824 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June 1, 1904. 
CEYLON PARA KUBBER. 
OPINIONS OF BRITISH MANUFACTURERS. 
Mr. Heury C. Pearson, the wide-awake editor 
ot the " India Kubber World," who recently 
visited Ceylon and an interview with whom we 
published, is writing an account of rubber plane- 
ing in Ceylon and the Malay States as seen by 
him, in his journal, the first letter appearing in 
the April number just to hand. Mr. Pearson gives 
an interesting account of his voyage out and his 
experiences in Ceylon, witii 8 Ceylon views from 
photographs taken here. While in England Mr. 
Pearson obtained the views of several rubber 
manufacturers on Ceylon rubber and these are of 
sufficient interest and value to be reproduced. 
CEYLON PARA " PERFECTLY SATISFACTORY. 
My stop in England was only long enough to allow 
me to see a few o£ the leadiog rubber manufacturers, 
and get their ideas as to the value of the new Para 
rubber that Ceylon planters are sending to that market. 
One who has probably used as much of this rubber, 
or more than any other, summarised his experience as 
follows ; — •' It shrinks on an average about 1.4 per cent. 
I me it snccessfully in all grades of fine work, includiDg 
cut sheet, but do not like it for cements. It stands all 
tests after vulcanisatiou — compression, stretch and 
return, oils, etc, just as well as fine Pa' a and is per- 
fectly satisfactory." 
Another detailed the results of his own experiments 
thus : " This is a general summing up of the practical 
results, obtained from approximately 2 tons from about 
20 difierent plantations, 
THE IRREGULARITY IN QUALITY 
is very great, varying from tough elastic gum, 
apparently equal to Manaos Para, to soft sticky short 
rubber, with little more elasticity than recovered 
rubber. This irregularity I find in all the forms of 
pancakes, whether thick or thin, translucent or opaque, 
except so far those which have been smoked ; which, 
whether owing to the smoke or some other reason, have 
in the lots (from 3 separate plantations) which I have- 
tested, proved even in quality throughout. I have been 
favoured by one plantation with unsmoked samples 
(separately treated and marked) from 18-ycar-old trees, 
and from young 5 year old trees. 
MIXED LATEX FROM OLD AND YOUNG TREES 
Each of these samples proved regular throughout, but 
the quality was very different, that from the old trees 
being tough and very elastic, while that from the 
young trees was soft and green. It appears to me, there- 
fore, probable that the irregularity I have noted in 
the quality of shipments may arise from the varying 
Bgea of the trees, and that until the trees have reached 
absolute maturity, the latex of one season's planting 
should not be mixed with that of younger or older 
trees, but that each year should stand on its own 
merits to attain regularity in quality. The smoked 
samples may have come from old trees only, and the 
smoke perhaps had nothing to do with the quality. 
WANT OF REGULARITY SPOILS CEYLON RUBBER, 
This want of regularity utterly shuts out Ceylon rub- 
ber from fine work, such as thread, cut sheet, 
bladders, etc., and as tbe strength of a chain is but 
that of its weakest lick, it cannot at present for 
general work be classed higher than the good mediums, 
For the special purpose of making cement, however, 
it has found a place for itself on account of 
ITS EXTREME CLEANLINESS 
and the very convenient form of the pancakes in which 
it is shipped, practically ready for the naphtha bath, 
I believe in a great future for rubber planting, pro- 
perly carried out. It might be done by the government 
forest department, and the trees rented when old 
enough." 
IMMATURE RUBBER, THE ONLY FAULT. 
Thus the only " out " about the rubber from the 
viewpoint of the user seemed to be the presence 
of immature, or partly cured gum, something to be 
expected wlien the fact is remembered that the planta- 
tions are young and the planters without long 
experience in gathering or preparing for market. The 
added fact that about 40,000 pounds are expected from 
the East this year, and that it readily brings the 
highest price in the market, led me to believe that I 
had before me a most interesting series of plantation 
visits once I should reach Ceylon and the Federated 
Malay States, 
TEA GROWING: WEEDS AND MANURES, 
MR, R. C. WRIGHT ON SOIL AVASH AND 
OVERPRUNING. 
Mr. R. C, Wright has been over high country 
and low country estates, from Kalutara to Monara- 
■gala, and his first remark is that we are letting 
our soil — such as ic is— wash down the hillsides. 
To his mind the diains do not stop all the wash. 
He would terrace the land, where not too steep, and 
keep every particle of soil round the roots of the 
tree. Crotalaria he vvauld grow in lines instead 
of sowing it broadcast so as to make the plants 
hold up the soil, and he is fully convinced that 
clean weeding is a huge mistake. " Cover the 
soil," he says, " from the burning rays of the sun 
and protect it from the beat of heavy rain. We in 
Ceylon prided ourselves on our clean estites and 
laughed at the coffee in Coorg and Mysore and South 
India, where weeds were allowed to grow, and were 
only cut down with a sickle. South India still 
exports 250, OCO cwts. of coffee, and ourindust;ry iu 
Ceylon has died out ! And so will the tea, if you 
don't take care to keep the soil you've got, instead 
of letting it he washed away. Why you're manuring 
tea six years old and on virgin soil — to build up 
your trees, you say. And then, when you've built 
them up, you proceed to prune them down to a 
few poor twigs. Anything more terrible than the 
pruning I have seen I don't want to see again. 
It's awful and can't go on for ever. And it bares 
the soil to the burning sun, especially in the low- 
country. That is not natural, and you will suffer 
for it." However Mr Wright iS full of enthusiasm 
for the fine fields ef tea he has seen in the Agras, 
in Bogawantalawa, and elsewhere, and wishes he 
had more shares in Ceylon Companies owning 
estates in Uva districts. " Then, again, are you 
certain you prune at the right time of year here he 
asks ? A friend of mine in Java pruned a field of 
20 acres right down just before a scorching drought 
of 115 days — not a cloudy drought bub when the 
sun was burning and the sky like brass all day 
long. The result was that that field stood the 
drought better than any other. It had no deaths. 
There was no shade amongst it, but, if I were 
still planting here, I would plant up the whole of 
my estate with shade, dadap for choice, and— where 
this would not grow — with albizzias. The difference 
in tea, where these shade trees are grown, is 
enormous. It's better for the tea than any manure." 
♦ 
Sheep Manuke for Cacao, — Mr, William M. Smith, 
Acting Agricultural Instructor at Grenada, writes 
to the Agricultural Neios that sheep manure is being 
used in large quantities for cacao this year. It is 
brought in schooners from Venezuela, Bonaire 
and St. Martins. Artificial manures are also being 
applied. It ia gratify ing to observe that the value 
of high-class culture is being recognised by large 
and small cacao cultivators in Grenada. 
