and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



501 



the planter merely puts down his stumps or seedl- 

 ings at any interval he fancies between rows of 

 coffee, cocoa or sugar cane, and, as the rubber 

 trees grow older, gradually removes the original 

 crops, thus affording more growing space to the 

 rubber. The Para tree in the Federated Malay 

 States is propagated by seed from trees at least 

 eight or ten years old. Large quantities of seed 

 are sent abroad which are obtained from trees 

 of younger age, but the planter in the Peninsula 

 prefers seeds from mature trees for his own use. 



Mr McLeod thinks that rubber plantations in 

 Southern Nigeria would be very profitable. His 

 calculation is as follows : — 



" In the Malay Peninsula the average wage of 

 a coolie is 27 cents per diem, which is equivalent 

 in English money to l^d., or about the same rate 

 at which labourers by the month are paid in 

 Southern Nigeria, so that figures given by Mr 

 Arden (pages 84-86, Johnson's book on Para) for 

 opening up and maintaining a plantation in the 

 Federated Malay States may be taken as a very 

 fair guide. 



" In the Federated Malay States, Para trees 

 became productive in five years, but I propose to 

 allow seven years in the case of Southern N igeria. 



" Cost of opening up 500 acres and maintaining 

 till plantation is productive : — 

 "First year ... $25,275 

 " For next six years 



at $9,900 ... $59,400 



"Total ... $34,675 or £9,878 15s. 



" Allowing compound interest at 4 per cent 

 on expenditure from the first year to the end of 

 the seventh, would bring the total up to £12,694. 

 If the trees are planted 2uit. by 20 ft. i,e., 108 to 

 the acre, and the average yield per tree be taken 

 as J$ lb per annum (6 months tapping), the yield 

 would be (500 by 108 by 1J lb.)— 

 " Selling price at 2s 6d per lb. 



500 by 108 by U- 



» = £10,125 



8 



" If plantation expenses, cost of manufacture 

 of rubber and freight to Europe, be put down at 

 £2,125 per annum (a very high figure), a hand- 

 some profit of £8,000 would result." 



This calculation is pretty much in accord with 

 the usual estimate of £20—30 as the cost of 

 brirging a rubber estate to the productive stage 

 per acre. In the Federated Malay States it is 

 generally found that one coolie is required for 

 two acres while the trees are growing and one to 

 each acre when they are producing. Labour is 

 the principal item, and the cost and scarcity of 

 labour is likely to prevent cultivation in Rhodesia 

 and the Transvaal. In West Africa there is a 

 great field, but the climatic conditions are un- 

 suited to the private settler, and the work will 

 be left to the native growers and to companies 

 and syndicates which can acquire large areas 

 and organise industry. The treatment is often 

 slovenly, and the impurities found in West Afri- 

 can rubber affect the price unfavourably. 



The figures taken by Mr McLeod in the above 

 calculation seem to be on the safe side. He gives 

 108 trees to the acre, but 120 can easily begrown; 

 sari s yield of 14 lb pet annum per treo, whereas 



2 lb are frequently obtained from a mature tree. 

 The other crops which can be obtained while the 

 rubber trees are growing, such as cassava, tapioca 

 or ground-nuts, may also be taken into account. 



RUBBER IN NIGERIA : CURIOUS 

 VALUING. 



Upcountry, Oct. 30th. 

 Dear Sir, — In your issue of the 27th instant 

 is an extract from another paper on the subject 

 of Rubber planting in Nigeria which a Deputy 

 Conservator of Forests avers can be carried on 

 in that Colony at about the;same outlay as '.in 

 Malaya. This gentleman estimates that 500 

 acres of Rubber in bearing can be worked, and 

 the produce also placed on the European market 

 for R64 per acre ! 



But the mere tapping and curing of Rubber 

 costs in Malaya from 66 cents to 84 cents of a 

 rupee per lb; and, taking the Conservator's own 

 figures of 162 lb of Rubber per acre, the cost of 

 collecting, curing, etc. must run to at least R107 

 per acre ! So that this sum multiplied by five- 

 hundred must necessarily jbe'doducted from the 

 enchanting round figures of £8,000 per annum 

 profit, which the Conservator promises the 

 Nigerian planter ! 



Surely such estimates tmust lead many people 

 ignorant of " Rubber" to rush for shares among 

 the over-capitalised 



"WILD CATS 

 [Certainly the report should have been 

 " edited " by an expert before being offic 

 published.— Ed., CO.] 



LIFE ON A TOBACCO ESTATE IN 

 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO. 



An experience extending over 20 years of the 

 Tobacco Estates of this country, and the little 

 insight of their working, I have been able to 

 gleau from time to time during my frequent 

 visits as Magistrate and Protector,emboldens me 

 to hope that a brief resume of them may not be 

 without interest to some of your readers. 



As the first streaks of early dawn begin to 

 make their appearance, this is at 5-30, the Opas 

 (Estate Policeman) sounds the "tong tong," 

 which is a piece of the trunk of a tree hollowed 

 out and suspended from a beam, and when struck 

 emits a hollow resonant sound which can be 

 heard at a great distance ; it awakens the 

 coolies to the consciousness of another day's 

 work fast approaching, as at 6 o'clock the tandils 

 (Chinese foremen) and Mandores (Malay fore- 

 men) come and call them out to work the nature 

 of which varies according to the season. 



When the heavy rains are over, that is to say 

 in February or March, the jungle has to be 

 felled and burned; this, when thick virgin jungle 

 is beiug cleared, is very heavy work. Tobacco 

 being a very exhausting crop, it cannot be plan- 

 ted on the same land a second time, until after 

 the lapse of 7 years, it will thus be seen that new 

 estates have to look forward for some years to 

 this recurring hard work before they can hope 

 to go back to their original lands j when that 

 can be done, this preliminary work is much 

 easier. The burning finished, the resultant wood 

 ash supplies a valuable adjunct in the form of 

 sulphates. 



