THE SUPPLEMENT TO THE 



Tropical Agriculturist and Magazine of the G. A. S. 



Compiled and Edited by A. M. & J. FERGUSON. 



No. 4.] 



APRIL, 1912. 



[Vol. X. 



RUBBER IN MALAYA. 



FUTURE PROSPECTS OF THE 

 INDUSTRY: MR. MALET'S ESTIMATES 

 UP TO 1915. 



We reproduce below from the Straits Times 

 an important and carefully compiled docu- 

 ment by the well-known Johore planter, for- 

 merly of the Belgian Congo Department of 

 Agriculture, showing acreages of rubber planted 

 in the Near East and probable yields for Malaya. 

 Ceylon is put at '200,000 acres, whereas it has 

 nearly 215,000 or over — by our latest Directory 

 returne. But it is over the yields for Malaya 

 that Mr. Malet enters into details. Here 

 it will be seen he has reckoned the acreage for 

 each year of planting from 1898 (before which 

 he gives only 50 acres as planted) up to 1911 — 

 in which year he calculates 63,000 acres (!) were 

 planted up (op 30,000 and 50,000 below the top 

 years, 1907 and 1910.) And he has also varied 

 the yield from 60 lb. per acre, for 4-year-old, to 

 350 lb. per acre for 10-year-old rubber. The 

 result is : we have yields estimated, from the 

 acreage to be in bearing each year, as follows :— 

 1912, 20,350 tons (263,000 acres); 1913, 28,610 tons 

 (324,000 acres); 1914, 38,700 tons (437,000 acres); 

 1915, 49,790 tons (500,000 acres); and 1916— 

 59,410 tons. But this is theoretical , and the es- 

 timate for 1911 on the same working, 30,162,000 

 lb. (13,460 tons) actually proved to be 23,400,000 

 lb. (10,460 tons)— this large shortage being due 

 to the big drought of March to May 1911. 



(Straits Times, March 21.) 

 We have been favoured by Mr C C Malet with 

 the following very interesting calculations about 

 the Malayan Rubber Industry. The figures are 

 the most complete we have seen, and they ap- 

 pear to have been compiled with great care and 

 accuracy. Mr Malet is perhaps an optimist on 

 the matter of production a few years hence, but 

 there is much in past experience to support his 

 46 



views and we would attach, as he does, great 

 importance to the conservation which should 

 result from increased knowledge of how tapping 

 can be done to greatest advantage : — 



Statistics re the planted area under Para Rub- 

 ber, iu the Malay Peninsula. 



These statistics are compiled from the infor- 

 mation supplied by the Government surveys, 

 and the Planters' Association of Malaya, etc. 



Area planted up to and including the year 

 1909, and the approximate areas planted each 

 succeeding year since : — 



Areas given in acres. Estimated 





1909 



F. M. S. 



200,000 



Colony 



96,000 



Johore 



30,000 



Kedah 



4,000 



Kelantan 



4,000 



Tringganu 





Total 



61,000 



1910 

 60,000 

 14,000 

 30,000 

 3,000 

 5,000 

 1,000 



1911 



20,000 

 20,000 

 20,000 

 1,000 

 1,000 

 1,000 



1912 

 280,000 

 120,000 

 80,000 

 8,000 

 10,000 

 2,000 



113,000 63,000 500,000 



The estimated area planted with Para Rubber 

 in the Middle East, at the end of the year 1911, 

 amounts to the following : — 



The Federated Malay States 

 The Colony of the Straits 

 Settlement : — 



Acres 



Malacca 65,000 

 Singapore Island 20,000 

 Province Wellesley i5,000 

 The Dindings 10,000 



Acres. 



280,000 



Johore (believed to be actually 

 over 100,000 acres) 



Kedah, Kelantan, and Tring- 

 ganu 



Borneo (B. N. Borneo, Brunei, 

 Sarawak, and Dutch Borneo) 

 Cochin China 

 South India and Burmah 

 Ceylon 



Java, Sumatra and the Islands 



Estimated total (probably 

 quite 1,000,000) 



120,000 



80,000 



20,000 



25,000 

 15,000 

 30,000 

 200,000 

 200,000 



970,000 



