and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— June, 1910. 565 



AN EDINBURGH PROFESSOR OF 

 AGRICULTURE IN COLOMBO. 



MR. ROBERT WALLACE, F.R.S.E., F.L.S., 

 EN ROUTE TO INDOCHINA. 



To Report on the Outlook for Rubber. 



We had the pleasure of a call last month from 

 Mr Robert Wallace, F. R.S.E., F.L.S., Professor 

 of Agriculture and Rural Economy in Edinburgh 

 University since 1885 and Garton Lecturer on 

 Colonial and Indian Agriculture since 1900. 

 Professor W allace was a through passenger to 

 Saigon and was going to French Indo-China on 

 behalf of certainEnglish capitalists to enquire into 

 and report on certain specific rubber areas and to 



INVESTIGATE GENERALLY THE OUTLOOK FOR 

 RUBBER IN THAT COLONY. 



Thereafter Professor Wallace proceeds home by 

 way of Japan and Canada, visiting en route 

 British Columbia, where he has a fruit farm. 

 Professor Wallace is Expert Adviser and a 

 Director of a British Guiana Balata Company. 

 The property is an excellent one, but labour is 

 scarce and the directors are considering the 

 importation of South Indian labour. Mr 

 Wallace is probably one of 



THE MOST TRAVELLED AGRICULTURAL EXPERTS 

 ALIVE. 



He was farmers' delegate to Canada in 1879, and 

 Special Commissioner to report on the Highland 

 Crofter Settlements in Manitoba to the Govern- 

 ment at Ottawa in 1893 ; Examiner in Agricul- 

 ture to the University of New Zealand, and to the 

 Dick Bequest ; Professor of Agricultural R.A.C. 

 Cirencester, 1882-85 ; made agricultural investi- 

 gations in Italy and India, 1887 ; Australia and 

 New Zealand, 1889 ; United States, 1890, 1893, 

 1898, 1907-8-9; Egypt, 1891; Greece, 1891-92; 

 South Africa, 1895, for the Cape Government ; 

 Canada and Mexico, 1907 ; Rhodesia, 1908, for 

 the Chartered Company ; Expert adviser to 

 Victorian Government at inter-colonial cattle- 

 tick conference held in Sydney in 1896. 

 He is a prolific writer and has published a con- 

 siderable quantity of enduring work. His book 

 on Indian Agriculture is well-known in the East. 

 Professor Wallace is 



NOT A STRANGER TO CEYLON 



having spent a fortnight here some 23 years 

 ago and having maintained a correspondence 

 with our "senior'' for many years thereafter. 

 Mr C Drieberg is an old student of Professor 

 Wallace's ; while in the few hours he spent in 

 Colombo the Professor met two old friends in 

 Messrs Greenshields and Craig. 



BELGIAN CONGO TAXES ON 

 INDIARUBBER. 



About 3'jd per lb. Export Tax from July 1st. 



The " Moniteur Beige " for April 7th con- 

 tains a Belgian Royal Decree, dated March 

 22nd, providing that, from July 1st next, there 

 shall be levied on exported rubber, other than 

 plantation rubber, collected in the Colony, a 

 tax of 75 centimes per kilogramme when the rub- 

 ber is from trees or lianas, and of 50 centimes per 

 kilogramme on so-called rubber 'desherbes.' These 

 taxes are to be leviod in addition to the export 

 duty.— Board of Trade Journal, April 28. 



PINK DISEASE OF PARA RUBBER 

 AND BORD EAUX MIXTURE. 



In my reporton my tour in Travancore it was 

 mentioned that at Palapilly Estate, the Para 

 Rubber trees were being treated with Bordeaux 

 mixture as a preventative to Pink Disease. Mr 

 R T Gudgeon, the Manager, has kindly sent me 

 some valuable information about the process. 

 He writes as follows : — 



"Painting Rubber trees with Bordeaux mix- 

 ture to prevent the attack of Cortiemm javani- 

 cum. — I will answer your questions in order. 



1st — " Strength of Bordeaux mixture. 

 6 lb of Copper Sulphate. 

 4 lb of freshly slaked burned lime in 45 

 gallons of water. 



" This is what I started with, bat allowing for 

 a certain amount of Copper Sulphate not dis- 

 solving I now put 10 lb instead of 6 lb. I mix 

 it up m lots quarter the bulk of above. 



" The Copper Sulphate is dissolved in boiling 

 water and of course in wood or enamel buckets. 

 As a rule the whole of the water to be used is 

 utilised first for dissolving the Copper Sulphate. 



' 1 1 put a solution as strong as I could make it on 

 2 or 3 four year old trees, but I found it in no way 

 affected the bark other than slightly drying it up 

 on the outside but nothing like so bad as tar does, 



" 2. The best mixture I have found and by 

 far the cheapest, as it only cost just the cooly 

 hire for collecting, is the bark from a tree which 

 is locally called Kota-Mavoo. This put in water 

 and kept in soaking 5 or 6 days makes an excel- 

 lent paste. I had 3£ inches of rain a few hours 

 after I had applied the Bordeaux mixture with 

 this paste mixed with it, but one could see the 

 mixture on the trees quite plainly after. 



3. I only paint just where the branches join 

 the main stem and over any wounds there may 

 be on the tree. 



4. "I have never tried the sprayer and should 

 imagine it a very expensive way of doing it on large 

 3, 4, or 5 year old trees, as well as not so effective as 

 the brush. There is no other waste with the brush. 



5. "It has cost me about 150 rupees to do 

 500 acres , 200 acres of which were 2£ year old 

 trees and cost very little. This includes labour, 

 pan, Copper Sulphate and brushes. The amount 

 a cooly will do is difficult to say, as it entirely 

 depends on the age and size of the trees, and I 

 also pruned the trees carefully as I went along, 

 which is not included in the above cost. At 

 least 90% of the trees were done in the older 

 clearings, only those that had branches shooting 

 out very high up were missed. I used about 

 45 lb. of Copper Sulphate, but there was a great 

 deal of waste owing to my unfortunately not 

 getting it closely ground and fine quality. 

 Coolies had to grind it themselves the best 

 way they could. Strawson's Copper Sulphate 

 is much the best and dissolves fairly easily in 

 cold water, but I doubt if you get it out here. 1 ' 

 .... The actual benefits to be obtained from 

 this system can only be ascertained after the 

 monsoon is over, and I shall hope to publish the 

 results with the kind permission of the managers 

 of Palapilly Estate as soon as they have been 

 obtained. I have little doubt, however, but that 

 they will prove to be of an encouraging nature. 



Rudolph JJ. Anstead, Planting Expert. 

 —Planters Chronicle, May 21. 



