The Malacca Planters' Association is not affiliated with any of the preceding associations. Its offices are at Malacca, in the Straits Settlements. The Incorporated Society of Planters, founded "to secure and promote the personal and professional interests of all planters in Malaya," is not affiliated with the above organizations. The Klang Chinese Rubber Dealers and Growers' Association, of Klang, Selangor, Federated Malay States, is not affiliated with the preceding organizations. PURPOSES OF JAVA AND SUMATRA SOCIETIES There is little or no research work carried on by the Malay Peninsula planters' societies, their object being to protect their economic interests rather than to develop the scientific phases of the industry. The following societies in the Netherlands East Indies have been formed for the purposes indicated: Nederlandsch Indische Vereeniging voor den Rubberhandel, Batavia, Java.Directors of Het Rubber Veem; packers and forwarders of rubber for members. Centraal Rubberstation, Buitenzorg, Java.-Scientific research and analysis of product of estates. Proefstation, Malang, Java.-Scientific research, especially with respect to cultivation and to prevention and cure of diseases. Rubber Plantersvereeniging, Bandoeng, Java.—An association of rubber planters for protection of mutual interests. Rubber proef station West Java, Batavia, Java.—Scientific research. Algemeene Vereeniging van Rubberplanters ter Oostkust van Sumatra (A. V. R. O. S.), Medan, Sumatra.—An association of planters on the Sumatra East Coast for protection of mutual interests and to carry on research work through its subsidiary, called Algemeen Proefstation der A. V. R. O. S. IV. GENERAL PROBLEMS CONFRONTING THE INDUSTRY INTRODUCTION OF HEVEA BRASILIENSIS INTO THE EAST In the Journal of the Society of Arts, London, for December 17, 1869, appears a paper by James Collins, curator of the museum of the Pharmaceutical Society, describing the various types of rubber from all parts of the world and the conditions under which they were grown and harvested. At the end of his paper, he remarks: "On new sources of supply, I can not help looking with considerable interest on the vast resources of Africa and the Malayan Archipelago. The early history of the introduction of Hevea brasiliensis into the East is not absolutely clear. It seems evident, however, that about 1870 this idea was being entertained by Sir Clements Markham, of the India Office, Sir Joseph Hooker, the then director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, England, and Sir Dietrich Brandis, head of the India Forest Department. Hooker's interest was probably stimulated further by some notes of a journey through South American rubber districts published in 1871 by Sir Henry Wickham. ARRIVAL OF FIRST SEEDS The first Hevea seeds received at Kew Gardens arrived in 1873. James Collins had asked Mr. Farris, of Cameta, to collect seeds. On May 31, 1873, Collins wrote Hooker of the arrival of Farris with a shipment. He also apparently advised the India Office, for on June 2 Markham wrote Hooker that the India Office had commissioned Collins to purchase the seeds on their behalf. Several hundred seeds were received at Kew, but only about a dozen germinated. Six were sent to Calcutta on September 22, 1873 (these were unsuccessful) and propagation by cuttings taken from the remainder was started at Kew. It is not believed that any more of this lot were sent East, chiefly because of the arrival in 1876 of Wickham's good seeds. On July 7, 1875, Kew Gardens received a few seeds from Wickham and a few more on August 17; but there is no record of any of these seeds germinating. On July 16 of the same year Kew received some seeds from the India Office, none of which germinated. It is not known who collected these seeds. EARLY WORK OF SIR HENRY WICKHAM Wickham had been a forestry officer in British Honduras. Becoming greatly interested in rubber, he started a plantation at Santarem, at the mouth of the Tapajos River in Brazil. While there he was commissioned by the India Office to collect seeds at £10 per 1,000. Early in 1876 a new steamer of the Inman Line, the Amazonas, was abandoned in the Amazon River by its supercargoes, leaving the captain without instructions or return cargo to England. Wickham promptly chartered the steamer on behalf of the India Office and set off up the Tapajos River to organize an expedition for collecting seeds. This was in March. He managed to secure 70,000 seeds which he claims came from the black variety-selected from some 17 varieties of Hevea located on the plateau between the Tapajos and Madeira Rivers ("the Ciringals of the Rio Tapajos"), at 3° south latitude. (Doctor Huber, the Brazilian rubber authority, said, after his visit to the East in 1912: "As I was able to convince myself, during my excursions in Ceylon, Malaya, Sumatra, and Java, the cultivated trees in the Asiatic plantations belong incontestably to the species Hevea brasiliensis, which is recognized as furnishing the best quality of rubber." In October, 1923, Sir Henry Wickham verified the fact that these seeds came from the uplands and not from the river banks.) He packed them very carefully, as, owing to their heavy oil content, they would soon have become rancid and decayed. The seeds arrived at Kew on June 14, 1876, and about 2,700 germinated. Wickham reports a germination of 7,000, but he is evidently in error. At Sir Joseph Hooker's suggestion, it had previously been arranged between the India and Colonial Offices that because of the lack of suitable botanical gardens in India the seedlings be sent to Ceylon to be cultivated and propagated for distribution to Burma and other hot and moist districts of the Indian Empire. Accordingly, on August 12, 1876, 38 cases containing 1,919 seedlings were sent from Kew to Ceylon in charge of a gardener (W. Chapman) and were received in very good order. They were planted out at Feneratgoda, and later the seeds