i7i 
same way that they find out which grades of tea pay them best, will 
ship the class of rubber which pays them best also. LEWIS and 
PEAT certainly will not get trade by running plantation Para down. 
Nine-pence a pound over fine Para, I think, answers their letter. 
Besides, 1 could quote you cases where big manufacturers of the 
finest special articles would use biscuits and none other if they 
could get enough. At present they do not like to so greatly im- 
prove their goods at certain times, by the use of nothing but the 
purest plantation rubber, because they fear that the return of their 
goods to the usual sort of thing would be “ spotted/’ and would 
afford much greater dissatisfaction than keeping closely to the 
original output, until the real thing can be produced in sustained 
qualities.” 
Rubber at High Elevation 
Resuming the conversation about which were the best districts 
for rubber, Mr. Hoffman said, t( f have come to the conclusion 
that what rubber wants is heat, and that, if you can get adequate 
heat at a high elevation, I see no reason why rubber should not 
do well there. 
u The temperature at which rubber seems to tlirlva hest is an 
average yearly temperature of 80 per cent. Below that it will 
grow slower. ' At a higher temperature it might possibly do well 
provided a good average rainfall takes place, as evaporation must 
be excessive. But there is plenty of land at a low elevation. What 
do you want to go to a high elevation for ? " 
Don’t Buy Worn-Out Tea lands. 
To intending purchasers Mr. HOFFMAN advised : “ Don’t buy 
worn-out tea lands. Don't gamble in shares. Buy virgin land and 
plant it and wait your turn patiently.” 
He, himself, he said, had been offered acres of worn-out tea land, 
which he had refused to purchase. All his interests were jungle 
land. Speaking of the 
Prospects of the Rubber Industry, 
Mr. Hoffman said : “ I am afraid that with all the planting that 
is going on in this part of the world the most important thing to be 
considered is labour, and if labour is going to cost 50 per cent, more 
in other countries than Ceylon this will take off value of quite £40 
to £50 an acre for estates in bearing. The experiments now going 
on at Heneratgoda, so very ably conducted by Mr. WriGHT, will 
teach the planter eventually how to get the best value out of his 
trees. Yields for the old trees there are so astounding that figures 
would only be misleading. Mr. Wright’s “latest” is collecting 
troughs carried from tree to tree, which, if not practical, is, at any 
rate, amusing.” 
Rubber Factories. 
« I don’t think there will ever be rubber factories here. I don’t 
see why they should be installed here. I do not see the necessity of 
it any more than I can see the necessity of making chocolate here 
or sweets in Mauritius, 
