Gums, Resins, 



26 



The price of Hevea seed has gone up considerably daring late years, 

 and in Ceylon last year went up to R35 per 1,000. On the other hand accord- 

 ing to Mr. Van Den Bussche, the price in the F.M.S. was 11.5 florins (24 francs) 

 per 1,000, that is much less than in Ceylon. When it is realised that one rubber 

 plantation in the Malay States has sold 1,000,000 seeds to a single German 

 Company it can be calculated of what great importance to the English planters 

 the sale of their seed is, and the economic danger that would be offered them 

 if a prohibitive export duty were levied.— Translated from the French. 



Kinds of Rubber 



PLANTATION RUBBER IN CEYLON AND AMERICA. 

 Ceylon, thanks to the excellence of the work of its Scientific Department 

 and the character and enterprise of the planters, is held as an example for tropical 

 planting throughout the world. In the latest planting product, rubber, the Ceylon 

 industry is the world's criterion, and yet there is much that Ceylon may learn 

 from other countries in connection with the industry, and information of what 

 men in other lands are doing is always of service to planters of this Colony. We 

 need, therefore, put forth no other reason for having accorded considerable space 

 during the past week to the subject of Castilloa rubber cultivation in Nicaragua. 

 The writer of that article put forth a number of original views and had evidently 

 studied the subject carefully ; and not the least interesting paragraphs were those 

 in which he compared the Castiloa elastica with Hevea brasiliensis, preferring the 

 former, at all events for cultivation in Central America. 



In Mexico considerable planting is going on as we have pointed out on 

 several occasions. Today, by courtesy of a Colombo gentleman, we have before us 

 a report on the La Junta X->lantation of the Mexican Mutual Planters' Co. This is 

 the report on the estate to the shareholders by Dr. Henkel and Mr. Augustus 

 Curtis, who were elected at a meeting of the shareholders to visit the place and 

 report. The report is a handsomely got up booklet, 10 by 8 in., containing a number 

 of plates from photographs taken on the property, which seems to be a flourishing 

 and very promising concern. Castilloa elastica is the cultivated tree, and the 

 conditions of growth and cultivation there are utterly different from the East. 

 Prom figures given they have some 700 trees per acre. In 1905 the seed for planting 

 was thought to be poor, and over the 741 acres then planted " as an extra precaution 



six seeds were planted at each stake instead of the usual four The vast 



surplusage of plants is available for us elsewhere on the property or for sale." The 

 Company started planting in 1901 when 455 acres were planted, and they have gone 

 on each year, 851 acres being put out in 1904 and 741 in 1905, and now the total 

 acreage under rubber is 3,298 acres ! Besides this the Company has. over 450 acres in 

 coffee and 249 in cacao. The growth of the rubber seems excellent, although the 

 girth is not so great as might be expected ; this is owing probably to the close 

 planting adopted. Trees 4| years old, of an average height of 20 ft., girth 11 6-10 

 inches ; and ten trees near the road averaged 14 inches ; while ten others along a road 

 averaged 13 7-10 inches in girth. Young seedlings seem to grow rapidly, those of 7 

 months being as high as a man's shoulder and well covered with foliage. But when 

 it comes to cost of labour, we notice an immense difference between Mexico and 

 Ceylon. There they pay 1^ dollar Mexican per day, or the equivalent of 75 cts. 

 gold American, which is over Rs. 2"20 ; and even at this high rate they only work 

 for a task which takes the best men from 1 to 3 o'clock in the afternoon. This is 

 not mentioned in the report under notice, but the information is given to us, and 



