268 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



RUBBER IN MALAYA. 



MR. J, B. CARRDTHERS' FINAL REPORT: 

 AN EXHAUSTIVE AND INFORMING 

 REVIEW; 



Although it is now some considerable time 

 since Mr. J. B. Carruthers relinquished his 

 duties as Director of Agriculture and Govern- 

 ment Botanist, F. M. S., to take up his present 

 appointment in Trinidad, the report on Agricul- 

 ture in the Eastern Colony during 1908, which has 

 just been issued and is to hand today (Aug. 16), 

 is from his able and facile pen. The report mainly 

 deals with the great young rubber industry. 

 We must at once say it is the most exhaustive, 

 thorough and informing statement we have 

 yet seen o£ the progress and position of the 

 plantation rubber industry in the Federated 

 Malay States or any other Colony. It reveals 

 in every line evidences of careful observation 

 and investigation and a perusal of it cannot 

 fail to intensify the regret universally felt in 

 rubber-growing circles in Malaya and Ceylon 

 that the services of so able and active an officer 

 should be lost to the East. We publish the 

 report, as far as it relates to rubber, in full, 

 containing admirably compiled tables of 

 statistics on acreages, outputs, labour em- 

 ployed — and in fact on every conceivable sub- 

 ject on which statistics may be of profit or of 

 interest. It will be seen that in Malaya at the 

 end of 1908 the number of rubber trees is calcu- 

 lated at 37i million, the planted acreage beiQg 

 241,138. The output of dried rubber was 1,580 

 tons against 1,017 tons in 1907— an increase 

 of 56 per cent — and representing an export of 

 over §6,000,000 in value. The number of estates is 

 417 and the planted acreage is given at '241,138 

 acres. [This is different from the 168,000 for 

 1908 mentioned by the Resident-General and 

 alluded to in our Directory ! ] 60,000 acres 

 planted in 1908 is surprising ; we wonder 

 how it is arrived at? There is still 762,408 

 acres alienated from the Crown but not planted 

 so that there is plenty scope for development ! 

 Mr. Carruthers predicts that the present year 

 will show a return of produce worth more than 

 a million sterling. " Yields of Dry Rubber per 

 tree " is then dealt with. The average yield per 

 tapped tree all over the Peninsula has risen 

 from 1 lb. 2 ozs, to 1 lb. 15| oz., an increase of 

 11 per cent. An interesting experiment with 

 rubber trees seventeen years old round the 

 Churchyard at Parit Buntar gave an average 

 of 28$ lb. per tree, while the average yield 

 of tapped trees in Negri Sembilan is 3 lb. 

 2 oz., an " extraordinarily high figure." Johore 

 is a fraction under 2 lb. aud Perak 1£ lb. 

 " The passing of Ficus Eaica" is reluctantly 

 noticed in au interesting paragraph. Planters 



in Ceylon who have Rambong (which Mr. 

 Carruthers says gives a larger yield of dry 

 rubber than Para) will profit by a careful 

 study of the results attending Mr. Carruthers' 

 two year's experiments in regard to the proper 

 methods and instruments for tapping this 

 species. "Market prices" are referred to; 

 and then follows an exhaustive deliverance 

 on " Rubber Tapping," dealing in a most inter- 

 esting manner with many points upon which 

 opinion is at present divided, and giving many 

 hints which the most experienced planter cannot 

 fail to find informing and helpful. Mr. Carru- 

 thers thinks this whole question of tapping 

 "requires careful invesigation "; that there 

 is a large field for ingenuity and experiment and 

 that the next few years should prouce an in- 

 strument which will be a marked improvement 

 on the present weapons. Among the questions 

 discussed under this head are "the periods which 

 should be allowed to elapse between tappings in 

 order to get maximum yields " and "how far it 

 is advisable to refrain from tapping rubber trees 

 after a period of tapping " — two points upon 

 which opinion is by no means undivided. Under 

 " Preparation of Rubber for Market" the fact is 

 noted that there is still no agreement on the 

 best form ; but practical advice is given as to 

 the qualities to be aimed at. in order to secure 

 the favour of the buyers. The question of sale 

 of rubber sued for oil purposes is dealt with, 

 and detailed estimates given which show a 

 profit of $7 per acre from this source. Health 

 of coolies on estates has during tho year 

 shown a marked improvement, while we learnt 

 that there are in Malaya 80,000 coolies en- 

 gaged on rubber estates, of whom 50,000 are 

 Tamils, 15,000 Chinese, 7,500 Javanese, and 

 4,500 Malays, Valuable hints as to the preven- 

 tion of disease and pests are followed by an 

 interesting paragraph on the still unsettled 

 point as to what is the proper distance 

 apart to plant rubber. Mr. Carruthers, as is 

 well-known, has long been an advocate of the 

 cultivation of cover plants on rubber estates 

 as against the system of clean weeding and 

 his views are being adopted and amply justi- 

 fied by results in the F.M.S. What he writes 

 on this point will well repay the close perusal 

 of all Ceylon planters. The final paragraph 

 deals with the future of rubber, from which 

 we may quote as follows: — "In 10 years (1919) 

 presuming that 25,000 acres are planted annu- 

 ally during the next five years (a very rea- 

 sonable estimate, considering that over 40,000 

 acres were planted during the year in both 1907 

 and 1908), the rubber trees of the Federated 

 Malay States should yield not less than 50,000 

 tons of dry rubber, which at 3s per lb. re- 

 presents a value of $144,000,000. This amount, 

 should the demand for rubber increase at the 

 rate it has been annually rising for the last 

 nine years, will probably at that time be less 

 than 25 per cent of the world's consumption. 

 . . . The fear of over-production is to some 

 extent pardonable on examining the magnitude 

 of the figures relating to rubber planting in 

 Malaya, but a consideration of the possibilities 

 of the world's future requirements takes the 

 student into figures beside which those of 

 Malaya are but small." 



