176 The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



FURTHER 3.000 ACRES IN THE ABOBORAS VALLEY 



equal I o what he had already cleared. Based 

 upon what had already been done, 50 lb. an acre 

 appeared to be a very conservative estimate 

 of yield from the cleared forest to start with, 

 and, of course, there would be annually an in- 

 creasing number reaching maturity, so that 

 the yield should increase correspondingly, quite 

 apart from the increase derived from planting 

 up. Their policy should be to extend the 

 clearing of the undergrowth as rapidly as pos- 

 sible until they had from 3,000 to 5.000 acres 

 of cleared forest. Planting could be done at 

 the rate of about 500 acres a year, or according 

 to the season. On the basis of an acre pro- 

 ducing only 50 lb of rubber, and supposing it 

 sold at a profit of only Is 6d per pound, 



EVERY ACRE OF FOREST SO CLEAEED SHOULD IN ITS 

 FIRST YEAR, GIVE THEM A PROFIT OF £3 15s, 



this being on the small capital outlay of £1 to 

 clear it. (Applause.) They had based their 

 estimates of yield on the trees giving not more 

 than h lb. to commence with, which was what 

 Mr. Scaldaferri said they averaged in the wild 

 state, though many would give a much higher 

 yield than this. The yield varied considerably 

 in the Manihot variety, just as it did in the 

 Hevea variety. Mr. Frank told them of a tree 

 from which he extracted as much as 20 lb. or 

 22 lb, and it was from this that ho took the seed 

 for these plantations. They had had several 

 orders for seed ; and if it did all that was ex- 

 pected of it this syndicate would do very well. 

 Up to the present it might fairly be said that 

 Mr. Frank had proved the accuracy of his esti- 

 mates of cost. With regard to the cost per 

 pound of the rubber, he stated when he was 

 home last year that he could land it in Bahia 

 at Is per pound from the plantations, allowing 

 an extra 4d per pound from the cleared forests; 

 but to provide against all contingencies the 

 directors preferred to 



BASE THEIR ESTIMATES ON ITS COSTING Is. 6D. 

 PER POUND F.O.B. 



A good deal had been said to him (the chairman) 

 at different times about the inadvisability of 

 cleaning their rubber locally, and that it would 

 be much better to send it home in its rough 

 state and let the manufacturer do his own 

 cleaning ; but the results had certainly shown 

 that it was quite possible to clean the Jequie 

 rubber on the spot, ship it home, and get an 

 excellent price for it. They certainly did not 

 propose to send home any dirty stuff such as it 

 was customary to send from Bahia generally. 

 (Hear, hear.) With regard to the cost of the 

 plantations, Mr. Frank went carefully into 

 the estimates with him a year ago, and the 

 results he arrived at were that, allowing for 

 all contingencies, he could plant and bring an 

 acre of rubber into bearing for a little over 

 £7. Another question of interest was that of 



COTTON GROWING. 



Bahia used to export considerable quantities of 

 cotton. Mr Frank wrote that if they would 

 put up a mill on the estate, as soon as it became 

 known the natives would start planting cotton 

 on their own account for 50 miles round, and 

 bring all their cotton to him. Mr Stevenson was 

 of opinion that this would prove quite a profit- 



able business. Mr Railton, who had had ex 

 perience of cotton growing, would go into the 

 matter on his arrival. The directors had been 

 approached on the subject of disposing of a 

 portion of the Compauy's estate. Negotiations 

 were proceeding, and he had reason to believe 

 that the matter was likely to go through at an 

 early date, to the great advantage of this syn- 

 dicate. If the arrangements which had been 

 suggested were carried through, the syndicate 

 would be provided with additional working 

 capital for the development of the forest, 

 and it would also give them a large interest 

 in another Company developing their own 

 estates. (Applause.) As it would be their 

 idea to take the greater part of the purchase 

 pricu in shares, they would be interested in 

 giving the new company the best part of the 

 forest, without entrenching upon the Aboboras 

 valley, which they themselves were developing. 

 Summed up, the position was that with the 

 increased working capital now available they 

 were pushing ahead in clearing the forest as 

 rapidly as possible, and that would be their 

 policy for the future. Meanwhile tapping of 

 both the plantation and the forest areas as 

 cleared would be the principal work in hand 

 from November to April. 



RUBBER EXPLOITATION IN BRITISH 

 EAST AFRICA. 



An application for a concession to tap rubber 

 from the wild landolphia rubber vine over a 

 forest of 25,000 acres, writes Mr H W Buck 

 land in the January Empire Review, was de- 

 clined solely on the report of the Forest Offi- 

 cer, that my friends and myself might make an 

 income of £30,000 a year from the concession — a 

 totally erroneous conclusion ; but, even if cor- 

 rect, as the Government was to receive a 10 per 

 cent, royalty plus a rental without expending a 

 penny of capital, what objection could there be? 

 I should perhaps say in connection with this 

 application that the Government agricultural 

 expert strongly recommended the granting of 

 the concession on the ground that the forest was 

 being destroyed by the excessive tapping of the 

 vines by natives, who pay no royalty or rental 

 whatever. 



THE EXAMINATION OF NYASALAND 



TOBACCOS 



of the "barn-cured" pipe class— received at 

 the Imperial Institute lately — indicates that 

 they are of particularly promising quality and 

 that a considerable measure of success has been 

 achieved in the solution of the difficult problem 

 of producing, in a new country, so far as to- 

 bacco production is concerned, types of tobacco 

 similar to those in demand in Europe. The ap- 

 pearance of the tobacco, which i3 a very im- 

 portant matter, is regarded as satisfactory by 

 the firms consulted. The characteristic aroma 

 and flavour produced when these tobaccos are 

 burned, which are slightly different from those of 

 similar American tobaccos, will probably prove 

 the chief difficulty in the way of finding an 

 extended market for them in Europe. 



