The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



considered that the difference between the 

 highest and lowest year prices here quoted 

 amount to no less than $1,157'42 cents per 

 metrical ton, and that these fluctuations usually 

 occur without warning, thu buying of raw 

 rubber by consumers approaches almost a 

 speculative basis. The producers of rubber in 

 the Amazon region, far from satisfied with a 

 condition under which they have no say in 

 fixing the market price of their produce, 

 have determined upon a course of action, 

 in which, with the help of the government 

 and of a great bank, they mean to 

 hold their rubber whenever prices are 

 not high enough to be attractive. Now the 

 holding of rubber anywhere is an expensive 

 practice, when storage costs are considered, 

 insurance, interest on advances — and the ine- 

 vitable shrinkage in weight. It is well enough 

 to speak of rubber as being a modern neces- 

 sity, but there are limits to what people will 

 pay, even for necessities, and manufacturers 

 would have to halt somewhere in the matter 

 of paying advancing rates on rubber, even were 

 the Amazon region the world's only source. 

 There would be an inevitable check to rising 

 prices, due to increased production and the 

 hesitation of consumers to buy, after which 

 the banks would have to unload, with such 

 results as followed Vianna's state aided rub- 

 ber " corner "—a fall to half the former prices 

 and loss to everybody concerned. The India 

 Rubber World, a dozen years ago, printed an 

 article on " What Vianna Did for African Rub- 

 bers," showing that his speculative "bearing" 

 of the market for Para rubber opened the way 

 largely for the increased use of African grades. 

 Nowadays, African rubbers having won an 

 established position in the industry, though 

 now apparently falling off in the rate of pro- 

 duction, an important new source of supplies 

 has been developed— the Eastern plantations, 

 the product of which (Hevea) is better cal- 

 culated than even the best Africans for sup- 

 planting the Amazon rubber in the industry. 

 Without meaning to advise our friends on the 

 Amazon, it would seem that their best interest 

 lies, not in forcing up prices to an artificial 

 level, but to so improving their business 

 methods as to enable them to sell at 

 a profit at even lower prices than at present. 

 Their devotion to any policy gives the plan- 

 ters of Ceylon and Malaya, backed by un- 

 limited European capital, the very encourage- 

 ment which they want and mobt need. The 

 Eastern planters have it in their power 

 to appeal strongly to the consuming markets 

 in the matter of guaranteeing prices for longer 

 periods than have ever been known in the 

 trade before, and we shall be surprised if this 

 does not strengthen the demand for their pro- 

 duct. — India Rubber World, May 1. 



INTERPLANTING RUBBER WITH 

 COFFEE. 



Dr. Cramer, an agricultural expert has de- 

 livered a lecture to a gathering of planters at 

 Serdang, in Deli, on linking coffee growing 

 with rubber cultivation. He dwelt on the 

 Robusta variety of coffee, which is being 



favoured by planters in J ava. The point was 

 mado that, in Europe. Robusta coffee fetched 

 as good prices as the Santos variety from 

 Brazil. In his opinion a large stretch of 

 country in East Sumatra is admirably adapted 

 for Robusta coffee as a catch crop on rubber 

 estates. —Straits Times, May 28. 



TAPPING YIELDS. 



Much Larger by the Old Method. 



Mr W H P Dias, of Wawulugala, Horana, 

 writes to the local "Times" of the relative results 

 obtained on that estate from 225 trees of 5-year- 

 old rubber tapped in the old half-spiral method 

 of paring, and 225 trees of the same size, age, 

 and in the same field tapped by the North way 

 prickling system : — 



" I began tapping by the Northway system 

 on the 17th of April. To this date I had secured 

 63 lb of dry rubber from the 225 trees I marked 

 off in January and tapped for 47 days by half- 

 spiral system. Below I give the results in tabu- 

 lar form : — 



Dry rubber Dry rubber lb. 

 lb. by old by Northway 

 Tapping No. of method method 



Period. days. from 225 from 225 



trees. trees. 

 47a 63 not tapped 



April 17 to 3rd May 14 22 11 



May 11 to 27 15 23. 9 



a January lti to 30, February 1 to 8, March 8 to 29 and 

 April 2 to 16. 



" By tho old method, I have secured 110 lb of 

 dry rubber in 76 days, and I still have about half 

 of the bark left on the side I have tapped, and 

 there is the possibility of my securing more than 

 110 lb of rubber from the remaining bark on 

 this side. Whatever it is, I am certain to obtain 

 220 lb of dry rubber from these 225 trees for this 

 year. Whereas from the trees tapped by the 

 Northway system, I have secured only 20 lb of 

 dry rubber, and I may obtain another 20 lb at 

 the most for the other 30 tappable days in the 

 year which will make 40 lb for the year. Of 

 course, these trees were not manured year after 

 year like Mr Northway's. Last week I went 

 round, passing several well-known estates at 

 Neboda and Tebuwana, the centre of rubber, 

 and I found that many had taken to the North- 

 way system, but that now most of them were 

 giving it up. So I am convinced of what Mr 

 Harrison says : it is safer to walk on known 

 ground than try to fly in unknown places. 



RUBBER PLANTING IN NEW GUINEA. 



Mr. H. A. Wickham's 10,000-acre Lease. 



Mr R Tweed Baird, the partner of Mr H A 

 Wickham (the well-known Brazil rubber pio- 

 neer) in the 10,000-acre lease in New Guinea to 

 be taken over by the Mombiri Rubber Planta- 

 tions, Ltd., was on his way out to Papua by the 

 " Macedonia " which was in Colombo on May 

 28th. The capital of the company is £52,500 and 

 among the directors is Mr C de Winton, who is 

 also director of the Castlefield (Klang) Rubber 

 Company, Cicely Rubber Estates, Ltd., and 

 Hidden Streams Rubber Syndicate. 



