and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— -Feb., 1910, 



near future, owing to the great stimulus 

 which has been imparted to the Industry 

 by its substantial profit-earning capacity. 

 The popularity of Plantation Kubber with 

 buyers has been well manifested by the large 

 number of contracts which have been entered 

 into for delivery up to the end of 1910 (and in 

 some cases to the end of 1911) at prices ran- 

 ging up to about 8s per lb. The general quality 

 of the Rubber produced has fully maintained 

 its previous reputation, the care given to its 

 preparation by planters, especially as regards 

 cleanness, has been appreciated. 



Buyers are giving more attention than ever to 

 the characteristics of strength and toughness, 

 and these are by far the most important pro- 

 perties that the grower muet strive to secure. 

 The popularity of Highlands and Vallambrosa 

 Smoked Sheet, on account of its strength and 

 evenness in quality, has resulted in the highest 

 prices being generally now paid for these kinds. 

 This has drawn considerable attention to the 



ADVANTAGE OF ADOPTING TUB PROCESS OF CAKE- 

 FULLY SMOKING 



the Rubber, and a large number of planters 

 are now engaged in experimenting in this 

 direction. The commonest form of Planta- 

 tion Rubber now on the market is Crepe, -which 

 has been so largely adopted on account of eco- 

 nomy in handling and the good results obtained. 

 Sheet still comes forward in fairly large quanti- 

 ties, Biscuits being almost entirely limited to 

 small shipments from Ceylon. The demand for 

 very pale coloured pure Rubber, which was such 

 a feature la-t year, has been eclipsed by the 

 recent competition for smoked Sheet, which has 

 so far only been coming forward in small quan- 

 tities. Buyers however are still ready to pay 

 full prices for Light-coloured Kubber, whether 

 in the form of Crepe, Sheet or Biscuits, when 

 of even quality, 



PRODUCTION. Plantation Rubber.— The 

 quantity exported this year, from the various 

 countries of production shews an increase of 

 roughly 100 per cent on the figures for the pre- 

 vious 12 months, the increase in the case of 

 Malaya being much more in proportion to that of 

 Ceylon. 



Paka.— The season 1908/1909 produced about 

 1,500 tons more than the previous one, the crop 

 being the largest yet recorded, while the first 

 sixmonthsof the present crop mark an increase 

 of about 835 tons over the same period last year. 



Exports of Plantation Rubber fkom 

 Malaya and Ceylon Since 1905. 



a 





a 3 



o 

 c 



b£ 



a 











a 



!<3 



o 







© 



M 





H 





Ec 



a 





a> 



o 





CO 



to 



Oi 



O 



H 





Tons. 



TOII9. 



Tons. 



Tons. 



Tons. 



1905 





83 



47 



75 



205 



190) 





327 



58 



140 



f31 



19"7 





649 



230 



248 



1,133 



1908 





919| 



7l9' f 



3711 



2,010} 



<U909 



1,339 



1,103 



9S0 



697 



4,025 



(A'Che December inures (and part of tbuse for November^ 

 are estimated. 



179 



Receipts at Para During the Last Ten 

 Seasons. 



Tons. 



1839-00 . . 26,093 



190-01 .. 2^,640 



1901- 02 ... 29,99- 



1902- 03 2\890 

 19H3 04 .. 30.580 

 1904- >5 ... 33.K 

 1005-06 :-4 710 

 1906-07 .. 37,810 

 IflW OS .. 30,680 

 1908-09 ... 38,150 



Receipts from July to December for 

 the Last Five Years. 



1905, 14,690 tons; 1906, 14,680 tons: 1907, 14,240 tons; 

 19i'8, 15,765 tons ; (U909, 16,600 tons. 

 aVp to 29th December. 

 GOW, WILSON & .STANTON, Ltd., 13 and 23, Rood 

 Lane, E.G., 31st December, 1909. 



A31AZON VERSUS PLANTATION 

 RUBBER. 



In the Journal d' Agriculture Tropicalc (Sep- 

 tember, 1009) M. G. Lamy Torillhon discusses 

 the causes of the difference in value between 

 hard cure Para of the Amazons and plantation 

 Rubber. He says that a manufacturer of tine 

 para, if offered hard cure, knows right away 

 that the product is fine, older collected, and 

 drier than Island Para, which is wetter and 

 valued a little lower. With plantation rubber 

 it is nocessary for him to see and even analyse 

 the samples before fixing the price. The Brazil 

 rubber contains 15 to 20 per cent, of foreign 

 matter and water, while plantation rubber is 

 quite pure and only gives J to 1 percent, of 

 moisture, yet the price of the former is higher. 

 Ho gives an explanation of the difference be- 

 tween the texture of the two rubbers in the fol- 

 lowing way : Pure raw caoutchouc is considered 

 as composed of globules agglutinated by a phy- 

 sical or chemical method when they were in 

 suspension in the latex. It is by a kind of coales- 

 cence that they are joined together, they then 

 present themselves under two conditions of mat- 

 ter very distinct and complementary. One of 

 these states corresponds to a fibrous, elastic, 

 nervous matter, the other may be compared to 

 a plastic matter always ready to unite with the 

 former. The molecular arrangement is so well 

 done that one might compare it to threads of: 

 chain joined by a weft, if the comparison of 

 the rubber to a tissue is not too hazardous. It 

 is just in " fine Para " that one finds the high- 

 est degree of perfection in this combination of 

 the two substances. 



He attributes this greater strength and ner ve 

 possessed by the Amazon rubber to the practice 

 of smoking. Unfortunately, says he, smoking 

 does not exist or is at least very little employed 

 in the Federated Malay States. We have only 

 seen some attempts which should be followed up, 

 for we are persuaded that rubber prepared by 

 smoking should produce a notable increase ui 

 value, high enough to induce the collector to 

 persevere on theBe lines. It appears to us in- 

 dispensable that the collectors of plantation rub- 

 ber should make smoking general. They would 

 by this means give to their rubber a quality 

 which manufacturers would welcome, 



