482 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



THE NEW RUBBER TAPPING SYSTEM. 



THE FINANCIAL SIDE. 

 Ever since the days when Mr H M Alleyn 

 introduced his special methods of cultivation 

 and manufacture of tea, admitting planters who 

 wished to know it to the secret for a substantial 

 fee, those in the old country connected with 

 Ceylon estate property have been surprised at 

 this method of business on the part of planting 

 experts in Ceylon, which trusts so entirely to 

 the honour of the planters and estate agents con- 

 cerned. In the case of the new rubber-tapping 

 system which is the direct successor, as regards 

 rubber, of Mr Alleyn's methods with tea, their 

 surprise is certainly not likely to be decreased. 

 Although it is not publicly made known in 

 Ceylon it is, of course, communicated to all 

 applicants — while Messrs Cumber-batch & Co. 

 are advertising the fact in the Malay States 

 — that the fee varies with the amount ot crop 

 estimated to be produced by the estate which 

 proposes to take up the system. This is in some 

 way an anomalous demand at the present stage, 

 when the system is (and will be for some time) 

 on its trial. As a leading planting expert has 

 pointed out to the Agents concerned, what ought 

 to be charged is a fee proportionate to the 

 amount of crop produced by this system, how- 

 ever experimentally used, over the portion of the 

 estate where it is applied. It is more than con- 

 ceivable — it is the most natural course to take, es- 

 pecially on the part of the older properties, to 

 keep both old and new systems running side by 

 side until the success or otherwise of the latter 

 has been thoroughly tested. Of course, it 

 may be retorted that the Agents feel that 

 enterprising parties who desire to strike out 

 on the new lines ought to " go the whole hog " 

 or leave the thing alone entirely ! This would 

 be all very well if the new system's merits were 

 thoroughly proved ; but to insist on a fee pro- 

 portionate to the whole crop estimate of an estate 

 (or group of estates, such as the Rosehaugh 

 Co., for instance) is— for those financially con- 

 cerned in its success— only to stand in their light 

 and, for the matter be examined thoroughly, the 

 Agents have no legal hold over the system as 

 long as it is not patented and therefore have in 

 a large measure to trust to the honour of plan- 

 ters. In any case Mr Alleyn ceased to obtain 

 fees for his system of tea cultivation soon after 

 it became too generally known for any secret in 

 the matter to be longer preserved. In the same 

 way, if too rigid a practice of charging for the 

 information provided by Mr Northway, the in- 

 ventor of the new system, is maintained, both 

 inventor and Agents will stand to lose in the 

 beginning ; and it is in the beginning that most 

 money will be made in the matter. We appear 

 to be arguing on their behalf, but it is rather 

 on behalf of the rubber-growing public that wo 

 make these remarks in order that the system 

 may be experimentally tried as widely as possible 

 and with due regard for economy in cost, the 

 inventor and Agents standing to gain as soon as 

 the crop produced by the system is increased 

 wholesale. That this will come about stands to 

 reason it the system has the makings of a per- 

 manent agricultural benefit to the rubber pro- 



ducers of the island. At present the faith of 

 those who have tried and those who have meant 

 to try the system, has been much shaken by 

 the clever extract from a paper by Dr. H. 

 Fitting, a leading physiological botanist, 

 which Mr Petch reproduced in our columns 

 last month, expressing the utmost doubt 

 — based on careful experiment — as to the safety 

 of the pricker, for tapping, in preserving the 

 health of rubber trees ; and describing it as out 

 of place in rational estate management. 



THE NEW SYSTEM CRITICISED IN 

 LONDON. 



At the annual general meeting of the General 

 Ceylon Rubber and Tea Estates, held on the 

 18th inst., the Chairman, Mr. T C Owen, made 

 a reference to a new system of tapping rubber 

 in Ceylon, under which it is possible to reduce 

 by twelve months the age at which trees may 

 be regarded as having reached the producing 

 stage. Mr. Owen assumes that the general 

 public have heard that a scheme of this nature 

 is on foot, but we are inclined to think that 

 he is wrong on this point, while the inquiries 

 we have made go to show that his optimism 

 regarding the results of the new process is not 

 shared by the general body of rubber experts. 

 It is argued in Mincing Lane, and rightly we 

 think, that 



ANY ATTEMPT TO FORCE PRODUCTION WILL 

 SOONER OR LATER RE4CT ADVERSELY 



upon the market, and that, even assuming the 

 method of tapping advocated by Mr. Owen to 

 be all that is claimed for it, it is unwise to 

 adopt such strenuous efforts to increase the out- 

 put of cultivated rubber. Over and above this, 

 however, comes the experience taught by many 

 similar actions in the past, namely, that while 

 no immediate harm may accrue from interference 

 with Nature, sooner or later a price will have to 

 be paid for the removal of the latex from rubber 

 trees at a stage when it is impossible to regard 

 them as mature. 



LOSS OF STAMINA FROM EXHAUSTION 



is predicted by those who have been connected 

 with some of the largest and most successful 

 rubber plantations in the Middle East, and we 

 have heard sufficient during the past few days 

 to render us very sceptical of the efficacy of the 

 policy which Mr. Owen proposes to introduce 

 on the estates un ier his control. Again, we 

 fail to see that the commencement of tapping 

 operations twelve months earlier than has 

 hitherto been customary conveys such advan- 

 tages as to compensate for the risks attendant 

 upon such a course. 



WHAT IS ONE YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A RDBBEB 

 TREE ? 



Certainly not sufficient to justify the jeopardi- 

 sing of the remainder of its existence, and we 

 areof opinion that, on this score alone, Mr. 

 Owen should curb his ardour and rest content 

 with the handsome profits which are obtainable 

 by safer methods pursued on the neighbouring 

 estates. —Stock Exchange Gazette, Mar. 25th, 



