272 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



themselves whew asked as to their opinions are 

 found to differ, and so for the present it must 

 remain an open question whether block, crepe, 

 or sheet will get the best reception on the Euro- 

 pean Market. 



Light colour and uniformity all through the 

 sample are beginning to be considered as quali- 

 ties to be aimed at, though the former character 

 is probably only desired by the manufacturer 

 for a class of goods which can never consume a 

 very large quantity of raw rubber, and, there- 

 fore, if all prepare to this standard too much 

 may be supplied. All who have studied the 

 matter, or who have technical knowledge and 

 experience, are agreed that the most important 

 quality to be arrived at in plantation rubber is 

 'i nerve," "fibre,'' 'pull," "strength,'' or what- 

 ever other terms may be used for the possession 

 of elasticity and resilience to a high degree. If 

 this character of Malayan plantation rubber is 

 continued and improved, there is no reason to 

 doubt that the manufacturer will in a short time 

 begin to set a value on it equal and perhaps 

 bettor than that given to the wild Para of Brazil. 

 The exclusion of all latex which may contain 

 too much viscine, resin, etc., since it is obtained 

 from young trees, when "bulking" latex is 

 strongly to be recommended ; there is always a 

 market for poorer values of rubber by them- 

 selves, and the inclusion of a small quantity of 

 inferior latex may considerably reduce the value 

 of the whole break, and at the same time do harm 

 to the good name of the estate for sound rubber. 

 Block rubber has great advantages over the 

 other forms, in that it is less bulky and costly 

 for storage and transport, and less liable to 

 any damage by clamp or heat in transit. Many 

 leading manufacturers and technical experts in 

 Europe consider that the block rubber possesses 

 more of the desirable qualities of the Brazilian 

 Para than crepe or sheet ; and the only ob- 

 jection which any of them make to block is 

 the fact that it cannot always be examined for 

 internal impurities without cutting each block. 

 This drawback is obviated if the blocks are made 

 only 1 to li inchs thick, when they are trans- 

 parent and any opaque object included in them 

 can be detected by holding them up to the light. 



Rubber Seed. 



The question of the sale of rubber seed for 

 oil purposes should be carefully considered by 

 every careful planter. The crop of seed in the 

 Peninsula was probably not less than 300,000,000, 

 or 1,200 tons in weight, valued in the London 

 market at over §100,000. This amount of avail- 

 able seed will increase annually very rapidly, 

 and in five years' time more than 30 times this 

 will be produced. The following figures show 

 that there is a fair profit from the collection 

 and export of these seeds, even at the rates which 

 are at present offered for decorticated seed, 

 and it is not improbable that when sufficient 

 quantity is placed on the market a higher price 

 will be obtained ; — 



Weight of Hevea Brasiliensis Seed, 

 Cotyledons and Shell. 



Number. 









1 <. 1 1 l.- 1 1 l ■ 1 _ Ul 



Total 



Shell. 



Cotyie- 



VjUljlOUUH-i IV 





Weight. 







trit".nl u I'ii'lii 



tUVuil ■ 1 _ M 1 





Gr. 



Gr. 



■ Gr. 



1. u' >.<_ Ml. 



I 



3.18 



1.69 



1.58 



5C 



2 



5.11 



1.84 



3.28 



66 



3 



4.26 



1.63 



2.61 



62 



4, 



4.41 



L70 



2.7H 



6? 



5 



4.19 



1.31 



2, L 6 



68 



'6 



4.46 



2.1/5 



2.41 



52 



7 



3.51) 



1.65 



1.85 



53 



8 



3.86 



1.96 



1.89 



49 



9 



3.14 



1.41 



1.73 



55 



10 



3.21 



1 48 



1.72 



63* 



11 



3.26 



1.35 



1.90 



58 28 



12 



4.65 



1.89 



2.49 



53 54 



Total 



47.286 



19.88 



27.02 





Averages 



3.938 



1.656 



2.25 



59*' 7 



The following will enable an estimate to be 

 made of probable profits from this source : — 

 111 Para rubber seeds eql. 1 lb. 

 12,432 „ ,, eql. 1 cwt. 



248.640 „ „ „ eql. 1 ton. 



The kernel— i.e., the decorticated seed—is 60 

 per cent, of the total weight of seed, therefore 

 414,400 seeds makes a ton of decorticated seed. 

 At 40C seeds— i.e.. 133 fruits to the tree— 414,400 

 seeds will be the crop of 1,036 trees, which at 

 193 trees to the acre — i.e., 15 feet apart— is the 

 produce of 5.4 acres. One acre will therefore 

 give 3 cwts. 79 lb., value £1 17s. or §15.88. 

 Cost of putting on market : . . $ c. 



Freight, 40s. per tun (say $18) .. 18 00 

 Collecting at 4 cents per 1,000, 



per ton . . 18 64 

 Decorticating, per toe ... 2 50 



Packing, per ton . . 15 00 



.. 54 14 



Value on market £10 to £12 (say 



$93.50-i.?., £11) .. 93 50 



Cost of putting on market . . 54 14 



Total not profit per ton, $39.36— that is 5.4 

 acres gives §39.36 profit — i.e. $7 per acre. 

 Synthetic Rubber. 



Reports of rubber substitutes and synthetic 

 lubber during 1908, as in previous years, con- 

 tinued to alarm greatly and frighten many 

 faint-hearted believers in rubber cultivation ; 

 but the end of the year brought us no nearer the 

 production of a substance which will take the 

 place of rubber at a cost less than the present 

 market price. Rumours of rubber to be made 

 from peat, rosin-bearing woods, wheat and other 

 substances are current periodically; each case 

 causing groat alarm at the time, in a few months 

 is forgotten, and the fears of the timid investor 

 in rubber planting are calmed until a new para- 

 graph in the daily paper suggests to him that at 

 last the much-dreaded catastrophe has come. 

 Those who can best judge of the probabilities of 

 rubber being manufactured synthetically atsuch 

 a price as to make it a commercial success — che- 

 mists and physicists— still consider it most im- 

 probable. The rubber planter continually finds 

 his trees giviDg increased yields, and with the 

 cost of production becoming less and less, the 

 price at which it will pay to make synthetic 

 rubber gradually sets below the horizon of profit. 

 Health on Estates. 



The average health of coolies on ostates has 

 during 1908 shown a marked improvement, and 



