favourably with that of English hay. On Richmond river, N. S. W. 
Government Farm it gave in one year in three cuttings — 28 to 31 
tons of fodder per acre. The amount of pasture land in the Malay 
Peninsula is small and cattle-farming is in a very rudimentary state. 
The poverty of the milk supply especially near our big towns is strik- 
ing, and the difficulty and expense of procuring milk is perhaps 
one of the causes of the great infant mortality of the towrns. The 
Kling cattle which supply the milk of the poorer classes, are mostly 
fed on roadside weeds and rubbish, which cannot be expected to 
produce good or abundant milk. The chief horse fodder is derived 
from the grasses Isachnc australis and Leersia Oryzoides, slender 
narrow leaved water grasses, but the supply of these is limited. In 
Pernambuco, Brazil every garden has its grass patch for the horse 
fodder from which a cooly cuts a sufficient supply each day. The 
grass I saw there was Panicum numidianum, a good fodder grass 
which has long been introduced here and occurs as a weed all over 
Singapore. Guinea grass (P. maximum ) has also been often grown 
for horsefood, but it has rather gone out of favour in consequence 
of its having when given in quantity occasionally caused the death 
of the horses, apparently from colic. No such accident has been 
charged against the Paspalum and it might be well worth the at- 
tention of planters and others interested in cattle to plant this grass 
with a view of improving their own and also the local breeds of cattle. 
H. N. R. 
THE GROWTH OF THE RUBBER TRADE. 
Sir, — In your article on “ Growth of the Rubber Trade ” pub- 
lished in the Financial and Commercial Supplement of the Times 
of February 26, you state that the estimated production of rubber 
in the year 1905 amounted to 65,000 tons, of which Brazil pro- 
duced 34,000 tons, or rather more than half of the total production. 
You also state that the area of rubber plantations to date is esti- 
mated at about 150,000 acres, an area which is rapidly increasing. 
On the strength of these data you express the opinion that the 
activity in planting in various parts of the earth makes the outlook 
less promising for the shareholders in new rubber growing com- 
panies, as the supply will over-reach the demand. 
I have had to do with the supply of rubber in my official capa- 
city in India, and I have watched the development of the industry 
for many years. My experience has taught me two things — (1) 
that the natural sources are rapidly diminishing, and (2) that sup- 
plant the natural sources we require not less than 800,000 acres of 
plantations. As regards the first point I can, unfortunately, not 
bring direct evidence referring to Brazil, but the following data 
regarding British Colonies may prove interesting to your readers : — 
Production of rubber in 1896 — 12,457,187 lbs. 
Do. 1904 — 5>°55>4^° >> 
This represents a falling off amounting to 60 per cent. 
