the Department could send Mr Cradwick to tap 

 them. — Journal of the Jamaica Agricultural 

 Society, November, 1909. 



RUBBER GROWING IN INDO-CHINA. 



Monsieur Albert Littaye, Vice-President of 

 the Societe Agricole de Suzannah, was in 

 Colombo a few days ago on his way back to 

 France, Regarding the progress made in para 

 rubber cultivation in Indo-China, M. Littaye 

 said (to the "Times of Ceylon") that there 

 were, at present, only three rubber plantations 

 in Indo-China, the above being the chief one. 

 Some seven or eight years ago a French Govern- 

 ment official, a Commissioner of Police, experi- 

 mented, on his own account, with para rubber, 

 from seed which he procured from Singapore. 

 He kept the matter very much to himself, as he 

 was nervous of exposing himself to ridicule in 

 the event of failure of the product to do well. 

 At present he has some very fine seven-year-old 

 rubber trees on his plantation ; this year had 

 an output of three tons, which he had sold at 14 

 francs or lis 6d a kilo (2 1-5 lb). For 1910 he had 

 sold forward the crop of four tons at 20 fanes 

 (16s) a kilo ! On Suzannah estate operations 

 were started a little over four years ago, a con- 

 cession being obtained from the French Govern- 

 ment of 2,500 hectares (one hectare=2'47 acres). 

 They proceeded to plant a portion of it with 

 rubber, using 



RICE AS A CATCH CROP. 



The original concessionaires would have had 

 the land free of charge, had they been able to 

 fulfill the conditions of opening up laid down by 

 the French Government, but as they were not 

 able to do this they had to pay for the freehold 

 at the rate of 25 centimes. per hectare — some £25 

 sterling. The present Company had paid the 

 original concessionaires 70,000 dollars (£7,000 



sterling), and formed a Company with a capital 

 of 300,000 dollars. They have since issued 

 300,000 dollars' worth of 10 per cent debentures 

 — over-subscribed — redeemable in ten yea rs or by 

 exchange for shares in the Company. The money 

 had all been raised in Indo-China, striking testi- 

 mony to the enterprise of the French colonists. 

 The Company has 700 trees three years and ten 

 months old ; some have circumference 40 centi- 

 metres (100 centimetres=39 inches). Of rubber 

 trees 2 years and ten months old they had 25,000 

 trees; of one year and ten months old, 50,000 

 trees; the remainder on 250 hectares being of 

 this year's planting. Altogether they had 500 

 hectares planted in rubber, and their intention 

 was to plant up until they had 200,000 trees 

 well-grown. The planting is done in quincunx 

 — four trees forming a square with the fifth in 

 the centre — the distance apart being five metres. 

 They consider that the land is very suitable for 

 rubber cultivation, and are thoroughly satisfied 

 with the present growth obtained. The Suzan- 

 nah Company land has been specially selected 

 for its suitability, and is situated some 64 kilo- 

 metres (one kilometre = | of a mile) from Saigon, 

 the estate being situated right on the railway 

 line from Saigon, the Railway station Daugiay 

 being on the estate, M. Littaye says he and his 

 fellow Directors find Rice growing very helpful, 

 as it enables the plantation to be kept free from 

 weeds and provides food for the labour force, 

 Silk cultivation is also pursued. At present 

 they have a force of 300 coolies on the estate. 

 These are Annamites and, being an agricultural 

 people, they take very kindly to the work on the 

 estate. The country, of course, is very sparsely 

 populated, due to the endless wars before the 

 French occupation; but no difficulty is anti- 

 cipated in obtaining an adequate supply of labour. 



HIGH WAGES. . 



The rate of wages paid to the present 

 force is a good deal higher than is paid 

 in the Middle East — 40 dollar cents or one 

 franc per diem, plus rice. M. Littaye thinks, 

 however, that labour will increase as time goes 

 on, and be obtainable at cheaper rates than 

 those prevailing. The estate is situated about 

 100 metres abovo sea level, and has several 

 small streams running through it. In the 

 matter of rainfall, the country has a wet season 

 of eight months and a dry season of four 

 months. The President of the Company, is 

 M, Thiollier. M. Littaye and M. Guarriguene 

 being vice-Presidents. The Superintendent is 

 a Frenchman named M. Girard, who had no 

 previous experience of Rubber planting, but 

 who may visit the Malay States early next year, 

 and take back with him expert tappers to ins- 

 true the Annamite coolies. 



RUBBER IN EAST JAVA. 



Supplanting Coffee. 



The Java Bode calls attention to the fact 

 that, in ILast Java, coffee estates are being 

 steadily bought up on British account for 

 rubber cultivation. For instance, the Glunsing 

 estate in the province of Pasaruan, (about 540 

 acres in extent) which, for many years had 

 been worked at a loss, has passed into British 

 hands for that purpose. 



