and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



2(39 



MR. J. B. CARRUTHERS' REPORT. 



Full Statement of Present Condition 

 Future and Prospects. 



The progress of rubber cultivation in the 

 Malay Peninsula continues to be unique in its 

 rapid progress and in the succoss of the areas 

 already planted, and which have come into 

 bearing. At the end of 1908 there were 

 37,440.020 trees as compared with 27,558,309 a 

 year before ; 60,636 acres were planted during 

 1908, an increase of over 33 per cent, on the pre- 

 vious year, giving a total of 241,138 acres of 

 rubber on the 31st December for the whole 

 Peni nsula. The output of dry rubber increased 

 in 1908 by 56 per cent. : 3,539,922 lbs., or 1.580 

 tons, being produced as against 2,278,870 lbs., 

 or 1,017 tons, in 1907. This 1,580 tons represents 

 probably about 1J per cent, of the world's 

 supply for last year. The average at which 

 this was sold was not less than 4s per lb., re- 

 presenting an export of over $6,000,000 in value 

 or over £700,000 ; eight years ago the value of 

 rubber exports was about £1,700, a large and 

 profitable industry having been created within 

 that time, which will next year show a return 

 of produce worth more than £1,000,000 or 

 $8,500,000. 



Rubber Statistics, Malaya, to 31st Dec. 1908. 



is exported later and comes into the export ro 

 turns for the following year. There is no better 

 proof at the present time of tho energy and grit 

 of the British planter in the tropics than the 

 excellent manner in which this large acreage of 

 rubber in the Federated Malay States has been 

 felled, cleared and planted, and is now in a 

 healthy and vigorous condition, and where old 

 enough yielding handsome profits. Great crodit 

 is due to the managers of rubber estates and 

 their assistants for carrying out their varied 

 and arduous duties, under conditions frequently 

 unfavourable, with so much success. 



rubber Statistics, Fkderated Malay 

 R States, up to the 31st Dec, 1908. 



Negri 



Selangor. Perak. Sembilan. Pahang. Total. 



14 300 



19,787 455,596 



1,791 168,018 

 931 41,813 



■a >. 

 PS. 



to -a 



,tn CD 

 CO 



108,048 50,121 20,944 2,025 



417 



762,108 



211,138 

 60,636 



No of estates 

 Acreage in 

 possession . . 



Acreage plan- 

 ted up to the 

 31st Doc. !908 



Acreage plan- 

 ted during 1903 



No. of trees 

 planted up to 

 the 31st Dec. 

 1908 



No. of estates 300 81 27 9 



possession 455,596 158,553 127,959 20,300 



Acreage plan- 

 ted up to 31st 

 Dec, 1908 



Acreage plan 

 ted during 



1908 41,813 7,255 10,818 750 



No. of trees 

 planted up 

 to 31st Dec, 



1908 26,165,310 7,743,322 3,221,388 307,0. 37,410,020 



Rubber in Federated Malay States. 

 The advance of rubber planting in the Native 

 States was as rapid in 1908 as in 1907 : the 

 drop in prices not causing the cessation in 

 opening up and planting that some expected : 

 41,813 acres were planted during tho year as 

 compared with 40,743 in 1907, an increase of 33 

 per cent, one-third more than tho total acreage. 

 On the 31st December, 1908, there were 168,048 

 acres of rubber, containing 26,165,310 trees, 

 in the Federated Malay States, as against 

 126,235 acres and 19,628,957 trees on the same 

 date of the previous year. Within the last ten 

 years the acreage of rubber has increased 100 

 times, and it has practically doubled during the 

 last two years. The output of dry rubber in- 

 creased by 60 per cent.: 3,190,000 lb., or 1,425 

 tons, as against 1,980,000 lb., or 885 tons, in 

 1907. These figures of output are slightly highor 

 than those given by the Commissioner of Trade 

 and Customs of the amount of rubber exported ; 

 this is due to the fact that rubber recorded as 

 produced on tho estate before the 31st December, 



130 

 215,509 



82,246 

 20,691 



111 



140,675 



56,706 

 10.539 



42 

 79,625 



27,305 

 9,649 



.. 12,199,331 8.5(0,321 4,923,715 181,913 26,165,310 



Comparative tablos of rubber acreap-os and 

 trees in Malaya, 1907 and 1908 :— 



State. 



Rubber acreages 



1907. 





r Selangor 



61,572 



SI 



Perak 



46,167 





Negri Sembilan 



17,656 





L Pahang 



860 





( Malacca 



36,916 



i\ 



L Province Wellesley 



5,920 





Johore 



10,1 6 





Kolantan 



1903. 



82,°46 

 56,Tot> 

 27,305 



1,791 

 41,321 



8,797 

 20,914 



2,025 



Ne of trees, 

 1907. J9ls. 

 ,9,648,193 12,199,33 

 6,61S,957 8,66U,321 



3,165,388 

 1*6,590 



0,019,910 

 767,276 



1,142,196 



1,923,711 

 181,913 



6,556,790 

 1,186,532 

 3,224,388 

 307,(0.1 



Total 



179,227 211,138 27,258,410 37,110,020 



In Province Wellesley is included two estates 

 in Singapore, eight estates in Peuaug and five 

 estates in Kedah. These figures are approximate. 

 Yields of Dry Rubber per Tree. 



It is difficult to decide whether it is better 

 to record yields per acre or per tree ; both 

 methods are in some ways misleading. The 

 yields having been given in my last report 

 per tree, this seems to me to be the better 

 way to continue. The average yield per tapped 

 treo all over the Peninsula has risen from 



I lb. 12 oz. to 1 lb. 15| oz., an increase of 



II per cent. Considering that the majority 

 of the trees tapped are in their first year of 

 bearing, thi3 is a most encouraging figure and 

 shows that the yields estimated in looking 

 forward to the future production of rubber 

 trees have, as a rule, been extremely mode- 

 rate if not unnecessarily small. Tho average 

 yield of tapped trees, in Negri Sembilan 

 amounted to 3 lb. 2J oz., which, being tho 

 average of nearly one million trees, is an 

 extraordinarily high figure. This Statu has 

 much higher yields per tree because tho pro- 

 portion of trees in their first tapping period 

 is much less than in the other States, but 

 this high figure is interesting as pointing to 

 the averages which may bo looked for in trees 

 after two or three years tapping. An inte- 

 resting tapping experiment with eight 17 year 



