CÂY CAO SU: TÀI LIỆU THAM KHẢO NƯỚC NGOÀI

Cây cao su (Hevea brasiliensis Muell. Arg.) là một trong 10 loài trong chi Hevea, họ Euphorbiaceae (họ Thầu Dầu). Trong 10 loài này, chỉ có Hevea brasiliensis là cho mủ cao su có ý nghĩa về kinh tế và được trồng rộng rãi nhất. Cây cao su có nguồn gốc ở vùng rừng thuộc lưu vực sông Amazon, Nam Mỹ, phân bố tự nhiên trên một vùng rộng lớn nằm giữa vĩ độ 15o Nam và 6o Bắc và từ 46o – 77o Tây, bao gồm các nước Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, French Guiana, Surinam và Guyana (Webster và Paardekooper, 1989). Cây cao su được trồng thành công cho mục đích kinh doanh trên địa bàn rộng lớn ở Đông Nam Á có cùng vĩ tuyến và điều kiện khí hậu tương tự vùng nguyên quán. Sau đó diện tích cây cao su đã được mở rộng từ vĩ tuyến 23o Nam (Săo Paulo, Brazil) đến vĩ tuyến 29o Bắc (Ấn Độ và Trung Quốc) với cao trình từ thấp lên đến 1.100

Legend

to·

3HJ. al~OM

•

VtlAtiH

~

HEVEA

Thirty Years of Research

in the Far East

Copyright 1951

byM.J. Dijkman

Printed in the United States of America

•

In view of the increasing impetus during recent years to rubber planting in tropical America, onemay truly say that rubber is now on the "rebound" from East to West, where the Hevea tree originated.The 2800 unselected jungle seedlings that had been sprouted at Kew Gardens and shipped to the Far East

in 1876, became the foundation of one of the world's largest agricultural export industries, without whichmodern civilization could scarcely have developed The planting material that has "rebounded" is amuch renovated one in the form of selected high-yielding clones or varieties produced during some 30years of research in the former Dutch East Indies and British Malaya

Unfortunately, everyone of these improved clones, derived as they were from "the 1876 Wickham orTapajos strain" of the species, has proved highly susceptible to the South American leaf blight, occur-ring only in this hemisphere They are, nevertheless, being used by means of the temporary expedient

of top budding with resistant selections from other parts of the Amazon Basin Therefore, pending thedevelopment of new clones combining native resistance with superior yield, which constitutes the secondmajor phase in the domestication of Hevea, Western Hemisphere scientists and growers must rely uponboth planting material and research experience from the Far East

Every investigator of plantation Hevea in this hemisphere will recall his difficulties in trying to view the Eastern literature that is so widely scattered and so preponderantly in the Dutch language Atthe time of the Japanese invasion of Indonesia, some 19 journals or serials there were devoted to agri-culture and most of them included articles on rubber The numerous earlier serials, bulletins and re-ports of long-discontinued private stations and growers associations are found only in a few major li-braries Because so few English-speaking persons read the Dutch language, much of the fundamentalHevea research in Indonesia has never become widely known This unfortunate situation has been re-peatedly emphasized to this writer who, having once painfully learned the Dutch language, has comparedthe original publications with the inadequate reviews in abstract journals and trade magazines Only theArchief voor Rubbercultuur has presented adequate summaries in English

re-Dr M J Dijkman has undertaken the laborious task of summarizing the 30 years of Dutch East Indianrubber research up to its sudden stoppage in 1941 by the Japanese occupation This volume is, however,much more than an accurate chronological summary of that literature; it presents critical interpreta-tions of the research results classified under the usual major topics, which facilitates their adaptation

toWestern Hemisphere conditions, making them more useful than the instructions of the British rubberplanting manuals, which are intended for their own special conditions

