396 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Dec. 1, 1905. 
that some notes on the state of the industry in 
the States will prove useful to our readers, Mr 
M S Parry, the Hon. Secretary of the Federated 
Stales U P A, and Mr H Tunniclifl'e, a well- 
known planter in the Negri Sembilan who has given 
much attention to rubber cultivation there, we 
interviewed recently in Colombo, and some 
interesting information was eticitfd. 
THE AREA UNDER RUBBER. 
The area iu the States under P.nru rubber was 
16,000 acres on the 1st April 1903 ; part of this 
acreage was planted entirely with rubber, but 
part is mixed plantations ; among coffee chiefly. 
When returns were made last April it was 
thought unadvisable to publish the number of 
trees in cultivation as these in some cases were 
inaccurately returned, so the acreage only 
was published ; next April Mr W W Bailey, 
who is now Chairman of the F. M, States 
■p A, hopes that the full returns of acre- 
age, number of trees, ages etc., will be cor- 
rectly returi ed and be available for publication. 
The average age of trees now is from 3 to 4 years, 
though there are plantations up to six and seven 
years old, and a large number of younger trees, 
as planting is still going on vigorously. 
The price of land in the Federated States has 
recently gone up 100 per cent ; and the price now 
is from 50 cents to 1 dollar per acre, with a 
premium of 1 dollar to 1 '50, though this rise was 
in opposition to the recommendation of the U P A. 
Government's opinion was that it should obtain a 
share of the planter's future profits. 
THE KLANG AND UPCOUNTRY LAND. 
The varieties cultivated ate Para and Rambong; 
this latter kind, the Ficus Elastica, does well in 
the Negri Sembilan, and in the Klang land is far 
preferable to Para. The Klang is the heavy, un- 
drained, deep soil by the coast and is excellent 
for coffee, but not so suitable for rubber as the 
upcountry districts, as the roots cannot get suffi- 
cient grip in the soft soil and the sea winds fre- 
quently blow down the trees'; also white ants are 
"very troublesome there. In connection with this 
Mr. Parry thinks the Ceylon planters and others 
who icvested in Mr. Wickvvar's upcountry estate 
are to be congratulated, this land being far pre- 
ferable to the Klang, Certain upcountry planters, 
Mr. Tunnicliffe informed us, having been asked 
to float their estates as companies gave the 
rejoinder that when they had got a good 
thing why should they give it away by floatirg. 
; The planters there evidently have faith in I lie 
future of the Malay States rubber industry ; and, 
indeed, the fact that Ceylon men will invest in 
the rival country speaks volumes. 
PLANTING AND TAPPING. 
As yet rubber planting in the Malay States 
is only in its infancy, in the experiment 
stage ; and what is being done in the way of 
tapping is quite experimental. All the 
planters there are pleased to know that Ceylon 
men acknowledge that their rubber is 2 years 
ahead of Ceylon trees in both girth and growth ; 
this is in a great measure due to the better 
soil conditions there. There is great diversity of 
opinion among planters as to the best distance 
apart for planting, and the imnimum distance 
advocated by the States planters is 20x20 ft. 
On some estates planting at a smaller distance is 
done, but this is to the after-detriment of the 
trees, or necessitates " cutting out." The great 
objectioH to catting out is the resulting dead 
wood that is left, and this is an attraction to 
white ants. This is the only pest of any sort 
that the Malay planters have ; elephants in 
some parts do great damage, and cattle are 
very partial to Ficus leaves ; ol canker thtte 
is none. Tapping is so far not carried out 
except as quite an experiment. Mr, TunnicliflFe 
has tapped six year old trees and got a splendid 
yield of latex and good dry rubber, and main- 
tains that it is not to the detriment of those 
particular trees, (that is Ficus), but, of course, 
this remains to be seen. Opinions on the age 
of tapping differ greatly, and not only age, but 
girth and growth of the tree must be taken 
into consideration. His opinion is that too early 
tapping, as carried out in places in Ceylon, is 
not advisable ; the older the tree ami the 
stronger it is, the more latex it yields, and also 
the higher is the percentage of rubber in the latex. 
Mr. Tunnicliffe was the first States planter to 
send home a sample of Rambong biscuit rubber, 
which was of very fine quality, but he 
had not yet heard the value of it priced by the 
London buyers. 
ANALYSIS OF THE LATEX. 
Considerable stress is to be laid on the impor- 
tance of the composition of the latex, and this is 
a matter which should be taken up thoroughly 
by Ceylon nieti. It is of importance, said Mr. 
Parry, to clean the rubbei tfliciently, not merely 
from dirt, etc, but chemically clean, free from 
albumen, and the cleaning of albumen from the 
rubber makes a great difference in its marketable 
value. The less albumen iu the rubber the 
smaller are the chances of mildew forming. Mr 
Bargess, the Government analyst at Singapore, 
also regards the analysis of the latex of first 
importance ; he is of opinion thai people at home 
in buying shares will be largely influenced by 
analysis shown of the estate's rubber. ^ 
THE LABOUR QUKSTION. 
The question ot labour will be the difficulty in 
the Malay States, though at present it is felt only 
in parts ; in Selaugor the planters are well off 
for labourers. If, .said Mr. Tunnicliffe, you have 
a good healthy estate, near the railway and 
town, and good kanganis, you will get labour ; 
otherwise it will be very difiicult. Government 
is making efforts to import labour, Tamils and 
Javanese, The latter, Mr Parry does not think 
will be successful, and the Dutch are likely to 
put obstacles in the way which will prohibit 
many Javanese from going over to the Malay 
States. Chinese labour-^rs are fairly satisfactory oil 
weeding contracts, etc, but not on day wages. 
Tamils are not good as i ubber-tappers, but the 
Bandjanese from North Java are good at this work. 
For recruits the average cost is about 14"50 to 
15 dollars per head with a good Kangani ; but in 
Negri Sembilan the cost is much higher, and Go- 
vernment pays a-5 high as 48 dollars. The high 
wages paid by Goveinment, and the making of the 
new railways are taking away the planters, 
labourers. A great deal of crimping by sub- 
contractors and small contradors for the railways 
and the Government works is going on. Govern- 
ment is trying to stop the crimping, for the small 
contractor does no .recruiting work butsimply crimps 
labouiers from estates. Planters who have lost 
labourers may go down the railways, where the 
laying of the lines is in process and point out to the 
officials the various labourers from their own 
estates, these ate immediately returned to the 
estates and not taken on under Government 
again ; but few planters care to go to the trouble 
