182 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



fcionsof the rubber shown from all the principal 

 estates. 



Southern India Rubber is now coming in 

 larger quantities and the quality of both Uevea 

 and Ceara compares very favourably with the 

 older producing countries in the East. 



Java and Sumatka shipments are increa- 

 sing rapidly and the quality shows some im- 

 provement, but a great deal more care must 

 be taken in both these countries in the pre- 

 paration and condition of the rubber before 

 shipment. 



Borneo Estates are all sending larger ship- 

 ments, and some of the Smoked Sheet ranks 

 with the older and better known marks of Ceylon 

 and Malaya. 



East African Manihot Crepe is growing in 

 favour and the preparation has been greatly 

 improved. 



Ceara from the East is not increasing much, 

 but from South America, and JNyassaland and 

 Uganda, some very promising, though small, 

 shipments have been received. 



Ficus Crepe (Rambong) is still in good de- 

 mand and wanted, but shipments are not in- 

 creasing, which is disappointing. 



Castilloa has shown some improvement, but 

 this species is apparently very difficult to cure 

 properly. It is uncertain which is the best 

 method, but we believe either Smoked Sheet or 

 Thick Crepe would be the best form to make. 



Funtdmia. — Smoked Sheet still comes to the 

 market, but quantities from the few estates 

 which have been shipping have fallen off. 



Hevea in Blocks is still only sent by Lana- 

 dron and, as in 1910, has sold readily at excel- 

 lent prices. 



Lewis & Feat, Rubber Brokers. 



THE CEYLON PLANTING ENTERPRISE 



Colombo, Dec. 15.— The careful inquiry into 

 the staple industries on plantations throughout 

 the island, periodically carried out for " Fer- 

 guson's Ceylon Handbook and Directory " has 

 just been completed for the edition for 1912. 

 The main results may be summarised, premis- 

 ing that the figures cover all the cultivation by 

 European colonists and Ceylonese owners of tea, 

 rubber, cacao, and other estates, as well as that 

 in small gardens. 



Tea and other crops at the end of 1911, con- 

 trasted with those for August, 1910, are as fol- 

 lows : — Area in Acres. 



Crop. Dec, 1911. Aug., 1910. 



Tea 395,000 385,000 



Rubber ... 215,000 203,520 



Cacao ... 32,000 33,000 



Cardamoms (spice) ... 7,300 7,426 

 An increase in 15 months of between 9,000 and 

 10,000 acres of tea and 11,500 acres of rubber is 

 indicative of continued prosperity in these two 

 staples ; while the demand and prices for cacao 

 and cardamoms do not seem to encourage any 

 extension of cultivation. There are, besides, cer- 

 tain minor products which make the aggregate 

 of cultivation on 1,806 plantations 669,012 acres, 

 out of a total extent of 1,005,034 acres, the ex- 

 cess being reserve forest or ' 1 patena " (grass) or 

 waste land. The total of the resident managers 



or superintendents and assistants (including a 

 certain limited number of "planting students ") 

 is now 1,946, an increase of 243 since August last 

 year, showing unusual attraction and activity. 

 It may be mentioned that there are 77,093 acres 

 of tea intermixed with rubber plants and also 

 19,493 acres of cacao and rubber interplanted. 

 Some time ago it was supposed, owing to the 

 great value of rubber, that the tea and cacao in 

 these areas would gradually and quietly dis- 

 appear. But, in the case of tea especially, the 

 special demand and better prices seem to have 

 induced greater attention, for there is no falling- 

 off, but rather an increase, in the figures for tea 

 and rubber interplanted. Still, Para rubber con- 

 tinues to keep up in value, and it may be a ques- 

 tion what proportion of the acreage should be 

 eventually credited to tea, rubber, and cacao. 

 For the present the compiler has divided equally 

 between the products interplanted. 



Progress of Rubber. 



The rapid progress in rubber is very remark- 

 able. In 19U5 the compiler's figures stood at 

 40,000 acres, and were officially quoted by the 

 Governor as remarkable ; but in 1906 the area 

 planted had risen to 104,000 acres, and now— five 

 years lat6r — the extent planted is doubled and 

 good authorities are of opinion that themaximum 

 of rubber cultivation (at any rate with the Para 

 Hevea variety) is close at hand. And, indeed, 

 when we remember that with Malay States, Java, 

 Sumatra, Borneo, Burma and Southern India 

 there must be a million acres of cultivated rub- 

 ber in the Asiatic tropics, and, as Dr. Willis, re- 

 tiring Director of the Botanical Gardens, has 

 been stating in the Ceylon Observer, if only one 

 cwt. of rubber per acre per annum is harvested, 

 that will be 50,000 tons to add to Brazil's export 

 of 30,000 tons, giving a supply of 80,000 tons with- 

 out counting the exports from Africa, Mexico, 

 and elsewhere. But Dr. Willis adds that his sup- 

 posed one-cwt. crop is absurdly low ; 3 cwt. will 

 be more reasonable very soon, giving 150,000 tons 

 from Asia, when the price must fall consider- 

 ably, even though new uses may increase the 

 present demand. So far as the planter is con- 

 cerned there is a satisfactory margin for profit, 

 even if current prices in London and New York 

 fall much lower,though in over-capitalized plan- 

 tations shareholders must suffer when that day 

 arrives. Dr. Willis, after 15 years' work and ex- 

 perience here, leaves with strong faith in the 

 future of Ceylon as a planting colony, but is 

 anxious that " school gardens'' (of which he has 

 helpeu to establish 2,500 for the Ceylonese) may be 

 extended and that the native agriculturists may 

 be released by Government from the clutches of 

 money-lenders. If, with official encouragement, 

 co-operative societies are multiplied in Ceylon 

 (as they have been in several parts of India) 

 much may be done to improve the condition of 

 the Sinhalese and Tamil cultivators of rice, cot- 

 ton, tobacco, and palms. 



Other Planting Enterprises. 

 Turning back to Ceylon's planting enterprise, 

 I may refer in a few words to the old staple of 

 coffee and cinchona bark. Thirty-three years 

 ago coffee was the only product for the planter 

 in the hill country here, and there were 275,000 



