Mat, 1912.] 



391 



Saps and Exudations. 



the Straits Settlements the percentage 

 was only 28 per cent., as compared with 

 40 per cent, for the previous year. 



Cover-crops are planted between rub- 

 ber, at present chiefly with the object of 

 reducing the expenditure on weeding. 

 Mr. Pigart remarks that no cover-crop 

 can be unconditionally recommended in 

 Milrtyan plantations, considering the 

 best procedure at present to be absolute 

 clean weeding. He adds, that if a legu- 

 minous and easily controlled cover crop 

 were introduced, it might be preferable 

 even to clean weeding, particularly if it 

 paid the cost of its own production. 



Rubber Seed Oil and Poonac. 

 Although experiments in crushing 

 rubber seeds for the oil and residual 

 poonac have so far been without satis- 

 factory results, recommendations have 

 been sent to planters to instal machinery 

 suitable for the purpose named, so as to 

 continue trials in the direction indicated. 



Details op Plantation Expenditure. 



In a detailed Appendix, the work of Mr. 

 C. C. Malet, formerly connected with the 

 Agricultural Department of the Belgian 

 Congo, and at present a lieened valuator 

 in the Straits Settlements, full pro-forma 

 particulars are shown of the various 

 elements of cost of rubber production on 

 a thousand acre estate, on the basis of 

 400 pounds per acre, and an average per 

 acre of about 120 trees. The cost of pro- 

 duction is quoted as a fraction under 

 26 cents per pound for the estimated 

 annual product of 400,000 pounds. 



The Future op Rubber. 

 Mr. Figart's views on the general 

 situation of rubber are so broad and far- 

 seeing, that they may with advantage be 

 quoted literally :— 



" Considerable thought is being given 

 to the question of whether the future 

 plantation rubber industry will be much 

 affected by the wild rubber supply. The 

 present cost of marketing wild rubber is 

 higher than the cost of producing plant- 

 ation rubber, and with the large quan- 

 tities of the latter coming on the market 

 in a few years' time (possibly 100,000 to 



150,000 tons), there will be a strong 

 tendency in the direction of reducing the 

 supply of wild rubber which can be 

 marketed at a profit- Realizing this, 

 the Brazilian Government is taking steps 

 which will make possible a material 

 reduction in the cost of collecting wild 

 rubber. However, it is the general 

 opinion of manufacturers that the new 

 uses to which rubber will be devoted will 

 absorb the visible supply, and maintain 

 prices at a figure which will allow a 

 liberal margin of profit to investors in 

 plantation rubber. This fact is evi- 

 denced by the investment in the Orient 

 of millions of dollars in this industry by 

 a group of American capitalists, but a 

 small percentage of whose holdings is 

 planttd and none of which are in 

 bearing." 



One planter has the following to say : — 



" When the output from the plant- 

 ations (say 1,000,000 to 1,200,000 acres in 

 more or less full bearing by 1920-22) 

 amounts to over 200,000 tons per year, 

 then in order to sell this huge output 

 the price must be reduced so low that 

 many new channels of consumption will 

 be opened up, which means a probable 

 average price of, say, 30 cents per pound, 

 at which price it is not at present con- 

 ceivable that fine hard Para can be 

 profitably collected even under the best 

 of circumstances." 



The above is, of course, based on a 

 much lower cost of production than the 

 writer has used in this article." 



While it has only been possible to 

 reproduce some of the most prominent 

 features, the above summary indicates 

 the leading points of the report, and 

 shows the vast amount of preparation 

 and skilful compilation undertaken by 

 Mr. 5 igart and his colleagues. 



THE RUBBER PRODUCTION OP 

 AFRICA. 



(From the India-Rubber Journal, Vol. 



XLII., No. 27, December 30th, 1911.) 



Though no longer generally referred to 

 as the Dark Continent, our funds of in- 

 formation with regard to certain parts 



