and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society .—Dec-, 1910. 563 



A GROSS LIBEL ON "HEVEA" 

 PLANTATION RUBBER. 



REFUTED BY MR. GOLLEDGE. 

 We are asked to publish the following 

 letter addressed to the Editor, "Tunes of 

 Ceylon," Colombo : — 



Dear Sir, — "We further understand that the 

 Hevea rubber samples which took the priz-s at 

 our 1906 rubherexhibition- i.e. those which were 

 kept by the Peradeniya authorities— are now 

 useless, while the Ceylon Ceara prize samples are 

 still quite good rubber, as are the Brazilian wild 

 rubber specimens shown on the same occasion — 

 now over four years ago." 



Referring to the above paragraph, which 

 appeared in your editorial of November 1st, 

 when in Kandy last week I took the opportunity 

 of inspecting the whole of the rubber exhibits 

 in the Museum at Peradeniya — wild and planta- 

 tion. — all received I understand in 1906 (the 

 year of the Ceylon Exhibition). 



The "Hard fine Para" sample, perhaps tho 

 only exhibit of the wild rubbers not actually 

 tacky, is still resilient but is undoubtedly 

 perishing. 



Turning to the case containing the plantation 

 exhibits, it is easy to see at a glance that these 

 are in a far better preserved state than the wild 

 rubber exhibits referred to above. Amongst the 

 exhibits I noticed (I) Lanadron block,(2) Gikiya- 

 nakande worm block, (3) Heatherley biscuit, (4) 

 Syston biscuit, (5) a pressed block of scrap, (6) 

 a ball of scrap, (7) a small piece of, medium crene 

 and (8) a ceara sheet from Pallakelie. 



I was unable to cut the blocks, but with the 

 exception of a slightly soft surface in places, 

 they appeared to me to be in a highly satisfac- 

 tory state of preservation, and I am satisfied if 

 cut open would be found to have improved in 

 quality. 



There were some slight signs of tackiness about 

 some of the biscuits and sheets, but this appea- 

 red to me to have come from Nos. 5 and 6, which 

 are slightly affected. 3 and 4 are a little soft to 

 the touch, but satisfactory as regards resiliency. 

 (7) a piece of medium crepe, about 6 inches 

 wide and 18 inches long, is in excellent condi- 

 tion, better I should say than when received. 



The Ceara sheet, No. 8, retains its characteris- 

 tic strength, but here, too, I noticed the soft 

 feeling referred to in 3 and 4. 



I noticed a case containing a number of very 

 small samples, and attached to each was a small 

 vulcanised slab of the same. It was getting too 

 late to examine them very carefully, but I think 

 they were Hevea plantation and seemed well 

 preserved. 



The object of this letter is to refute a gross 

 libel on Hevea plantation rubber. 



Your article will undoubtedly be copied and 

 in time find its way to every corner of the world 

 and as coming from the very centre of the Hevea 

 plantation industry will be accepted as further 

 evidence in support of the numerous statements 

 which have been made against tho keeping qual- 

 ities of plantation rubber. 



Of 33 wild samples which I examined the 

 majority were in a more or less advanced decom- 

 posed state, some so far gone as to resemble 

 black treacle. 



In fairness to both the wild and plantatv a 

 exhibits referred to above, I think they have 

 boen considerably handicapped as regards the 

 way in which they have been stored. 



The wild samples are practically done for ; but 

 the plantation samples, if removed from the 

 cases, and any tacky portions destroyed, and the 

 remainder kept outside, will, I feel sure, 

 maintain their present state of preservation for 

 some time to come. 



Under separate registered cover I send you a 

 small piece of a duplicate block of No, 2, for 

 your inspection and any criticisms you can ob- 

 tain. — Yours faithfully, 



G. H. GOLLEDGE. 

 Gikiyanakauda, Neboda, Nov. 19th, 1910. 



Brokers' Opinions on the Sample. 



Those in Colombo to whom our representative 

 showed this specimen of rubber were much im- ■ 

 pressed with its excellent keeping quality. 



A broker in a leading firm — giviug opinion, 

 entirely unconnected with hi a firm, said: — "It 

 is good, strong, clean rubber, although the 

 colour is rather dark. At today's market price 

 I would put it R3-90 to R4," 



Mr W E Kbell- (Messrs Keeil & Waldock)— 

 said :— "The rubber has kept vory well indeed. 

 Its colour and strength are alright. It is rather 

 a small sample to deal with, but on the whole 

 it is good rubber indeed. What price would I 

 put on it? Well, R4 25 to R4 30 on the- price of 

 rubber today." 



A well-known Broker, who did not wifh his 

 name divulged, said : — " It is rather dark in 

 colour, but it is very strong and resilient for 

 1906 rubber. It is very good rubber; only the 

 colour is against it " 



Would you put a price on it ? " Well, at 

 today's price, I would say R420." 



BLEACHING OF GINGER. 



The following paper has been issued by the 

 Central Agricultural Committee, 



The following information extracted from au 

 interesting article contribute^ by Mr, G B Pat- 

 wardhan, B. Sc., Assistant Ecouomic Botanist, 

 Bombay, to the "Agricultural Journal of India" 

 for July, 1910, is published for general informa- 

 tion : - 



2. Advantage of Cueing.— Green ginger ex- 

 posed for a few days shrivels by drying and 

 becomes stringy and mostly useless for domestic 

 medicinal use. By curing it, however, its keep- 

 ing quality is increased and its transport for sale, 

 etc., is facilitated. The process consists in 

 soaking, then washing the green ginger in lime 

 water and afterwards fumigating it with sulphur 

 vapour. The time which ginger will keep is 

 thus increased to nearly three years. 



3. Factory. — The chief requisites for a curing 

 factory are: (1) bleaching rooms with fittings, (2) 

 washing tanks, (3) lime cisterns, (4) shallow 



