490 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



Kokay-aar estate, rubber : — 



1908 ... 234 acres. 

 \ Reserve... 112 ,, 



Total ... 346 „ 



Eldorado and Kokay-aar estates join each 

 other and both are within three hours' rido 

 of Stagbrook. We have nothing wonderful in 

 growth, but it is even and good. 



Our best " Hevea" 4-year old trees in August 

 measured 22 inches girth, 3 feet from ground; 

 the best 3-year old trees 14 J to 14J inches 3 feet • 

 from ground. Our best Castilloa trees, Mexican 

 variety, 4 year old, measure32 inches 3 feet from 

 ground. We have some3,000 trees of this variety 

 as boundaries between the forest and the Hevea 

 fields of rubber. A few trees of this sort we 

 tapped and made a few biscuits as a curiosity 

 for the Exhibition. I did not care to tap the 

 young Hevea trees. 



I am fairly well, but shall be glad of a trip 

 home as it is over 10 years since I had a trip. 

 My son is in charge of Eldorado, and will 

 relieve me as Manager of the whole group if 

 I get away ; but I want to remain here to see 

 the Company started, should it be subscribed, 

 and then hope to get home early next year. 



RUBBER TREES IN COLOMBO. 



October 17th. 

 Sitt, — As so very much interest is being evinced 

 in rubber, I feel something should be done to 

 enable visitors to Colombo to know where they 

 can see rubber trees, especially as there are, at 

 least, three very fine ones in this City. 



1. The Ficus Elastica, or Rambong in the garden 

 of the Royal College, which can be seen from the 

 right-hand side of the road leading from Norris 

 Road to St. Sebastian Hill. 



2 & 3. In "Marandahn House,'' 2nd Division, 

 Maradana, a large and a small Revca Basiliens s 

 or Para, both of which have "herring bone " in- 

 cisions. It will be interesting to know from Mr. 

 Charles Mack wood how much latex was obtained. 



4. A small Para tree in the Victoria Park, near 

 the Band-stand, showing V-shaped incisions. 



5 & 6. Two Para trees on the right-hand side 

 of Skinner's Road South, nearly opposite its 

 junction with Silversmith Street and at the turn 

 to ''Paradise Villa." There are some small 

 Para trees in the garden of the Lady Have- 

 lock Hospital. 



A few days ago 1 was looking at the tree in 

 the Royal College, and could not help thinking 

 what a very fine one it was— as fine as those at 

 the entrance to the Royal Botanical Gardens, 

 Peradeniya. It must be the oldest Rubber Tree 

 in the East. It would be worth keeping photo- 

 graphs of this, and the two largest Para trees, 

 and specimens of the latex of both varieties, in 

 the Colombo Museum. I remember there was no 

 difficulty in the latex of the two trees in the 

 garden of the Colombo Academy coagulating, tho 

 balls being very resilient. As a Dutch Governor 

 resided on St. Sebastian Hill, I think it tho 

 oldest in the East. 



J. V. 



VALUATION OF RUBBER ESTATES. 



Wanted : A Sliding Scale. 



Upcountry, Oct. 15th. 



Dear Sir, — In your evening contemporary 

 (15th June last) there appeared a paragraph on 

 the Value of Rubber Estates in the Klang 

 District of Selangor. A gentleman is alleged 

 to have valued rubber at 18 months of age 

 at £30 sterling per acre, rubber one year old 

 at £25 per acre and so downwards. This 

 valuation included plants in nurseries, buildings 

 and tools, and had regard to draining and the 

 richness of the soil, etc. 



I am not aware whether these figures would 

 be accepted as sufficient in Ceylon, and, in 

 any case, there seem to be no authentic data 

 of this kind to go upon, nor do any of the 

 gontlemeu experienced in rubber appear as 

 " Valuators '' in your Directory. 



Is there any kind of accepted sliding scale 

 on which the value of rubber property can 

 be calculated, having regard to the mere age 

 of the trees and the price of rubber ? Such 

 a valuation would bo useful for general pur- 

 poses, though it could only be an approximate 

 one, as the considerations of the growth of 

 the plants, the soil, buildings, environment, 

 accessibility, etc., must necessarily be the work 

 of an expert Valuator, to whom, as of course, 

 no one should grudge his reasonable 



FEES. 



RUBBER FROM ENGLISH PLANTS. 



Satisfactory Results of Tests of Samplep. 



Dr. Docherty and Mr. Alsebrook, of Burton, 

 who claim to have discovered a method of mak- 

 ing on sound commercial lines from plants grown 

 in the district, a material equal to the best 

 Para rubber, have received the results of the 

 tests by a firm in the North of England. Their 

 samples, which have been vulcanised — the only 

 process for which Dr. Docherty and his part- 

 ner had not the necessary apparatus — were re- 

 turned as perfect samples of rubber. The pro- 

 duct, it is said, stood well the stringent test of 

 vulcauisation, the samples returned being of 

 fine texture, resilient, flexible, and capable of 

 hard wear. At first the experts suggested that 

 the invented material in its raw condition was 

 undesirably dark, but this the inventors have 

 rectified by extracting the darkening element 

 and leaving it the required light-grey colour. — 

 L. ik C. Exoress, Sept. 25. 



VITALITY OF THE CLOVE TREE OF 

 ZANZIBAR. 



From the current number of the Agricultural 

 Bulletin of the Straits and Federated Malay States 

 we learn that the cultivation of the clove tree 

 was abandoned in Singapore about the year 

 1860 and that the trees succumbed to a red spot 

 fungus which attacked the leaves. The writer 

 describes " a very old tree " in the Singapore 

 Botanic Gardens which has been gradually 

 dying for some years and another tree growing 

 under a large Para rubber tree which "has, as 

 far as I have known, never flowered.'' The " very 