Dr Dijkman is well qualified by education and experience to undertake this task He was born inDjombang, Java, Indonesia, February 12, 1907, and was educated in Holland where he received the Ph.D

in plant physiology at the University of Utrecht in 1934 Thereafter, for 13 years, he was engaged in search and extension work for the West Java Experiment Station at Buitenzorg (now Bogor), Java, in thecapacity of selectionist and Head of the Extension Service for South and West Sumatra and Riouw Archi-pelago This station was supported by the General Agricultural Syndicate and the South and West Suma-tra Syndicate, which together controlled more than 500,000 hectares of export crops, principally Hevea,oil palm, tea, Cinchona, coffee and fibers During this period he published some 20 research articles,mainly on Hevea breeding, selective thinning, and allied plantation problems Since October 1947, he hasserved as Assistant Professor of Applied Tropical Botany at the University of Miami

re-I congratulate Dr Dijkman on his careful industry and the resulting useful work re-I recommend thisvolume especially to all those directing the now rapidly developing rubber plantation industry in thishemisphere

vii

R D RandsHead Agriculturist in ChargeDivision of Rubber Plant Investigations

U S Plant Industry StationBeltsville, Maryland

ACKNOWLED GME NTS

The writing of this book has been much facilitated by the support given me bythe Administration and Department of Botany Staffs of the University of Miami.Sincere appreciation is extended to Dr R D Rands, Head Agriculturist inCharge, Division of Rubber Plant Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soilsand Agricultural Engineering, United States Department of Agriculture, for hisconsistent interest and many valuable suggestions; to Dr A Schweizer, DirectorGeneral of the Experiment Stations of the Association of Central ExperimentStations, Buitenzorg, Java, for permission to use the data, photographs and ref-erences from Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia); and to Mr A G Pawson,

C M G., Secretary of the Secretariat of the Rubber Study Group, BrettenhamHouse, London, for permission to use the data from Sir Andrew McFadyean'sbook "History of Rubber Regulations."

The author is particularly indebted to Mrs Marian H Bell Fairchild for herassistance in editing the manuscript; to Ir , J J Ochse, Department of Botany,University of Miami, for his many valuable suggestions; to Mr M J Soule, Jr.,Department of Botany, for his extensive help in all phases of the preparation ofthe manuscript; to Mr L B Isham, Marine Laboratory, University of Miami,for the drawings of the aidplants in Chapter V; and to Mrs Martha G Parker,

Dr Floyd S Shuttleworth, Mr Charles M Gates, and Mr George B MacFie,among others of the Department of Botany, University of Miami, for their as-sistance in many other ways

Last, a word of recognition should be extended to my wife for the patiencewith which she surrendered the many months necessary for drafting this book

Miami

May 1951

viii

M J Dijkman

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Table of Contents

List of lllustrations

List of Tables

Page vii viii ix xiii xviii I Introduction , 1

II Historical • 5

1 Early history 5

2 The introduction and development of Hevea in the Far Eastern countries 5

3 Restrictive agreements 7

4 Hevea is returned to the Western Hemisphere 7

References 7

Tables III Hevea as a Factor in the Economic Development of the East Indies 9 IV The Development of Rubber Research in Indonesia 12 1 Early steps in rubber selection 12

2 Commercial plantings of mother-tree seedlings and the results obtained with this primitively selected mater-ial " 13 3 The development of a vegetative propagation technique 13

