and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— Dec, 1910. 555 



and employing our system we arrive at the follo- 

 wing rough estimates cf production up to 1916 : 





lb 





190S 



3I556C0 



1413a 



J 909 



60*3493 



2692a 



1910 



1 1900181 



5312 



1911 



22680S29 



10125 



1912 



35216395 



15721 



1913 



6 1459674 



229T3 



19H 



67351609 



30067 



1915 



80821931 



36081 



1916 



96986317 



4 )297 





a Actual. 





Thus the F.M.S., from 196,953 acres planted 

 at the end of 1909, should produce in 1916 

 some 43,000 tons of rubber. There were 73,000 

 acres planted in the S. S„ at the end of 

 1908, and the total fcr the Peninsula at the end 

 of 1909 was roughly 86,000 acres (vide Mr Gal- 

 lagher's annual report). On the same system, 

 reckoning that the whole of these 73,000 acres 

 first come into bearing in 1913, and a further 

 13,000 in 1914, we get the following estimates: — 



lb. tons. 



1913 .. 14600000 .. 6517 



1914 .. 20120000 .. S982 



1915 .. 24144000 .. 10778 



1916 .. 28972600 ... 12934 



We arrive thus at a total estimated crop in 

 1916 of 56,000 tons from the acreage planted in 

 the whole Peninsula up to the end of 1909, and 

 we think the estimate a conservative one. To 

 this figure has to be added the crop from the 

 whole of the acreage planted throughout the 

 Peninsula during the current year. What that 

 acreage is we do not know ; but we can see for 

 ourselves to what extent native holdings have 

 been planted up— rubber in cemeteries even — 

 and we know that development work has been 

 steadily proceeding on the larger estates in the 

 F.M. S. and to an even greater degree in Johore 

 and Kelantan. Last year 50,897 acres were 

 opened up in the Peninsula — making an increase 

 of 17 per cent, in the total acreage. Mr. Gal- 

 lagher in his annual report said that the 

 stimulus given to opening up by the high price 

 of rubber would show itself more this year than 

 in 1909. It undoubtedly has, and when His Ex- 

 cellency put the acreage now under rubber at 

 400,000 — an increase of 41 per cent.— he was 

 probably nearer the actual figure than some 

 people seem to suppose. If our methods of cal- 

 culation be sound, the new acreage, to realise 

 H.E.'s crop estimate of 70,000 tons, will have to 

 produce 14,000 tons of rubber in 1916. Apart 

 from unforeseen circumstances — labour troubles 

 or pests— we think it will.— Malay Mail Nov. 17: 



THE TEA MARKET. 



The strength of the London Tea Market just 

 now is very plain from advices received. Earlier 

 in the year when Common Pekoe Souchong was 

 before in the neighbourhood of 7d. per lb. the 

 wholesale dealers and blenders were anxious to 

 see prices lower, but they were compelled to 

 buy owing to the continued cry of their custo- 

 mers for common tea. After the rush, the 

 market slackened and we saw the price of com- 

 mon tea down to the neighbourhood of 6d, per 

 lb., but now the market has turned and the 



upward movement witnessed recently has be- 

 come stronger this week. The sellers, who re- 

 fused to let tea go at the time when prices were 

 falling, are now being justified in the policy 

 they adopted ; and those buyers who held off in 

 the hope of a futher decline have now come 

 round to the view that they have postponed 

 purchases long enough, if not too long, and are 

 actively engaged in replenishing their stocks. 

 The fear is rapidly gaining ground in London 

 (according to one correspondent to Calcutta) 

 among buyers that there may be a shortage 

 later in the season. What makes them anxious 

 to avoid running risks of being left with short 

 stocks is the decrease in the shipments to date 

 of tea from India and Ceylon, and the absence 

 of a corresponding decrease in the re-exports 

 from Britain corresponding to the increase in 

 the direct shipments from Calcutta to Russia 

 and elsewhere. It is admitted that the mid- 

 October figures of shipments to Britain from 

 Calcutta (which show a decrease of 3-J million 

 lb, as compared with the figures for the corre- 

 sponding date) cannot be regarded as a true 

 index to the results for the whole season as 

 future developments may adjust the falling- 

 off. Buyers, however, do not care to trust to 

 possiblities and indulge too much in prophetic 

 reasoning, but prefer to be on the safe side if 

 possible. A heavy end of the season outturn is 

 not generally expected. 



COTTON CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 



A Rush for Cotton Seed. 



From enquiries made by our reporter it would 

 seem as if the official despatches on the subject 

 of Cotton Cultivation published in our issue of 

 November did not take into account the 

 practical steps which have recently been taken 

 to arouse the interest of local capitalists in 

 this industry, the success which has attended 

 these efforts and the great interest they have 

 aroused among both Europeans and Ceylonese. 

 Indeed it may be said that with the appoint- 

 ment of Messrs Freudenberg & Co. as local 

 Agents of the British Cotton Growing Asso- 

 ciation, a new era has opened out for this 

 industry. The Firm got out 



FIVE TONS OF SEED 



— Egyptian, Sea Island and Upland — and the 

 demand for it has been so great that the whole 

 supply has been exhausted in a few weeks and 

 applications for more are still pouring in. 

 One planter iu the Matale District, Mr 

 Eckort, is planting 50 acres with cotton while 

 a number of other Europeans as well as 

 Ceylonese are also opening out land in cotton 

 and by yet even a larger number information 

 has been asked for on the subject. Among them 

 are a large number of rubber planters. From 

 outside Ceylon many enquiries have also been 

 received, and we have heard of one Continental 

 firm which is looking for 10,000 or 15,000 acres 

 for cotton cultivation. In the face of all this the 

 pessimistic tone of the official despatches is, it 

 has been represented to us, hardly warranted, 



