694 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist. 



thanks are especially duo; but as the appoai'anco 

 of their nailles is usually taken to mean that 

 their estates are the most affectod, a public 

 acknowledgment is undesirable. 



H. E. Pratt. 

 — Si raits Agricultural Bulletin. 



TWO RUBBER PESTS. 



In the Journal of the Federated Malay States 

 Museums, Mr L Wray records two insects at- 

 tacking Para Rubber, ono a caterpillar and the 

 other the troublesome beetle Astijchna chnjso- 

 chloris, formerly known as an enemy to Liberian 

 Coffee of which it devoured the leaves. 



The caterpillar is described thus : — "General 

 colour above black, minutely spotted and lined 

 with white, sides with a bright yellow waved 

 line st irting from just behind the third pair of 

 legs and continuing to the tail. There are some 

 conspicuous white spots on the shoulders and on 

 the last segmo/it but one of the body. Head and 

 logs bright reddish brown, prologs black largely 

 spotted with pale reddish brown bonoath black 

 largely spotted with dull yellow. The largest 

 specimen was some inch and a half long." The 

 group to v;hich the caterpillar belonged is not 

 stated, presumably it was that of a Noctuid 

 moth. The caterpillars were found to be numer- 

 ous on secondary jungle near the rubber fields. 

 They were destroyed by spraying with Paris 

 Green in water. 



H. N. R. 



— Straits Agricultural Bulletin, for March. 



A RUBBER ESTATE SURVEYOR FOR 

 W. BORNEO. 



The Extraordinary Gazette notifies the ap- 

 pointment of Mr E A Pavitt as Government 

 Surveyor. The opening up of Rubber Estates on 

 the West Coast during the past few years has 

 involved a geat deal of survey work which th j 

 Land Department has been unable to cope 

 with. Mr Pavitt, being now relieved of his 

 Public Works duties, is to devote his time to 

 the surveying of Estates boundaries. Wo 

 hear that he will move his headquarters to Te- 

 nom.— British North Borneo Herald, May I. 



A NEW SCIENTIFIC USE FOR RUBBER. 



To signal shallow water. 



An ingenious device has been patented by 

 a Japanese, Kozaburo Makimora, for the auto- 

 matic signalling of shallow water. It consists 



briefly of an airtight rubber disc covering ono 

 end of an empty cylinder. This cylinder is 

 weighted and towed by the ship at the end of 

 a small armoured electric cable. The rubber is 

 bulged in by the pressure of the water, but 

 this is partly compensated for by the provision 

 of a spiral spring inside the cylinder. When 

 the ship approaches shallow water the apparatus 

 drags along the sea bottom, and as the water 

 pressure lessens, the balance between the force 

 of the spiral spring pushing oatwards and the 

 force of the water pushing the rubber disc in- 

 wards becomes disturbed, and acting upon a 

 simple mechanism, rings an electric bell upon 

 the ship. Tho rubber disc is well protected 

 by a perforated cap. 



Wo are not sufficiently informed to say for 

 certain whether the device is entirely practi- 

 cable for merchant vessels steaming at consi- 

 derable speed, but at any rate there should be 

 a considerable scopa for the invention upon 

 survey vessels, ships in unknown waters, etc. 

 — India Rubber Journal, April 20. 



A RUBBER COMPANY FOR TONKIN. 



120 PER CENT DIVIDEND IN 1917 ! 



The prospectus has been issued in France of 

 tho Concessions Agricoles et Plantations De 

 Caoutchouc Tartarin Soc. Anon., which, with 

 a capital of frs. 600,000, proposes to take up the 

 business of plantation proprietors in Central 

 Tonquin. The net profit upon the vendor's 

 working for 1907 was 57,000 frs. There are 

 about 50,000,/jck.s elastiva trees planted upon the 

 estate, and it is expected that the following 

 number of trees will be in bearing in the res- 

 pective years, viz. : 200 in 1909, 800 in 1910, 

 2,300 in 1911, 6,000 in 1912, 10,500 in 1913, 

 18,500 in 1914, 28,000 in 1915, 38,000 in 

 1916, and 50,000 in 1917. The yield is 

 calculated at 1.50 kilos, for the first year 

 the tree come into bearing and 10 per cent, 

 more for the following years. At this rate 

 the crop for 1912 would be 9,495 kilos., for 

 1913 17,145 kilos., for 1914 30,720 kilos., 

 for 1915 47,745 kilos., for 1916 66,945 kilos., 

 and for 1917 90,645 kilos. This would admit 

 of a 120 per cent, dividend in 1917 from the 

 rubber alone. The profit for the first few 

 years will have to be entirely derived from by- 

 products. The provisional offices of the Com- 

 pany are at 102, Rue Nolle, Paris.— India 

 Rubber Journal, May 4. 



