The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



The Clean Weeding Question. 

 Do they go in for clean weeding?— The younger 

 plantations are clean weeded. The old Java 

 system was to let the soft weeds grow and then 

 to cut them oft' with a sort of sickle. It is found 

 that clean weeding is the best. It is much cheaper 

 and better for the growth of the product. 



Green Manuring. 

 Do they go in for much green manuring ? — 

 No, they do not do any in Java, the soil is bo 

 rich. The dadaps are merely for shade. It is 

 used very much because in growing coffee they 

 have had to have shade and they go on with it 

 because it prevents wash and assists to keep 

 down the weeds. 



Rubber Extensions ; the Price of Land. 



Is there much extension being done in rubber':' 

 — Oh yes, a good deal of extension is being 

 done in rubber. 



What is the present average price of suitable 

 land obtainable ? — It is difficult to answer that, 

 because it is very difficult to get land there You 

 have to get a lease from the Goverment ; and if 

 you apply for land, it is very possible they will 

 say it is required for the natives. The methods 

 are different from those in Ceylon. The Govern- 

 ment very often will not allow youto takeupland 

 at all, but there is land which has been leased 

 before and the price of that is from 40 to 50 

 gilders a bouw, £2 to £3 an acre, that is, to buy 

 the right of the lease for 99 years. You still have 

 to pay the rent. It is a premium as it were. A 

 gilder is 20 pence, twelve to a sovereign. 



The Cost of Bringing into Bearing. 

 At what cost per acre is rubber being brought 

 into bearing in Java? — I know an estate that has 

 brought in at £16 an acre ; but I can't answer 

 for anything else. 



The Kind of Land on which it is Planted. 



On what kind of land is it mostly planted ? — 

 Mostly in East Java on very good soil with 

 gentle slopes at the bottom of the mountains. 

 It is a very mountainous country, some of 

 the volcanoes being 10 or 11 thousand feet 

 high. It is gently undulating. The valleys 

 are kept for the natives for paddy. Paddy 

 cultivation is extending very much and they 

 lease to the Europeans the lower slopes of the 

 volcanoes. Very often you have chosen what 

 you think is a good piece of land and they 

 say : " Oh ! we must keep that and sell it 

 to the natives." 



Rubber in the Malay States. 

 Mr. Talbot also mentioned that rubber was 

 doing very well in the Malay States. They 

 had the Pomes fungus on the roots about two 

 years old ; but if it were tackled, it could be 

 kept in check. It spread from one to the other, 

 but when a tree died, you dug a trench round 

 to stop it. There was nothing to be afraid of. 

 They knew nothing about the new tapping sys- 

 tem in the Straits. As far as he had heard it 

 answered very well. Of course they had had 

 no experience yet of what effect it would have 

 upon the tree. As far as they knew it waa all 

 light. 



Tea Matters. 

 What are the chief points in which tea culti- 

 vation in Java differs from that in Ceylon ? — I 

 didn't see any tea, so I can't altogether tell 

 you; but the chief difference is that the 

 labourers come from the villages, and so you 

 have not got the same skilled labour force you 

 have in Ceylon. In Ceylon there is a labour 

 force which remains on estates. In Java 

 they change, so that you have not got the 

 same trained force. There is, however, no doubt 

 about the labour because the Javanese would 

 sooner work in Java than go abroad. 



Not Such Good Tea. 

 In what respects are tea planting methods in 

 Java superior or inferior to those in Ceylon ? 

 —They don't produce as good tea in Java be- 

 cause of the labour, and because it grows so 

 quickly and so rankly, owing to the fertility of 

 the soil and the climate. 



THE CEYLON RUBBER INDUSTRY. 



We are surprised to find in the official Journal 

 of the Jamaica Agricultural Society the follow- 

 ing grossly inaccurate and mischievously mislead- 

 ing report on the Ceylon Rubber Industry:— 



Rubber.— Ceylon planters are finding that 

 they have fully two years longer to wait than 

 they anticipated for the tapping of the rubber 

 trees. Rubber planted in tea land has not come 

 on nearly so well as it promised. Rubber in 

 the Malay estates in general is two years earlier 

 than in Ceylon, the soil and climate seeming to 

 suit it better. The mistake that many men 

 made was expecting rubber to grow on any soil, 

 and so simply planting it broadcast. Many are 

 finding out their mistakes now, and in many 

 cases they are abandoning their fields and going 

 back to their tea. The latest reports say that '25 

 per cent of the rubber planted in Ceylon will 

 never yield latex at all. There is a brilliant 

 future for well selected plantations with the 

 product at anything over 2/9 per lb., as well- 

 managed concerns are turning out good stuff 

 from 1/ to 1/6. — Correspondent. — Jourw I oj the, 

 Jamaica Agricultural Society for January. 



Jt is as well that this journal and its correspon- 

 dent should know:— (l)That plantation rubber in 

 Ceylon is coining into bearing,if anything sooner 

 than was expected duriDg the early days of the 

 industry, and that under the new tapping system 

 rubber trees will yield latex at a much earlier 

 age than under the old system ; (2) that the 

 abandoning of fields of rubber is entirely a myth, 

 and (3) the statement that 25 per cent, of the 

 rubber planted in Ceylon will never yield 

 latex at all is a gross exaggeration for which 

 there is no foundation whatever. As a matter 

 of fact the Jamaica journal's correspondent 

 betrays a profound ignorance of the whole 

 situation. So far rubber has more than come up 

 to expectations in Ceylon, and the fact that 

 estates are already producing it for well under a 

 shilling per lb and selling their whole crop ahead 

 for the current year at from 4/ to 5/ per lb is 

 evidence which justifies the belief that the 

 future is brighter than the past year at any rate. 



