May. 1009.1 



413 



Saps and tlvudalions. 



cultivation, close planting at 8 by 8 feet, 

 or even less, is to be recommended. A 

 reservation may also be made in the case 

 of the first few acres of land planted, 

 where it may be worth while to give the 

 trees plenty of room in order to encour- 

 age the production of seed at an early 

 age. But if our own experience of trees 

 flowering at one year old is repeated, 

 there should be no lack of seed in a 

 few years' time. Having trees at 

 Peradeniya with more than a year's 

 start of the rest of Ceylon, it is perhaps 

 legitimate for us to entertain the hope 

 that suitable methods of tapping the 

 trees and of preparing the rubber may 

 be worked out there by the time the 

 crop begins to be at all widely estab- 



FURTHER EXTRACTS FROM THE 

 REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 

 OF AGRICULTURE FOR 

 THE F, M.S. FOR 1907. 



The Yields of Dry Rubber Per Tree. 



The average amount ol dry rubber 

 over the whole Peninsula is 1 lb. 12 oz. 



Eer tapped tree, exactly the same 

 gure as was recorded for last year. 

 This is most encouraging, as the number 

 of trees which are being tapped for 

 the first time far exceeds those already 

 tapped, especially in Selangore, where 

 the average is 1 lb. 7. oz. per tapped 

 tree. 



Experiments are being carried on in 

 various parts of the Peninsula: Perak, 

 Selangore and Negri Sembilan, in 

 regard to yields of comparatively old 

 trees which have not previously been 

 tapped. In Krian tli3se experiments 

 have been carried out for nearly four 

 months, only half the tappable area 

 of the trees being used and space being 

 left so that more than three years will 

 elapse, with continuous tapping every 

 other day, before the healed surface 

 will be again reached. The figures 

 for one year will be published in next 

 year's report, but as far as they have 

 gone the yields average more than 2 lbs. 

 per mensem per tree. The trees are 

 planted widely apart round the edges 

 of a graveyard and are about 17 years 

 old. 



There is as yet not sufficient evi- 

 dence as to what yields may fairly be 

 expected over large areas of trees from 

 10 to 20 years old, but all the data which 

 we have at present points to the fact 

 that estimates or prophecies of pro- 

 bable yields at these ages will be amply 

 confirmed, 



Comparative Tables of Rubber 

 Crops, Malaya, 1906 and 1907. 



State. 



No. of trees tapped. 



1906. 



1907. 



. 



Selangore 

 Perak 



Negri Sembilan ... 



Pahang 



Malacca 



Province Wellesly 

 Johore 



364,638 

 67,710 

 91,410 



*7,000 

 •2o,076 

 48,350 



772,656 

 132,556 

 240,401 



12,455 

 48,000 

 94,159 



Total... 



599,184 



1,300,227 



State. 



Rubber yields lbs. 



Averago 

 yield per 



1906. 



1907. 



tree. 

 1907. 





lbs. 



lbs. 



lbs. OYj. 



Selangore 

 Perak 



Negri Sembilan ... 



Pahang 



Malacca 



Province Wellesly 

 Johore 



620,033 

 94,848 

 146,891 



* 12, 000 



* 13, 560 

 47,724 



1,131,086 

 272,804 

 586,864 



23,490 

 82,131 

 182,495 



1 u 



2 7 



1 14 

 1 11 

 1 15 



Total.. 



935,056 



2,278,870 



1 12 



In Province is included one estate 

 in Singapore, one estate in Penang, and 

 one in Kedah. 



Market Prices and their Effects. 

 Various circumstances during 1907 

 led to a decrease in the extraordinary 

 rapidity with which land was acquired, 

 cleared and planted in rubber. In some 

 cases, lack of the necessary superinten- 

 dence and labour for opening land stop- 

 ped work, in others a gradual increase 

 of the cost of bringing an estate into 

 bearing, and the fact that this increase 

 had led to the cost of opening and plant- 

 ing in some estates being greater than 

 had been estimated hindered plans for 

 future clearings. 



The steady drop in the price of rubber, 

 especially during the last half of the 

 year, had the effect of making capitalist 

 abate the feverish anxiety to get as 

 many acres planted up as quickly as 

 possible and to some extent regardless 

 of cost. 



These circumstances did not reduce 

 the investor's confidence in the profit- 

 earning possibilities of plantation rubber 

 as the share prices of Malayan Compa- 

 nies showed, but the visions of Eldorado 

 assumed more natural tints and led to 

 a careful consideration of the most eco- 



* Thoso figures are approximate, 



