AUGUST, 1909.] 



101 



Saps and Exudations. 



that as a result of a little experimental 

 tapping work carried out towards the 

 end of last year 67£ lb. of rubber of good 

 quality had been" harvested. He also 

 said that he expected to undertake a 

 considerable amount of tapping in the 

 latter half of this year and to secure 

 quite a large crop in 1910 ; and to make 

 provision for this it has been decided to 

 build a permanent factory aud equip it 

 with the best machinery, at a cost of 

 Rs. 25,000. Oat of a total area of 1,907 

 acres this concern has 1,296 acres planted 

 with rubber, its paid-up capital amounts 

 to Rs. 1 lakhs, and its Rs. 100 shares are 

 quoted at a premium of nearly 100 per 

 cent. The Annual Meetings of two 

 other Travancore Rubber Companies 

 were held in Colombo on the same day 

 as that of the latter concern, viz., the 

 Perinaad Valley aud the Shaliacary 

 Rubber Companies. The oldest rubber 

 on the estates of the former consists of 

 333 acres planted in 1906, and it is ex- 

 pected to get some return from this iu 

 1911. A further 115 acres were cleared 

 and planted in 1907, bringing the total 

 area planted with rubber trees to 748 

 acres. The growth of the rubber is 

 described as being good, except on some 

 exposed faces which suffered from wind. 

 The paid-up capital of this Company 

 amounts to Rs. 2,10,000, its shares being 

 quoted at about par. At the Shaliacary 

 Company's Meeting the Chairman, Mr. 

 W. Shakespeare, stated that the growth 

 of rubber on some fields had been 

 retarded by the spread of illuk or lalang 

 grass, but that it had been satisfactorily- 

 checked by hand-weeding and by plant- 

 ing a variety of passion flower which 

 covers the ground so completely as to 

 choke the grass. The Directors have 

 decided to manure the property, but it 

 is not stated what is to be applied. The 

 Chairmau said in the course of his speech 

 that 51 lb. of Para and 19 lb. of Castilloa 

 had been sold last year. The 51 lb. of 

 Para were secured from six 12-year old 

 trees each of which aveiaged 9 lb. of 

 dry rubber. Again, at the Meeting of 

 the Travancore Tea Estates Company, 

 Limited, held in London on the 11th 

 March, Mr. D, G. A. Reid, who visited 

 that Company's Estates last December, 

 told his audience that they "had a num- 

 ber of Para trees, eight years old and up- 

 wards, which have been planted along 

 the roadways and the yield per tree on 

 experiment was so satisfactory that it 

 was considered advisable to clear and 

 open up more land two years ago for the 

 cultivation of rubber." 



Yet another South Indian rubber 

 concern which held its Annual Meeting 

 recently in Colombo is the Cochin 

 Rubber Company, Limited. On this 



estate, the Chairman, Mr. P. Bois, said 

 that weeding had proved rather more 

 expensive than had been anticipated. 

 Some experiments were tried with 

 mulching plants, " but our Visiting 

 Agent prefers dadaps (Erythrina 

 lithosperma) to anything else, and we 

 have large nurseries of these plants 

 ready for May-June planting. Pork- 

 digging has given excellent results. In 

 the 1906 clearing six trees were measured 

 at 3 ft. from the ground in December, 

 1907, and showed a girth of If inches. 

 This had increased to 8b inches in 

 December, 1908. The trees in this clearing 

 have branched well, and a great in- 

 crease iu the girth of the trees is 

 expected this year." This Company 

 owns 800 acres under rubber, half of it 

 having been planted in 1900 and the 

 remainder in the two following years. 

 Its paid-up capital amounts to Rs. 1,92,000, 

 and its Rs. 15 shares (Rs. 11 paid) are 

 quoted at par. 



Lastly, we have received the Annual 

 Reports of two rubber concerns which 

 have their headquarters in Madras, viz., 

 the South India Rubber Company and 

 the Thodupuzha Rubber Company, the 

 Secretaries of each of which are Messrs. 

 Huson and Robinsou. The former 

 Company is growing Para rubber trees 

 at a higher elevatiou than is generally 

 considered most suitable and has in- 

 terplanted them with coffee, and it has 

 990 acres devoted to these two products 

 and to Ceara rubber. The growth of 

 the rubber is reported to be regular, 

 and the coffee, from which a crop of 

 7 tons is expected this year, is said to be 

 coming on well, while 500 acres have 

 been reserved for cardamoms. This 

 policy of not putting all one's eggs into 

 one basket has much to recommend 

 it. The authorised capital of the Com- 

 pany is Rs. 3 lakhs, divided into 3,000 

 shares of Rs. 100 each, of which number 

 2,292 were allotted when the Company 

 was formed, and the balance, 708, 

 reserved for future issue. The Thodu- 

 puzha Company, whose lands are in 

 Cochin, planted 550 acres with Para 

 rubber plants, 18 ft. apart, last year, and 

 the tapping stage is expected to be 

 reached in 1913, while the question of 

 interplanting with pepper is receiving 

 consideration. The authosised capital 

 otth e Company is Rs. 3 lakhs, divided 

 into 3,000 shares of Rs. 100, and 2,250 

 have been or are being issued. 



The above are some of the principal 

 Companies growing rubber in Southern 

 India, and there are besides a number of 

 rubber estates in private hands or being 

 worked by Syndicates. The industry 

 has advanced well beyond the experi- 

 mental stage, and, as far as can be seen 



