874 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 1 Noy., 1897, 
? 
The Rubber Industry. 
In this issue of the Journal, Mr. E. Cowley concludes his interesting articles 
on India-rubber. We have given considerable space to this subject, as it ig 
attracting great attention in many parts of the world in consequence of the 
enormous demand for the article in various industrial processes. Companies 
have been floated with large capital to produce India-rubber in quantities in 
Mexico, Central and South America, West Africa, &c., and lately we hear that 
rubber-trees (it is not stated of what description) have been found in the 
Solomon Islands. A gentleman arrived last month in Brisbane who wag 
prepared to invest £10,000 in forming a plantation, if he was sure of being 
able to obtain the necessary constant supply of labour. In view of these facts, 
it seemed to us that too much light could not be thrown on the subject, and we 
append to Mr. Cowley’s article an adverse view of the prospects of rubber- 
growing by Dr. D. Morris, C.M.G., Assistant Director of the Royal Gardens, 
Kew. 
INDIA-RUBBER (CAOUTCHOUC). 
By E. COWLEY, 
Manager, Kamerunga State Nursery, Cairns. 
(Conelusion.) 
Mr. Watprcrave J. Tuompson, in a letter to the Cairns Argus, 17th 
August, says, in reference to the rubber-trees planted at Mourilyan Harbour 
by himself :—‘‘ Itis now, as near as I can remember, some twelve years ago that 
LT imported a few pounds of Ceara rubber from Ceylon, and planted up about 
five acres on the north side of the house. The trees grew and throve rapidly, 
showing that both the soil and climate were suitable. . . . . When I last 
saw the trees they were about 25 feet high, and, as near as I can remember, 
about five years of age.’’* 
Perhaps it would be advisable to remark, for the use of would-be planters, 
that 1 Ib. of Manihot Glaziovii seed contains 832 seeds. Planted ata distance 
of 12 feet apart, iv would require, to plant an acre, 302 plants, so that 1 1b. of 
seed would give an abundance of plants for two acres, and allow a good margin 
for faulty germination. 
Up to the present, no further information regarding the rubber trees and 
industry of British New Guinea has been obtainable; but should this come to 
hand, it will be published later. The Colonial Botanist’s description of Ficus 
rigo (Rubber-bearing Fig of the Rigo district, New Guinea—Eb.) appeared in 
the September number of this Journal. In further reference to Ficus elastica, 
it may be interesting to your readers to quote from the Kew Bulletin of 
September and October, 1896, for which I am indebted to Mr. J. Medley 
Wood, A.L.S., Curator of Natal Botanic Gardens, who quotes the article in 
the Natal Farmer's Magazine :— 
The Assam Rubber plant (Ficus elastica, Roxb.), is a large evergreen 
tree, found in damp forests, from the base of the Sikkim Himalaya eastward 
* The latest report on the Mourilyan Plantation, the correctness of which has been verified 
on personal inspection by Mr. P. McLean, Under Secretary for Agriculture, shows the estate to 
. be in a deplorable condition. Most of the plantation has reverted to its original virgin state, 
indeed much of the cleared land appears as if it had never been under cultivation, except for 
occasional contact with dead or dying rubber-trees which have struggled in vain to outgrow the 
indigenous flora. On the cleared parts of the estate no more than half-a-dozen trees are in good 
condition—that is, of those originally planted by the proprietors. But hundreds of healthy- 
looking young rubber-trees are growing indiscriminately in close proximity to the older trees, 
These have evidently been self-sown. As to the cordition of the trees for giving a supply of 
cuttings, from 2,500 to 3,000 good healthy cuttings can be obtained from the latter, whilst the 
older trees would give a fair amount of cuttings without doing them any injury. The cause of 
the abandonment of the plantation was destruction by a cyclone. ‘The trees were planted in a 
most exposed situation on a rocky hillside—Ed. Q,A.J. 
