470 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



H. N. Ridley, Esq., Director, Botanic Gardens, Singa- 

 pore, S. S. 



Dear Sir,— We are in receipt of your favour of June 3(lth, 

 and have just heard from Messrs Beck and Pollitzer that 

 the 10 cases Rubber referred to by you have duly arrived. 

 We hope to forward you full report on the condition and 

 quality of these samples shortly. Meanwhile, we have re- 

 ceived from the manufacturer who had undertaken the ex- 

 periment with the previous sample of Smoked Para cured 

 on the lines of Hard Fine Para which you had sent us, his re- 

 port on the subject, and enclose herewith extract from same. 

 We think you will agree that this is in most respects ex- 

 tremely satisfactory, far more so in fact than the physical 

 properties of che samples before manufacture appeared to 

 warrant, It is, of course, more and more clear that the im- 

 portant matter in handling plantation rubber is the vulca- 

 nising, and we trust that the opinions our friends have 

 formed after these experiments will be confirmed after 

 more prolonged tests. — We are, Dear Sir. Yours faithfully, 

 for GOW, WILSON <& STANTON Ltd., Spencer Brett, 

 Managing Director. 



[Extract.] 



Para Rubber from Singapore Botanical Gardens. 

 — With reference to your letter of October 20th sending 

 a small sample of Smoke-Cured Para Rubber from the 

 Singapore Botanical Gardens prepared exactly on the same 

 lines as Hard Fine Para, we have tested this rubber and 

 compared it with Hard Fine with the following results: — 

 Hard Fine Para Singapore Botanical Gardens 



Smoke-Cured Para, 

 Per cent. Per cent. 



Loss in washing 18 13. 



Resin 3'5 6-11 



Organic Matter 1'5 2'03 



Ash 0'25 0-38 



In quality and general behaviour, this rubber is ex- 

 tremely like Hard Fine Para in tensile strength and in 

 power of recovery, but is slightly softer and requires a 

 different vulcanising heat. 



The elasticity and tensile strength for the period covered 

 by the experiments show that at the proper vulcanising 

 heat, it is as durable as Para. We will, however, make 

 periodical tests in order to confirm this fact over a longer 

 period. 



—Straits Agricultural Bulletin for Oct. 



CEARA RUBBER IN COORG. 



Pollibetta, Oct. 28. — A Meeting of the Ooorg 

 Planters' Association was held at the Bamboo 

 Club on the 26th instant at 3 p.m., when Mr 

 Anstead, the Planting Scientific Officer, spoke. 



Mr Anstead in the course of this lecture 

 turned to rubber. He said he was a great be- 

 liever in Ceara rubber, and he thought we were 

 to be congratulated on the splendid growth of 

 the trees in this district and the few difficulties 

 we had to contend with in dealing with them 

 as compared with other places in which it was 

 cultivated. He thought it would be necessary 

 to reduce the trees eventually to 100 per acre. 

 The usual way in which these were thinned 

 out was to remove every alternate row or 

 every alternate tree. He did not recommend 

 this method for this reason that it led to 

 the sacrifice of large numbers of fine trees. 

 What he thought ought to be done was that 

 the poorer trees and those which had 110 

 chance of making any growth from being over- 

 shadowed by larger trees should be elimi- 

 nated, also those which would be found to 

 be comparatively unproductive. This method 

 had the disadvantage of the trees left being 

 in groups and the lines would be lost, but 

 this would be far outweighed by the advan- 

 tage of the best and most productive trees being 

 left. The easiest and most profitable method of 

 getting rid of trees would be to tap them to 

 death, and this would be best done by making 

 a close full spiral tapping which would gave a 

 maximum yield of latex. The half-herring bone 



method of tapping was recommended in the case 

 of trees which were retained permanently, a 

 quarter of the surface of each tree beir.g done 

 each season. Each quarter would thus be given 

 four years to renew its bark. Mr Anstead 

 thought that the thin outside layer of bark, 

 should be stripped off at least six weeks before 

 the trees were tapped. It was pointed out that 

 in this length of time and even less an outside 

 layer of hard barb was formed which could not 

 be cut into. Thisonly showed, said Mr Anstead, 

 what wonderful recuperative power the trees 

 in these parts possessed. He had seen trees 

 hacked and cut in a most barbarous fashion and 

 the wounds were healing ! With regard to trees 

 stripped of the outer bark six weeks before tap- 

 ping is commenced, forming an outside skin too 

 tough to cut through, (1 may state that last year 

 in the case of 4 year old trees, which had been 

 treated exactly as recommended by Mr Anstead 

 no difficulty was experiened in tapping which 

 was continued for a considerable time. The 

 fact is that Ceara trees behave differently under 

 different conditions) Mr Anstead said that the 

 best method of propagating Ceara was to take cut- 

 tings from trees that had proved good yielders, 

 grow them in a nursery, taking care not to water 

 them too often, and plant out rooted cuttings in 

 the fields. These would come up true to type. 

 — M. Mail, Nov. 1. 



EARTHWORMS AND SOIL PRO- 

 DUCTIVENESS. 



Dr E J Kuesell has been making inquiries into 

 the effect of earthworms on soil productiveness. 

 The subject is an appropriate one for investiga- 

 tion at Rothamsted, where Sir John Bennet 

 Lawes many years ago devoted much time to 

 the study of earthworms and their influences 

 upon the land, more particularly with the view of 

 ascertaining the amount of earth they brought 

 to the surface in the course of a year. Dr Russell 

 directed his attention chiefly to the effect upon 

 the growth of plants, and the result of his ob- 

 servations is that no direct benefit was percep- 

 tible. His finding is that organic matter seems 

 to decompose with formation of nitrates equally 

 quickly whether worms are present or not. He 

 suggests, however, that there may be indirect 

 benefit from the decomposition of the worms 

 after they die, as they contain about l'S per cent 

 to 2 per cent of nitrogen. The beneficient in- 

 fluence of earth worms is mechanical rather 

 than chemical, as they act as cultivators, loos- 

 ening and mulching the soil and facilitating 

 aeration and drainage by their burrows. — Lon- 

 don Times, Oct. 10. 



10,000 TONS OF RUBBER FROM 

 COC HIN-CH INA. 



In the Year 1930. 

 M. Moraugo, writing in Caoutchouc et la 

 Guttapercha, remarks it is anticipated that by 

 1915 there will be 3,000,000 rubber trees in 

 Cochin China, and 5,000,000 trees in the year 

 1920. Call it only 4,00l),000 trees, then, with an 

 average yield of 2\ kilos, of rubber per tree, we 

 get 10,000 tons of rubber in Cochin China in the 

 year 1930.— L. & C , Express, Sept. 30. 



