573 
[by The Total Acreage, compared with the Planted 
Acreage, will show the extent of the company’s reserve 
land. 
(c) The Details of the Cultivated Estate have been 
shown in acres. The rubber acre is a more satisfactory 
unit of value than the individual rubber-tree ; and the 
more modern view appears to be that, within reasonable 
limits, a closely-planted acre of rubber is worth.no more 
than, if as much as, a widely-planted acre. 
Every care has been taken to show as accurately as possible the 
number of acres planted in each year, but, as the reports of some 
companies still quote the number of trees instead of the number of 
acres, some estimating has been unavoidable. The planting distance 
has been taken into consideration, and inquiries of the companies’ 
officials have sometimes elicited the desired information. As the 
particulars thus obtained have been adjusted to agree with the 
published acreage totals, it is believed that any discrepancy which 
may exist will not be of sufficient importance to vitiate the general 
accurancy of the calculations. 
The average age of the rubber has been calculated to the middle 
of the present year, and the average cost per acre of rubber has been 
ascertained by taking the cost of the estate and development expendi- 
ture as shown in the company’s balance-sheet, after making a 
moderate deduction for the unplanted land — usually £3 per acre. 
The result is shown under two headings 
(1) The cost as ascertained from the item in th§ company’s 
balance-sheet, less the estimated value of the unplanted 
land. 
(2) The cost after further deducting the reserve funds and any 
other undivided profits which the company could (if 
the directors so desired) apply in reduction of the book 
cost of the estate. 
Where the profits in hand are considerable the difference is 
important. 
The price per acre the investor is paying for rubber is the 
essential feature of the table. The balance-sheet of each company 
has been dissected, and the results shown in the table have been 
arrived at by calculating the price at which the company would have 
to sell its estate if it desired to realise all its assets, discharge all its 
liabilites and return to its shareholders (as on a winding-up) a sum 
equal to the present market value of the shares. 
