594 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



III. 



Glendon, Neboda, May 28th. 



Dear Sir, — I see in your leader in the 

 Observer of 22nd, mention is mado of injury done 

 to rubber trees by the incisions of the pricker 

 closing up prematurely and causing the latex 

 to coagulate inside the tree and burst the bark. 



I noticed this some two years ago on a 15-year- 

 old tree growing on a kill and tapped with an 

 ordinary knife and never pricked. I put it down 

 to tapping in February (a very dry month) and 

 when the leaves were off. However, it only 

 occurred in this one ease and the bark was cut 

 away and subsequently healed up. Judging from 

 what has been written about the now tapping 

 system, it does not appear likely to supersede 

 paring though it may be suitable, in certain loca- 

 lities, for trees 3-4 years old. —Yours faithfully, 



R. J. BOOTH. 



IV. 



Kalutara District, May 29th. 

 Dear Sir, — The phenomenon, which has arisen 

 with the Northway systom of tapping that you 

 refer to in your leader of the 22nd, I understand, 

 has only been noticed on old trees. It would be 

 interesting if you could get Mr Northway to 

 publish figures in support of his statement that 

 equally good results, at less cost, can be ob- 

 tained by his new system, as by the one usually 

 in use. They should, I think, take the following 

 form : — 



(1) Quantity of rubber obtained in 1908 oft" a 

 specified group of trees, giving average girth, 

 number of days tapped and cost of tapping. 



(2) Quantity secured this year, from same 

 group, by the new system (and anticipated yield 

 for year), with number of days tapping and cost. 



Mr Northway should be easily able to provide 

 you with these figures and it would give other 

 users a line to go on and show them what can be 

 done. It is, I think, important that the average 

 girth and approximate age of the trees should 

 be given. — I am, yours faithfully, 



RUBBER-GROWER, 

 V. 



In Reply to Mr Wiggin. 



Ruanwella, May 31st, 1909. 

 Dear Sir,— Re Mr Wiggin s letters on the 

 New System of tapping, they are polite — to say 

 the least of it. He regrets the lack of brain 

 power in rubber planters to see the damage done 

 by what he calls butcher's knives, but he seems 

 himself to lack the brains to see the damage 

 the blunt prickers can do. 



He does not really understand (judging by 

 his letters)— the vascular system of the Hevea 

 tree ; or he would understand the great often- 

 times hidden damage which is done to the tree 

 by the new system. 



I would advise him to visit his friend Mr 

 Northway's estate, or any other where the 

 tapping has been done for two months, and take 

 off a piece of the pricked cortex right to the 

 wood and then write to the papers the result. 



There is a proverb which says ;" Don't teach 

 your grandmother to suck eggs" ; and certainly 

 rubber tapping is not taught in Dimbula, 

 and I for one don't consider that a visit now 

 and again to the low country, to see a few 

 rubber trees tapped, is sufficient to entitle Mr 

 Wiggin to teach his brother rubber-planters. — 

 Yours faithfully, 



LOW COUNTRY, 



RUBBER IN COLOMBIA. 



The following curious advertisement appeared 

 the other day in the London Times: — 



Rubber Plantation.— Offer at 16s of 500 £l fully-paid 

 Shares in dividend earning, old-established Company. 

 Capital £100,000. Estimated yield of rubber this year. 

 £i:;,ouo, increasing to £40,000 on further maturity of 

 plantations. 



An enquiry brought a letter to the following 

 purport : — 



" As requested we send you particulars of the 500 £1 

 fully paid shares in the Colombian Rubber Company 

 offered at 17s 6d or at 16s (£400 if taken in one lot. 

 The Company having now reached the dividend-earning 

 stage the most modern machinery for preparation of the 

 rubber was shipped to Colombia last December and 

 Mr. Sloan left early last month for the estate to superin- 

 tend the preparation and consignment of from £10,000 

 to £12,000 worth of rubber part of the proceeds of 

 which will be applied to the payment of a first divi- 

 dend of 8 per cent or 10 per cent and concurrently with 

 its declaration application will be made for a Stock Ex- 

 change settlement in the shares. On fuller development 

 of the resources of the estate and on erection of the 

 saw-mills the Company will be able to pay perma- 

 nent dividends of not less than 20 per cent, for rubber 

 can be produced on this estate at a lower cost (vd 

 per lb.) than in any other part of the world. We make 

 these statements on the authority of Mr. Jas. Stuart 

 Sloan, the Managing Director, who himself holds 30,000 

 shares and if you enquire through your own Bank of 

 Mr. Sloan's Bankers the Societe Generate, 53, Old Broad 

 Street, as regards this gentleman's commercial status 

 and reputation you will rind that confidence can be re- 

 posed in the success of any enterprise which he directs." 



A pamphlet accompanying the letter gave in- 

 teresting particulars (and illustrations) of the 

 estates belonging to the 



Colombian Robber Co., Ltd., 

 on the Pacific Coast of the Republic of that 

 name, 2 degrees north of the equator and 

 midway between two ports, total area being 

 168,000 acres, held under 99 years' lease. 

 Forest land covers 150,000 acres with wild 

 rubber trees (Castilloa Elastica and Sapium) 

 averaging five to the acre, which are ex- 

 pected to be tapped gradually and to give 

 5 lb. rubber per tree. There is said to be £10,000 

 to £12,000 of rubber ready for shipment, and 

 I must say the growth of castilloa trees in an 

 avenue, eight years old, shown in one engraving 

 is very good indeed. The investment ought, 

 therefore, to be a promising one for any 

 person caring to invest in South America. Alto- 

 gether 105,731 castilloa trees have been planted 

 and are from 1 to 8 years old. Manioc, 

 banana (a crop every 8 months), but are used to 

 shade the young rubber trees; also Abaca, a 

 new product, yielding a fibre like Manilla hemp ; 

 Mahogany trees are common in the forest. 

 The Colombian Government is so anxious to 

 have cotton, coffee, tobacco and rubber pro- 

 duced, that up to July, 1914, they offer a pre- 

 mium of 4s per 100 lb. of each of the first three 

 and 16s per 100 lb. of plantation rubber. The 

 profit for the first year is estimated at £28,770, 

 so it is difficult to see why shares should have 

 to be offered at a discount, 



