Sept. 1, 1903.] THE TROPICAL AGIilCULTUELST. 
171 
does ; and cei bainly no one in the Association 
would desire tliat anyone sliould supply his plaQO. 
(Applause.) 
The proposition was agreed to, 
Mr. W Martin Leake :— 1 am very much obliged 
to you, gentlemen, for electing me ouce more. lb 
comes to me with added pleasure this year in being 
proposed by mj' very old Iriend Sir Kichard Cayley. 
We rowed together — I rowed and he steered — in 
our college boat over fifty years ago. One interest- 
ing point raised by Mr, Shand was the origin of 
this Association. He says Mr. Rutherford started 
it, and that Mr J Sinclair also started it. Where 
do I come in? (Laughter; and Mr Shand: "I 
started it too.") The fact of the matter is that 
over twenty years before this Association was 
started I was trying to start an Association of 
this kind, I wrote home to Mr Rawdon Power, 
once Government Agent in Kandy, and said we 
would make him Agent in London for the Plan- 
ters' Association, and he was to get up a com- 
mittee ; he replied that he would do it if we 
would pay his cab fares. (Laughter.) We cou'd 
not manage to do that, so it fell through. (Laugh- 
ter). 
The Chairman proposed the re eleclion of 
the Executive Committee, This was agreed 
to, and on the proposition of Mr J Hamil- 
ton, Mr R A Bosanquet was added to the 
committee. Excepting Mr W H Andei&on, Mr J 
Hamilton, Mr W EoUo, and Mr P G Spence, 
vvho are no longer able to attend the meetings, the 
Tea and Produce Committee was also elected. 
Ou the proposition of Mr R A Cameron, the 
Chairman was thanked for presiding and the meet- 
ing then closed.— fl. and C. Mail, June 19. 
. 
PARA RUBBER PRODUCTION. 
MILLIONS OF ACRES SUITED FOR RUB- 
BER IN STRAITS AND BURMAH. 
TKEES YIELDING IN SIX YEARS. 
The following jottings on Para rubber are 
e:;tracted from a letter written to the Hon. F R S 
Baxendale, of this colony, by his brother. Mr Cyril 
E S Baxendale, a resident of the Malay Archi- 
pelago ;— 
" My Dear Frank,— I have read the article, 
written by Mr Holmes, in the Fiji Times, of 
December 17th, on rubber and copra. I have 
planted about 20,000 rubber trees of various kinds, 
principally Para (Hevea Braziliensis) in the Fede- 
rated Malay States, and also cultivate coconuls. 
Last July, ^vhile staying in Perah, I tapped two 
Para trees in my host's garden. I was there for 
seventeen days, and nearly every morning, before 
breakfast, renewed ihe incisions. After my de- 
parture he continued tapping in a desultory way 
for a further month or six weeks, and sent nie the 
results. Between us we had collected just thirty 
pounds of rubber from the two trees. This I sold 
to a manufacturer in Liverpool, and I had the 
pleasure, a few weeks ago of sending niy late host 
a cheque for $45, the equivalent of nearly £4. 
The manufacturer explained that if I had de- 
ferred sending the rubber for a few weeks the price 
would have been 6tl per lb higher. Both of these 
trees are over twenty years old." My oldest 
trees at Jugra are four and a half years, from 
seed, and there is very little latex iu them 
yet. At this age with us a healthy Parx 
is fiom tliiry five feet to forty feet high, 
and measures at a yard from tiie ground 
anytliing from 33in. in girth. Tiie growili i-j so 
ra()id above the ground that the rootb are liable 
to be broken or torn out in any ordinaiy eqnall. 
We never experience anytliing in the nature of a 
hurricane, but our Para fields are strewn with 
branches and prostrate trees after every .•itorni. 
Young stock is cheap with us now, and som'jLimes 
we plant as close as 10 x 10 (435 trees to the acre), 
and keep on supplying tlie losses every few 
months. I presume you must have sheltered l.md 
in Fiji, or Mr Holmes possibly has not taken the 
wind into consideration. Wind-belts a.e not much 
use, owing to the rapid grov/th of the trees. We 
had considerable difficulty in getting seed at first. 
J had very poor resullis from Ceylon and IJurniah 
seed as both places are rather too far, even if the 
seed is packed in Wardian cases. We got our 
original ctock from Kew Gardens. Th"y sent Mr 
Wickham to Sout h America to collect seed. Only 
3 percent germinated at Kew and these were 
brought out to Ceylon and the Straits, It was 
two of these which I tapped in Perah, I believe. 
Between Singapore and Burinah there are niil ions 
of acres suitable for rubber planting; and with 
labour at 7il. per day there is likely to Ije con- 
siderable development in tl-.is line. Under present 
conditions we expect returns from ouv rubier at 
six years old. la his figures concerning copra Mr 
Folmes has piit the value of our dollar too high. 
The price paid in Singapore is rarely more than 
the eqaivalent of iSs per picul, which is 13310. 
^ — 
TOBACCO CULTIVATION IN JAFFNA. 
Tobacco cultivation is extending in the Northern 
Pi evince ; but the general complaint of the 
tobacco traders is that the leaf produced is getting 
to be more and more deteriorated in quality) This 
is due to the want of that high cultivation and 
high manuring which are necessary for the produc- 
tion of a gocd article possessing the desired sti ength 
and flavour. The labour and manure bestowed 
formerly on one acre is now spread over two or 
three, he!;ce the great inferiority ^complained of. 
Cultivators, however, who look more to the quality 
than to the quantity of their crop find to their 
advantage thac it raises competition amotig pur- 
chasers.— Jaffna "Catholic Guardian," July 4. 
TOBACCO CULTURE AT HOME. 
We have alluded to the attempt at tobacco 
culture in Ireland, which Mr. R2duiond wishes to 
convert into a permanent and profitable industry. 
Experiments have been made even nearer Ijondou, 
for a few years ago the late Mr. Faunce de L;inue. 
of Sharsted Court, near Sittingbourne, was 
permitted, under the close supervision of revenue 
ofliceis, to plant tobacco and cure the leaf with 
an eye on the market. The attempt was not very 
successful, though more than one man of Kent 
boldly smoked a pipe of Kentish toba:co. Bub 
now that Dr Suchsland has discovered the 
flavour of the finest leaf to depend on the microbe, 
we need but import a few Cuban bacilli and 
leave the Customs officers to appraise their value. 
—Daily Chronicle, 
