and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— Nov., 1910. 



ASSAM RUBBER.— I. 



THE CBADUAR PLANTATION. 



In writing of Assam Rubber it must not be 

 forgotten that we are dealing with that variety 

 known as Ficus elastica which, in the opinion of 

 experts, is an inferior article to that known 

 commercially as Para rubber. . . . 



The figures hereafter given may be relied 

 upon for accuracy and will, it is hoped, show 

 that the Assam rubber forests are well worth 

 attention on the part of those interested. Two 

 only of the larger Government worked estates 

 will be dealt with, but beside these there are 



LARGE TRACTS OF RUBBER PROD DOING FORESTS 

 LET OUT 



as manals on annual rentals arrived at by 

 auction, and still larger tracts worked by the 

 hill tribes. The term "foreign rubber'' will 

 therefore imply in this article rubber produced 

 from areas other thau those actually worked by 

 the Government Forest Department, and of the 

 latter only the (Jhaduar and Kulsi plantations 

 in the Darrang and Kamrup Districts, which 

 districts adjoin each other, will be referred to.... 



Ficus elastica is indigenous in Assam, where 

 it forms a dominant tree in the evergreen 

 forests, it is propagated by birds who have 

 dropped the seeds in the forks and branches of 

 trees where they germinate and become epiphy- 

 tic plants ; these are of slow growth until the 

 aerial roots reach tho ground after which it 

 quickly establishes itself, destroying the tree on 

 which it had grown, starting life at a consider- 

 able elevation it overtops all surrounding trees 

 and is easily distinguishable. 



A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHADUAR ESTATE 



may be of interest before proceeding to the 

 figures of the past ten years. The plantation 

 dates back to 1873 when nursery-raised saplings 

 were planted out in lines through forest clea- 

 rings at distances of 100 feet with 25 feet be- 

 tween the lines, for nearly ten years the experi- 

 ment proved altogether a failure owing to the 

 damage done by wild animals. From about 1885, 

 however, things began to improve and the estate 

 continued to expand but tapping operations for 

 various reasons were intermittent, financial pres- 

 sure was one, and in 1893 the Imperial Govern- 

 ment put a stop to all work believing the finan- 

 cial results would no longer justify a continu- 

 ance, this embargo being subsequently removed 

 work was resumed and in 1900 the area under 

 rubber amounted to 2,020 acres divided into 

 eighteen working compartments, having in all 

 26,786 established trees ranging in ages from 2 

 to 25 years and upward, the cost up to that time 

 had been Rl,76,105, equivalent to R80-10-0 per 

 acre and the Imperial Government issued orders 

 for the putting out of a further 1,000 acres. This 

 brings us down to the period, ten years since, 

 from which it is proposed to review 



THE ASSAM RUBBER OPERATIONS AND FIGURES. 



1900 : The rubber tnahal (outside of Govern- 

 ment plantations) in the Darrang Division 

 was sold for R22,100 as compared with 

 R16,900 in 1899, the rubber mahatdars 

 were said to have had a bad season and it 



was anticipated that this would affect the 

 following year's income. Notwithstanding the 

 raising of the duty on home and foreign (i.e., 

 outside) rubber from 1st October 1900 from R12 

 to 17 the revenue derived from foreign rubber 

 fell from R58.013 to R47, 174, which led the Con- 

 servator in his Report of that year to remark that 

 " this would tend to show that the supply of 

 foreign, i.e., outside, rubber is failing and trees 

 are being killed out from over-tapping." [Note. 

 — Once the rubber tree ceases to yield it is abso- 

 lutely valueless for any further purpose, as a 

 timber it is useless and it cannot be used as fuel 

 as it will only smoulder away in dense masses of 

 smoke.] 



In 1910 Chaduar yielded 2,055 lb of clean rub- 

 ber which sold at R190 per maund of 82 lb 

 realizing R4, 761-9-4 and 198 lb of mat rubber 

 which sold at R100 per maund, bringing the 

 total up to R5, 003-0-8, less working expenses 

 R2,575-13-6, leaving a nett profit of R2.427-3-2 

 equal to Rl-1-2 per lb of rubber. Kulsi plan- 

 tation gave 1,704 lb of cleau sold at R190 and 

 837.1b of mat at R150, total R5,479-6-2, the ex- 

 penditure on which came to Rl, 179-13-3, leaving 

 a nett profit of R4, 299-8- 11 equal to Rl-10-0 per 

 lb of rubber. The Kulsi plantation yielded 

 28 - 87 of clean dry rubber per acre as compared 

 with only 9 lb per acre from the Ohaduar 

 estate. Trees 



TAPPED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE CHADUAR 

 PLANTATION GAVE 8"5 LB PER ACRE 



as compared with an average of 91b. per acre 

 and 0'6lb per tree obtained from previous 

 year's first tappings whereas the Kulsi plan- 

 tation gave an average of 28'87lb. per acre, 

 equal to 1*06 per tree, at Chaduar the trees 

 averaged R12 to the acre, at Kulsi R27 to the 

 same area and this latter plantation was con- 

 sidered to have been undertapped, but they had 

 the advantage of being considerably older trees 

 than those of Chaduar. Chaduar was also 



SERIOUSLY HANDICAPPED BY DENSE JUNGLE 

 AND CREEPERS 



which mitigated against tree tapping. All 

 tapping this year was with a V-shaped gouge 

 superseding the previous method of cutting with 

 kukris, the rubber flow collectod on mats was 

 comparatively clean. The outturn was disposed 

 of in Calcutta at an all round average of R2-5-6 

 per lb. as compared with an equivalent of 

 R2-11-0 obtained in London the previous year. 



1900-1901 : Chaduar, 3,256 trees on 259 acres 

 yielded 2, 197 lb of rubber equal to 8 "5 per acre 

 and 0"67 per tree ; these were tapped for the 

 first time, being of an average age of 20 years. 

 Kulsi, 2,388 trees on 88 acres, about 23 years 

 old and tapped for the first time gave 2,541 lb of 

 rubber, equal to 28 - 87 per acre and 1*06 per tree. 

 Tho figures give Kulsi treble the output of Cha- 

 duar but it will be seen that the two areas are 

 very differently planted, the one averaging 

 27 and the other 12 to the acre, which, how- 

 ever, still leaven the yield in favour of the 

 Kulsi plantation. Messrs Kilburn and Co. of 

 Calcutta took over the outturn of these es- 

 tates the total realised from Chaduar being 

 R5.003-0-8, less R2,575-13-6 expenditure, nett 

 profit R2, 427-3-2, an average of Rl-1-2 per lb., 



