2SS 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



the stem is fixed for all time. I have recently 

 found that rubber trees can be forced to throw 

 out true branches without interfering with 

 their upward growth. It is then onJy necessary 

 to prune off superfluous branches in order to 

 shape the tree in any desired form; to accomplish 

 this all that is necessary is to cut off all the 

 leaves, leaving the stalks attached to the stem, 

 these will dry and fall off in a few days and 

 the tree will throw out branches from each node. 



Para rubber being a deciduous tree, this re- 

 moval of the leaves is, after all, merely a fore- 

 stalrnent of nature and should therefore be done 

 at the season when the older trees shed their 

 leaves. It is also best to choose the time when 

 the topmost shoot has matured and beforo a 

 fresh shoot has commenced to grow. Great care 

 must bo taken not to injure the bud and thereby 

 interfere with the .upward growth of the tree. 

 The above method should only be tried on a 

 very small scale to begin with, until it has been 

 proved a success. — Malay Mail, Jan. 25. 



RUBBER IN BOLIVIA. 



The following extracts from a Broker's Cir- 

 cular, (December 30th) give some interesting 

 information in reference to rubber yield, &c, 

 in Bolivia : — 



"The Galvez Rubber Estates, Ltd/' 



This Company was registered in 1907, when a 

 prospectus was issued for private subscription 

 only. Capital £150,000 of which £135,000 has 

 been issued in £1 shares all fully paid. The 

 largest shareholders are Sir George Newnes, 

 Bart., M.P., his family and friends. The Chair- 

 man of the Company is Mr. Frank Newnes, 

 M.P., and the Harmsworth family also of news- 

 paper fame ate also interested. VVe extract the 

 following from the prospectus :— 



" This Company has been formed in older to 

 acquire the Galvez Rubber Estates, a well- 

 known fine Para rubber-producing property in 

 Bolivia, and consisting of the properties here- 

 after mentioned. It is estimated to extend 

 over an area of nearly million acres, and is 

 situated in the province of Canpolican, district 

 of La Paz, near the Beni River, Bolivia. 



"Mr Pharaoh, who is well known in America 

 as an expert in Rubber Forests, and who has 

 worked a portion of the concessions, has certi- 

 fied toat least 300,000 trees (Hevea brasiliensis). 

 Taking a minimum yield of only 4 lb. per tree, 

 this would give a return of 1,200,0001b. rubber 

 per annum. Mr Pharaoh states that 6 lb. per 

 tree is a conservative estimate. 150,000 trees 

 opened up and ready for tapping should pro- 

 duce 600,000 lb. of rubber, which at say 5s. the 

 present price, would realise £150,000 per annum 

 gross. The business has been a going con- 

 cern for the past six years. The recent 

 owner, Senor Mariano Galvez, of Arequipa, 

 Peru, through lack of capital, has for some 

 years past confined himself to the development 



of only a small part of the estate, which he 

 states has yielded rubber yearly valued at from 

 £20,000 to £30,000 gross. Tho output for 1905, em- 

 ploying only 100 pickers, amounted to 79,000 lb. 

 and for a few months in 1906, employing 200 

 men, 66,000 lb. In the year 1902, Mr Pharaoh 

 worked the property during a period of eight 

 months. He had only 200 pickers, and they 

 collected 120,000 lb of rubber from only a small 

 portion of the property, and which at the pre- 

 sent price of rubber would sell for £30,000. 



" Estimating tho all-round sale price of rub- 

 ber at 5s per lb and tho cost of production at 

 2s per lb, tho total yield of 300,000 trees at 4 lb. 

 per tree would equal 1,200,000 lb and would pro- 

 duce a profit of about £180,000 per annum. 



"Taking as a basis the production available 

 from only 15 ',000 trees, this would give the 

 fallowing results : - 



600,000 lb. rubber at 5s. per lb £150,000 

 600,000 ,, at cost of 



2s. per lb. 60,000 



Leaving an estimated nett pro- 

 fit per annum of £90,000 



" Last year, subsequent to the formation of 

 the Company, as you will remember, there was 

 a financial panic in the United States of America, 

 which are the largest buyers in the world of 

 rubber. As tho result of this the enormous 

 factories there were closed, and the price of 

 rubber fell from over 8s to 3s per lb. With 

 a resumption in the United States of the 

 demand, the price has gradually risen until 

 now it is again over 5s, with every prospect of 

 a continuance of at least this price. The es- 

 timate given of production naturally does not 

 apply to the first year, during which the busi- 

 ness had to be thoroughly organised. Ship- 

 ments of rubber up to date have been 300,00, 

 lb. and further 600,000 lb. has been collected 

 and will be gradually shipped." 



This Company probably owns the largest quan- 

 tity of indigenous rubber trees of any English 

 Company. We wish distinctly to emphasise 

 the fact that the total production of rubber per 

 annum is about 70,000 tons. Of this quantity 

 only a little over 2,000 tons is produced from 

 plantation rubber tteos in the East, The entire 

 balance is obtained from indigenous rubber 

 trees. We further wish particularly to empha- 

 sise the fact that the production of rubber per 

 tree from planted trees in the East is only about 

 1 lb, as against 4 lb. from the indigenous trees 

 in South America. 



An interim dividend of 3 percent was paid in 

 July. It is expected the first report and balance 

 sheet will shortly be issued, and that the divi- 

 dend will amount to at least 10 per cent. This, 

 it is expected, will be more than doubled next 

 year, and continue to largely increase from year 

 to year ; in fact, from the official figures already 

 given it appears the Company should have no 

 difficulty in paying 80 per cent dividend next 

 year. [Shares are offering at par.] 



