m 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



The following Diagram gives the production 

 of Ceylon and Malaya for the last three years, 

 Bhowing the rate of increase in the supplies 

 coming forward from these countries : 



Diagram No. 3.— Annual Exports of Bri- 

 tish Grown Plantation Rubber— shows :— 



1905. — Ceylon— 75 tons ; Malaya— 13n tons. 



1906. — Ceylon— 146 tons ; Malaya — 385 tons ; 



1907. — Ceylon— 248 tons ; Malaya— 936 tons. 

 Estimate for 1908.— Ceylon, 300 tons. Malaya, 



1,500 tons. 



Distance of Planting, 

 This is another matter on which valuable 

 knowledge has been gained and it is now 

 thought that it will have a large influence on the 

 yield and health of the tree. In closely planted 

 areas the yield has not increased to the same 

 extent as with wide planting. The latter has 

 therefore been more popular recently. 



Weeding. 



This has been a source of some anxiety in the 

 past owing to the expense incurred in keeping 

 estates thoroughly clean, but it is new thought 

 that a method involving the use of far less labour 

 such as green manuring with plants which give 

 a good cover to the soil while the young rubber 

 is coming on as well as keeping down weeds 

 will, in the end, be found the most effective. A 

 material reduction in expenditure under this 

 head may thus be looked for. 



Tapping. 



It has been found that some of the more 

 drastic methods used formerly were liable to 

 overtax or injure the trees. Experience has led 

 to more careful systems being adopted and the 

 large basal V to which we drew attention some 

 time since has become more popular. Import- 

 ant experiments with a view to ascertaining the 

 best periods for tapping have been carried on at 

 the Botanical Gardens in Ceylon, and the result 

 of these are awaited with much interest. 

 Preparation and Manufactuke. 

 Biscuits and sheet were the grades into which 

 the bulk of the latex was until recently manu- 

 factured but " Crepe" being better adapted to 

 the handling of large quantities of latex, has to 

 some extent superseded them, and a consider- 

 able proportion of the rubber now being har- 

 vested is sold in this form. Plantation Rubber 

 has enjoyed a reputation for purity and dryness 

 quite beyond that of any other grade, but un- 

 evenness and variation in quality complained of 

 recently by some manufacturers has tended to 

 endanger this, and it is of the utmost importance 

 that no effort should be spared to produce rubber 

 as pure and even in colour as possible. The a t- 

 tention of -producers might well be more particu- 

 larly directed to this. 



Some most important results have been 

 obtained by a new process, based on some valu- 

 able research work carried out by Mr. M Kel- 

 way Bamber (Analytical Chemist to the Govern- 

 ment of Ceylon), to which we drew special 

 attention in the early part of the present year. 



By a simple method the discolouration caused 

 by an oxidising enzyme in the latex is avoided 

 at an early stage in the preparation the rubber 

 being immersed in water at a certain tempera- 

 ture for sufficient length of time for all parts of 



it to bo affected. Rubber treatod by this process 

 has already been put on the market, and is much 

 paler, brighter and clearer in appearance than 

 ordinary tine Plantation, as well as being excep- 

 tionally even in quality. Buyers are willing to 

 pay a substantial premium over ordinary prices 

 for such rubber, and there is little doubt that 

 were it obtainable in large quantities, supplies 

 would be readily absorbed in preference to other 

 kinds, as manufacturers can so easily convince 

 themselves cf its purity. It is to be hoped that 

 by some such device as this the standard of 

 purity and excellence for Plantation Rubber 

 will before long be raised to a much higher level 

 than has previously been attained. This would 

 undoubtedly have the effect of widening the de- 

 mand for the product and enhancing its value to 

 manufacturers. 



Diagram No. 4— shows. 1905. Output— Ceylon 

 75 tons, Malaya 130 tons, Brazil 34,490 tons. 



1906. — Ceylon 146 tons, Malaya 385 tons, Brazil 

 38,070 tons. 



1907. — Ceylon -248 tons, Malaya 936 tons, Brazil 

 36,910 tons. 



Gow Wilson & Stanton, Ltd., 13 and 23, 

 Rood Lane, E.C. 



CLEAN WEEDING— AND GREEN 

 MANURING— FOR RUBBER. 



Gammaduwa, Sept. 22nd. 



Sir, — Without wishing to enter into a contro- 

 versy on the matter of clean weeding rubber 

 clearings v. three or even a circle of six feet 

 diameter round the plant or any other system, 

 I should like to record from practical experi- 

 ence of thirty-eight years the system I have 

 found the cheapest and best. 



What is the reason that rubber clearings are 

 often so much dirtier than tea or coffee clear- 

 ings? The answer is, a greater acreage in many 

 instances has been felled and cleared than there 

 were coolies to keep the clearing clean from the 

 date of the burn off, and in a clearing for 

 tea the bulk of the surface soil with all the 

 seed of weeds and grass is scraped into, 

 say, 3,630 holes per acre ; while in a rubber 

 clearing there are only 200 holes or there- 

 abouts to receive the top soil near them. 

 The fillers in thus largely aid towards 

 making and keeping clean the tea clearing from 

 the beginning, but give little assistance in a 

 rubber clearing. 



Given a sufficient labour force to clean and 

 keep clean a well-drained rubber clearing; the 

 expense, though greater at first than weeding a 

 tea clearing, is cheaper and better in every re- 

 spect than any attempt to weed only round the 

 plant or to weed the planted line three feet the 

 whole length, leaving all between the line to grow 

 a natural cover of short grass, which ultimately 

 becomes a cover for almost every known weed, 

 the home of the hare and vermin, to destroy any 

 unprotected plants. 



Fence the clearing as you may, the low-country 

 buffalo has every inducement to make it his 

 grazing ground and very often he is found parad- 

 ing the clearing and destroying the young plants. 