were distributed to planters throughout the East. SEEDLINGS COLLECTED BY R. CROSS Meanwhile, in March, 1876, the India Office decided to send R. Cross to collect Hevea seeds. His trip occupied from July to October, 1876. He arrived in Liverpool on November 20 or 21, 1876, with 1,080 Hevea plants, which he reported in good condition. He delivered these to Kew on November 23. Kew retained 400 and gave 680 to William Bull. Of the former only 3 per cent survived; of the latter, only 14 plants. The director of Kew in 1914 said that he could find no record of any Cross seedlings ever having been sent to Asia, but an account in Kew Bulletin, Additional Series VII, says that 100 plants propagated at Kew from these seedlings were sent later on to Ceylon. Wickham says that Cross collected Castilloa, but this was in 1875, the year previously. SUMMARY OF DISTRIBUTION For the purposes of clarity, the distribution of seeds and plants is given in the accompanying table; after 1876 the account is prob • The investigations of the Rubber Commission sent to South America by the Department of Commerce bear out in every particular Wickham's statements, as given in his book "On the Plantation, C Cultivation, and Curing of Para Indian Rubber," pages 45-59, regarding the location from which his seeds were obtained. This locality is on the high plateau lying to the west of the present towns of Boim and Pinhel. The plateau, or as he calls it the "Monte Alto" (highland as distinguished from lowlands adjacent to the river, subject to inundation), extends over a large area in the general direction of the Madeira River. The trees standing on the plateau near Boim and Pinhel at the present time are the true Hevea brasiliensis of the best varieties. This subject will be discussed fully in the reports of the commission. ably incomplete, but it is complete and accurate so far as the original introduction of Hevea is concerned: TABLE 52.-DISTRIBUTION OF RUBBER SEEDS AND PLANTS 1 Kew Bulletin. .do 680 given to Wm. Bull, 14 sur- 50 plants to India and Burma; KB4-1914.1 Do. Do. Do. KBAS-VII,2 KB41914, RGA Bul.May, 1921.3 Dir. of Kew Gardens. Dir. of Kew Gardens. 2 Kew Bulletin Additional Series. 3 Rubber Growers' Association Bulletin. In 1877 Ceylon sent 22 trees to Singapore. These bore seeds in 1881, which were distributed throughout Malaya and Borneo. Two years later 28 plants were sent from Ceylon to India and also some to Burma. The latter gave very satisfactory results and became the basis of the Burma industry. In 1893 some 90,000 Ceylon seeds were distributed to planters in Ceylon. CONDITIONS SUITABLE FOR HEVEA CULTIVATION It has generally been held that the area best adapted to rubber growing is confined to a belt extending approximately 10° on either side of the Equator, where temperature and rainfall conditions are suitable and where destructive winds are practically unknown. Rubber requires a warm, moist climate, with deep soil of good physical texture. A rainfall of 70 inches is ample, provided it is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, and provided the soil is of such a character as to retain moisture during the dry season. Parts of Ceylon, India, and Burma have as high as 150 to 200 inches of rainfall every year; but this leads to prevalence of bark and leaf diseases during the wet season, which reacts unfavorably on yield; and the heavy rains also make prevention of soil wash more difficult. On the other hand, Indo-China has a rainfall averaging in some districts rather less than 70 inches, with a long dry period; yet the soil is of such depth and texture that high yields are obtained in spite of the dry season. No practical method has been found to offset the serious drawback of morning rains, which curtail yield, and until this obstacle can be overcome regions having frequent early morning rains should be avoided. Provided soil and rainfall conditions are right, rubber grows well up to about 1.600 feet, though there are good estates at higher altitudes. At higher elevations and on sites exposed to winds growth may be retarded from one to five years. (The rubber tree is very brittle, and districts visited by winds of evelonie force are to be avoided.) Gently undulating land is generally preferred for rubber. SOIL REQUIREMENTS The quality of vegetation found on the land is regarded as one of the best tests of a soil. No reliable conclusions as to its suitability for rubber can be drawn from a chemical analysis only. The qualities which rubber seems to require in a soil are largely dependent on its mechanical composition-a high water-holding capacity, an easy percolation, and a high capillary rise of moisture. Soil which has lost its top surface through wash during previous cultivations, heavy clay and peat soils which can not be drained except at great cost, and sandy soils which do not retain moisture should be avoided. Rubber on certain types of flatland soils with poor drainage shows rapid growth in the early years, but soon reaches a low maximum and may even decrease in yield thereafter. Root diseases appear to thrive better in certain soils than in others, due apparently to the soil's physical texture. Thus, in the porous red soils of Sumatra it is exceedingly difficult to eradicate root diseases in the early years, while in various types of clay and peat soils in this country root diseases are said by some to be practically nonexistent. But Petch remarks that in Malaya Fomes lignosus "is said to be worst on clayey soils or on peaty land." difference in soil is of very great importance in considering new planting, and careful investigation should be made beforehand by experts. (See "Clean clearing," p. 104.) SELECTION OF HIGH YIELDERS The importance of developing high-yielding strains in rubber will be evident from the fact that the majority of trees on the average planted area are either worthless or very poor. The following figures show how yields vary on one large area: |