574 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



RUBBER PLANTING IN THE 

 PHILIPPINES. 



£300,000 BRITISH CAPITAL FOR 

 DEVELOPMENT WORK. 

 2,500 Acres to be Planted. 



We are indebted, to an old Ceylon resident 

 , Mr T H Stephens, Dentist, Manila, brother o 

 the well-known Dolosbage planters, for a copy of 

 'The Manila Times" (May 19th) containing the 

 following article on rubber : — 



Backed by nearly P3,000,000, (about £300,000) 

 worth of capital to be used in development work 

 in the Philippines, Captain A C Littler has re- 

 turned to Manila after an extended trip through 

 England and Scotland, where his missionary 

 work for the islands brought out English and 

 Scottish savings to be used in local industries. 

 Captain Littler's iirst venture will be iti the rich 

 Cotobato valley of Mindanao, whither he will go 

 next, to lay out the plantation of the 



RIO GRANDE BUBBER ESTATES 



Company, Limited. This concern will plant 

 3,500 acres of rubber. Mr Frank Bost, a rub- 

 ber expert, who has had experiencein Borneo, 

 the Straits Settlements, and Central Africa, 

 is now on his way here from England to 

 take charge of the work. This company has a 

 working capital of P400.000, most of it subscri- 

 bed by Scottish capitalists. It was floated in 

 Glasgow ; the stock was subscribed twice over. 

 Difficulties encountered at the start in the float- 

 ing of the company, were surmounted by the in- 

 surance of a prospectus containing an article on 

 the rubber possibilities of Mindanao, published 

 lastyearin the "Times." The company will 

 devote itself entirely to proceeding the best 

 grade of para rubber. Every possible care will 

 be taken in the planting and cultivation of this 

 product which, according to Captain Littler, can 

 be grown better in Mindanao, than in any other 

 part of the world. During the years of waiting 

 tor the rubber to reach maturity, the efforts of 

 the company will be turned to the gathering of 

 the wild rubber that is found in much profusion 

 in many parts of the southern island. A special 

 machine for the clearing and compression of this 

 grade of rubber will be imported, and efforts will 

 be made to pay the preliminary expenses of the 

 plantation from the profits of this hitherto 

 little exploited branch of the rubber business. 



Speaking of his plans this morning, Cap- 

 tain Littler said • "If we can solve the labour 

 problem, we will turn out a hard rubber that 

 will be in every respect the equal of the 

 hard para of the Malay Peninsula or the 

 Amazon Valley. And we will be able to 

 produce it cheaper than anywhere else 

 in the world. " Our company has been orga- 

 nised on a cash box basis, we feel that our 

 estimate of profits has been based upon a very 

 fair consideration of the rubber market and 

 its possibilities Many investors of Europe are 

 becoming sceptical of putting their money in 

 rubber development companies because of the 

 alluring promises held out. But we have made 

 no promises that we cannot fulfil. Rubber sells 

 today at more than 11 shillings a pound. We can 

 produce it at a large profit, selling it at slightly 



more than 3 shillings a pound. No rubber- 

 producing country in the world can make a 

 better claim. For our labour we expect to 

 depend upon the Moro. With proper treatment, 

 I am hopeful that the wild and semi-civilised 

 man of Mindanao is capable of the labour neces- 

 sary to the development of the island." Captain 

 Littler spent yesterday in conference with the 

 officials of the Bureau of Forestry preparing for 

 his trip into the Moro country next week. The 

 exact site of the land upon which the company 

 will settle has not been decided, but it will beone 

 of several sites in Mindanao. When the planta- 

 tion of the syndicate has been put under devel- 

 opment, Captain Littler will turn his attention 

 to the lumber possibilities of Mindanao. He 

 represents a syndicate that is ready to invest 

 P'2,000,000 in the development of the logging 

 industry of the southern island.— Manila Times, 

 May 19. 



ARTIFICIAL, RUBBER ONCE AGAIN, 



We learn from London that Professor 

 Harries, of Kiel, one of the leading auth- 

 orities in Germany on rubber, claims to have 

 discovered a valuable substitute for that com- 

 modity. The process is said to be based on the 

 boiling together, under certain conditions, of 

 isopren with acetic acid (eisessig). in a closed 

 tube, the result being the creation of a grey 

 composite, possessing all the properties of the 

 purest rubber, and capable of being vulcanised 

 in the same way as guttapercha. At preseut, 

 this artificial rubber has only been produced in 

 small quantities, but it is the Professor's opinion 

 that when his method has been further deve- 

 loped it will permit the placing on the market of 

 the article at one-third the cost of real rubber. 

 The Professor's claim has attracted considerable 

 attention, but is not believed. His article differs 

 materially from numerous other proposed sub- 

 stitutes for rubber, which have failed when 

 laboratory experiments succeeded, by attempts 

 at commercial uses. Well-known scientists in 

 Europe and America are devoting great atten- 

 tion to the subject, as the reward of a successful 

 discovery would be enormous, exceeding, pro- 

 bably, that of the substitution of synthetic for 

 natural indigo. 



CEYLON CITRONELLA OIL. 



COMPLAINTS AS TO QUALITY. 

 Messrs. Schimmel & Co., of Miltitz near 

 Leipzig, London and New York, sent us by last 

 mail their semi-annual report to the end of 

 April, 1910. As usual, it contains interesting 

 references to Ceylon essential oils. Ceylon cin- 

 namon oil, we note, " has enjoyed a very active 

 demand " and its manufacture in their works 

 is steadily extending. In the year 1909 they 

 distributed over 100,000 kilos of Ceylon cinna- 

 mon chips, while the sales exceeded in quantity 

 those of the year 1908. The imports of cinna- 

 mon chips vin Hamburg have again increased, 

 being 2,941,578 lb. against 2,785,824 lb in 1908. 

 Citronella oil is as usual exhaustively dealt with. 

 The shipments of Ceylon citronella oil from 

 Galle in the year 1909 reached the record, total- 



