July 1, 1898.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 17 
RUBBER AND ITS PROSPECTS 
IN CEYLON. 
We have delayed too loner offering a correction 
on our last statement that Para nib!)er trees may 
be safely planted amongst tea on lowcountry 
plantations at fi^ti/ feet apart. Tlie correction 
wa liave to offer is not, as might be supposed 
from recent discussion, a proliibition of such 
planting altogether ; but an assurance that Para 
trees may be planted without doing the least 
harm at the rate of 50 to the acre. To get tliis 
number per acre, tiie planting would have to he 
30 feet by 30 and men in whose judgment and 
experience we liave the utmost confidence, assure 
us tliat no field of tea will suffer from being so 
dealt with. Indeed one authority says that in 
some tea fields, he would not hesitate to plant 
20 by 20 feet or 100 Rubber trees to tlie acre. 
So nuicli for planting in connection with tea, 
apart from what can be done on boundaries and 
in separate small clearings should the reserves 
permit. 
But now on the general question of Rubber 
cultivation and the prospects of a profitable re- 
turn, we have to face a considerable divergence 
of opinion. One of the shrewdest of planting 
critics in expressing his doubts, referred to the 
rush into "Ceara" Rubber some years ago and 
asked, what came of it? Well, it so hap- 
pens that we have just been made acquainted 
with a fact which seems to show that 
th") planters of Ceara rubber even were far 
too hasty in giving up their experiments. For 
it turns out that where the tree has been 
allowed to grow as in some parts of the Dum- 
bara Valley, 1 lb. of good Rubber per cooly for 
each day's work is now readily collected. This, as 
an adjunct to the staple cultivation whether tea or 
cacao, is not to be despised and it has the 
obvious advantage tliat the harvesting can be 
done within certain limits, according to the con- 
venience and labour supply of the planter. 
But now as to Para Rubber, whicli is undoubt- 
edly, the preferable kind to plant in the low- 
country of Ceylon, indeed up to 500 feet altitufle, 
or perhaps 1,000 in certain districts, there are 
sufficient data to show that given good seed, 
careful planting and suitable soil, six years should 
mark the term of waiting before returns can 
be got* In the 6th year, no doubt, tlie quantity 
gathered per tree would be limited ; but experi- 
ence in the Kalutara district shews that from 
this date, a steady increase may be expected year 
by year up to a period, so far practically unde- 
fined. There are not many Para trees growing 
in the island altogether that are above six years 
old, so that we >nay really be said to be only 
entering on the period when harvestim." and 
financial experience is to be reaped. But the 
indications are decidedly in favour of Para 
Rubber Cultivation turning out a stable and 
prolitable industry, and more especially do we 
recommend it as a help and alternative to the 
low-country tea planter. Men who want to go 
in for "a big thing" in planting Rubber, are 
perhaps right in trying the Straits Settlements ; 
but for our part, we do not see why suitable lots 
of land, il not for any extensive, at least for 
aafe experiments should not be picked up between 
the Kelani Valley and Kalutara, in the neigh- 
bourhood of Ratnajiura for instance, or iu some 
of the damper korales of .tlie Western Province, 
Strangely enough there are numerous enemies to 
be found in conaection with Para Rubber, botho^ 
the seed and young plants, and the destruction 
by porcupine, cattle, &c., in some cases is past 
belief. No doubt in the case of an appreciable 
clearing it would pay to fesce properly and to 
set systeinatio traps for porcupine and wild pig ; 
but all this is only au old story in the Ceylon 
planter's experience of new products. In the 
Kelani V'alley, cattle trespass is found to be a 
great drawback to ttubber cultivation. We are 
glad to learn that an ex[)eriniental clearing 
in the far ilistant Moneragalla division of Uva, is 
doing well. So far, of course, the older trees 
on private estates as in the Botanical Gardens, 
are more profitable as seeil-bearers than as Rubber- 
yielders, and this for some tinieto come will prevent 
anything like an appreciable export of Rubber. 
As to the area cultivated so far, we are not yet 
iu a position to say from our estate returns, 
and indeed the best reckoning must be from the 
quantity of seed sold. Mr. Willis's reckoning is 
750 acres and jn'obably our Directory, which gave 
634 acres in last edition, will shew the equiva- 
lent of about 1,'JOO acres of Para Rubber plantetl 
out altogether at this time in the island. 
BANANA DRYING APPARATUS. 
In transmitting a summary of the exports from 
Bluefielda, Nicragua, Consular Agent M. J. Clancy 
reports a shipment of evaporated bananas to the United 
States, and says: — "The men engaged in the experiment 
here hav« no practical knowledge of the business of 
drying the fruit. If firms in the United States 
engaged in the manufacture of machinery and 
appliances adapted to the evaporation of fruits 
would experimsut until they perfected machinery to 
evaporate bananas, hundreds of such machines would 
be immediately sold, and the demand would increase. 
At present there are milUons of bananas yearly 
thrown into the river or allowe i to rot on the ground, 
because they are too small or too ripe for shipment." 
I may say, in addition that if the demand for evapo- 
rate bananas should become general, the industry 
would embrace every banana district of Central 
and South America, Jamaica, Cuba, the West Indies, 
Haiti, and other tropical and semi-tropical 
belts, and the sale of the machinery therefore would 
be enormous. — United States Consul- General at San 
Javn del Norte. 
THE COFFEE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 
We have received a copy of the new (4th) 
edition of Coffee Planters' Manual, by J. Fer- 
guson [Ceylon Cbserver and Tropical Agriculturist.) 
Xlie book is well-known to coffee planters and 
in its 390 pp. will be found references to every im- 
aginable subject connected with coffee— except 
how to raise the price. There are notes on Li- 
berian Coffee in the Malay Peninsula, and in 
Serdang, from a well-known ex-Ceylon man. Alto- 
gether the book is quite a vadc mecum for the 
coffee planter.— 5. F. Press. 
Rhea Fibre and the Price for "Rideons" 
IN Ceylon.— We fear there are not sufficient 
data available as yet to show at what price 
'"ribbons" off Ramie stems, can be profitably 
supplied at, or shipped from Colombo. Mr. 
Manley-Power has an appreciable acreage under 
this new product ; but he has only now begun 
to harvest his crops systematically and keep a 
careful record of the results. In six months he 
should be able to say at what price per ton it 
would pay to supply *' ribbons," 
