and Magazine of the Ceylon Arjrimdttiral Society- 



207 



F.M.S. DRY RUBBER RETURNS: 



The subjoined statement is sure to interest 

 all who are concerned with rubber, either as 

 planters, shareholders, salesmen or manufac- 

 turers. It is an instructive statement, and it 

 serves to open up a wide question. A high 

 authority on rubber, himself one of the most 

 successful of planters, has always maintained 

 that the real thing of importance to regard in 

 connection with rubber estates is the yield of 

 dry rubbor per acre ; the larger the yield per 

 acre from tho least number of trees per acre 

 gives the best indications as to the value of an 

 estate in bearing. We hear so much about tho 

 number of trees on different properties without 

 any regard to the acreage they occupy, which 

 is very misleading as to the true value, says 

 the Free Press. It is as well to mention this as 

 the great British public seem rather keen on a 

 census of trees being given on any properties in 

 which they may be interested : — 

 Yields per Acre of Dry Rubber for Various 



Planting Districts as per P. A.M. Report 



District. 



Johore 



P, Wellesley 



Perak 



Kapar 



Batu Tiaa 



Klang 



N. Sembilan 



K. Lumpur 



FOR 



1907. 





Acres in 



Croo 1907 



Yield per 



bearing. 



lb. 



acre, lb. 



610 



114,688 



188 



385 



63,896 



166 



1,419 



209,104 



147 



3,2571 



465,248 



143 



2,247 



242,256 



108 



,t 219 



32,368 



148 



;or 92 



11,648 



127 



l,555i 



209,804 



135 



l,540i 



187,153 



122 



1,652 



148,456 



90 



Total 12,9782 1,684,620 Av.) 130 

 — Penanc) Gazette, July 24. 



Rubber Exports — from tho Malay States are 

 assuming a considerable importance in actual 

 quantity, seeing that the pas£ half-year gives a 

 total of 1,382,158 lb. against 861,525 lb. in Jan.- 

 June, 1907, or an increase of 520,633 lb. In the 

 past half-year Ceylon's exports were not much 

 above 300,000 lb. The details of the Malay 

 States' figures are of interest : — 



COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF CULTIVATED RUBBER 

 EXPORTED FROM THE F.M.S. , 1908- AND 1907. 

 ^ ■ t. H_ 

 rH "3 ag s a o £ 



z a 

 o X 

 a." 



w.5 



Hi 



ia-g 

 *o 3 



p ^ <© -g 



ia.2 o 



lb. lb. lb- UK ll>. 



Pei'ak 24,687 164,046 189,633 98,591 91,012 



SolanftiA' 179,240 687,327 866,567 554,324 312,213 



Negri Sembilan 32,147 293,811 325,958 208,610 117,318 

 Pahang nil nil 



Total 236,074a 1,116,084 1,382,158 861,525 520,633 

 a Excluding Pahang export for June. 



RUBBER CULTiVATBOM IN NORTH 

 BORNEO. 



(United States Consular Report.) 

 The following information concerning British 

 North Borneo estates devoted to the cultivation 

 of Para rubber is furnished by Consul Lester 

 Maynardj of Sandakan ;—The soil of British 



North Borneo equals, if it does not actually 

 surpass, that of the Federated Malay States 

 and is about the same as that of Sumatra. The 

 cost of labour is as low as that of any place 

 east of Ceylon and the climate is well suited to 

 the cultivation of Para rubber, judging by 

 growth thereof in such widely different spots 

 as Sandakan and tho interior. At present, Para 

 rubber is cultivated at one place only on the 

 Las Coast, at the head of Saudakan Bay and 

 here it appears to be doing well. Chinesehave 

 so far been used on tobacco estates only, where 

 they are paid at a fixed rate per thousand stalks 

 of tobacco delivered in the drying sheds and 

 under this system they provide a hue labour 

 force, but they would not perhaps do so well 

 on daily wages on a rubber estate. They 

 will, however, prove the back-bone of that 

 industry as soon as a system of payment 

 by result can be introduced. Javanese have 

 a contract specifying that they shall fell 

 jungle, make buildings, and drain at usual 

 local rates. When on daily pay they receive 

 from |3.92 to .^5.60 (gold) monthly according to 

 their abilities. In the Kudat district tobacco 

 is planted in five estates, one of which has com- 

 menced to plant rubber. The Langkon, worked 

 for many years as a tobacco estate, has now 

 ceased to plant that product and having been 

 recently purchased by a rubber company, is 

 being planted with Para rubber. There are 

 three rubber estates now opened on the west 

 coast and all these are situated in the neigbour- 

 hood of Beaufort. The first opened were the 

 Beaufort and the Woodfcrd estates. Some four 

 miles down the Padas River, on the Beaufort- 

 Weston Railway line, is another estate. All 

 these properties are connected with the port of 

 Jesselton by the Beaufort-Jesseiton Railway. 

 These throe estates have ample command of 

 free labour. Some of the Para rubber trees 

 planted there in March, 1906, have now attained 

 a girth of over 9 in. 3 ft. from the ground and 

 are from 25 to 30 ft. high. In the interior there 

 are two estates, both of which were opened for 

 tobacco and oue of them still plants this pro- 

 duct in addition to Para rubber; the other plants 

 Para rubber only, tobacco having been aban- 

 doned after one year's trial. One of these 

 estates is 5 miles by cart road and the other 12 

 miles by bridle path from the present Tenom 

 terminus of the Jesselton-Tenom Railway. On 

 these estates the greater part of the labour force 

 is indentured Chinese and Japanese, but it is 

 also supplemented by Tuatan Dusuns, Papar 

 Dusuns, and Bajaus. The Murut is also of con- 

 siderable use to estates, but like the Kudat 

 Dusuns, he will not work for more than a fort- 

 night at a stretch. — L. £ C. Express, July 10. 



A TEA SUBSTITUTE. 



A curious kind of tea called " Mayin cha 

 sold in the north of Calcutta was submitted 

 by Mr. B A Gupte. It consisted of the outer 

 bark of a tree used as fuel, and from its 

 appearance it resembled that of a mangrove 

 {Ceriops candollcana), a tree common in the 

 Sundnbans. — Mr. D. Hooper, I.C.S., in Calcutta 

 Museum Report for 1907-8. 