4 Large scale organized selection work 14

References 16

Tables Figures v VI Fertilizing and Soil Management

1 General 2 Notes on climate and soil in the Indonesian Archipelago 3 The interaction Hevea-soil 4 Fertilizing rubber

5 Notes on soil maintenance References Tables Figures Planting Material 1 Budded stumps 2 Stumped buddings

3 Seedling plantings 4 Commercial results with high stumps 5 Split Hevea seedlings as commercial planting material

6 Notes on the propagation of branch-cuttings

Figures

ix

17 17 18 19

21

23

40

43 43

48

49

50 51

52 52

3 Growth of seedlings and buddings

4 The influence of tapping upon growth

5 "Lampbrush" growth

Tables FiguresTap and Tapping Systems

2 Early experiments in tapping

3 Evolution in tapping systems

4 Common tapping systems

5 Collecting yield data obtained from normal test-tapping

6 Methods of tapping young trees

References Tables Figures

The Mechanism of Production and Related Phenomena

2 Anatomical investigations on virgin bark

4 Anatomical investigations on the union zone in buddings

6 Rubber and food physiology

8 The latex flow area

9 The relationship of rootbark to production

11 The energy and hydrostatic components of the flow area

12 The physiology of the Brown Bark disease

13 "After-drippers" or long-continued latex flow

References Tables Figures

Growth, Yield and Disease in Relation to Planting Density

6 Advisories on planting density/thinning programs

7 Notes on thinning commercial plantings

8 Other crops planted with rubber in temporary andpermanent stands

References Tables FiguresDiseases and Pests

64

65

686868

6974787984

87878790909199

102105107108108

110112113

115115119129

134

135

137138

,,,r'-,\

.140)

' -142

144144144151

TABLE OF CONTENTSChapter

4 Pests

References

XVI Clones and Selected Seedlings under Commercial Conditions

1 Areas with improved planting materials

2 Commercial results with buddings and seedlings

3 In retrospect

Tables Figures

xiPage

152153155155157159160168173173176

178178180181181182183186186186188

190190191192194201

203203208213222228231

234234236240241

The Results of Mother-tree Selection

Outline of Generative Selection

3 Naming seedling families

4 The identification of seedling families

6 Recent arrangements of preliminary seedling tests

8 Standard clones and families

9 Breeding or seed gardens

Tables Figures

2 The economic background of vegetative selection

3 Primary mother-tree selection

4 Secondary mother-tree selection

4 Double-worked (three component) stock/scion combinations

5 Selection for resistance to wind damage and diseases

References Tables Figures

XII Outline of Vegetative (Clonal) Selection

2 Outline of procedure

3 Naming of clones

4 The identification of clones

5 Preliminary clone tests

6 Advanced tests

7 Standard clones

Tables FiguresXIII

XlV

2 Causes of locality differences in Indonesia

3 Ancestry of the Eastern Hevea brasiliensis race References Tables Figures

Make-up of the area in rubber in the main production centers

in the Far East

Descriptions and figures of the best commercial Far Eastern

Page243243243254

269

272

274275

277

V Production of historically and commercially important

Far Eastern primary and secondary clonal and selectedseedling families from test areas in Indonesia " 306Index of authors • • • • • • • • • 321Index of subj ects • • • • • • • • • • • • 324

Production of seven major export crops of Indonesia

Indonesia's share in the world export markets

Rubber production in Indonesia of native and plantation holdings

Diagram showing the different response of two plants to soil

Diagrammatic nitrogen replenishment cycle in humid tropical forest soils

Methods of terracing on gentle slopes

Cross-section of erosion dike-silt pit

Erosion dike-silt pit system in a rubber planting

Clibadium surinamense var asperum

Clibadium-Centrosema cover in young rubber

Water competition experiment of Kepoetren!Tjorahmas Estate (1940)

Budding technique for Hevea

Budding technique for Hevea (cont.)

Budding technique for Hevea (cont.)

Budding technique for Hevea (concl.)

xiii

Page

12

3

17

21262626293030

31313132

3333

3434

35353636373838

39

4546464647

xiv HEVEA

5051

576250

63

71

717980

9093

93

87888888899090

104105106

Latex flow curves for the 3rd, 4th and 5th panels

Latex yield curves for the 4th and 5th panels of a tree defoliated 8 months

after natural wintering

Latex yield curves for the 4th and 5th panels of a tree defoliated 4 months

before normal refoliation 94Latex yield curves for the 4th and 5th panels of a tree defoliated on one side 94Latex yield curves for the 4th and 5th panels of a tree which was defoliated

four times 95Diagram showing the position of a tapping cut running across the union

between stock and scion in buddings of the clones PH 2 and PH 7 96Average latex yield from different parts of the tapping panel 103Latex yield curves for the 3rd and 4th panels to demonstrate the increase

obtained from first-time regenerated bark 103Projection of the tapping panels used for studying the latex production

The flow intensity of latex after tapping

Seven-months-old stumped buddings of BD 5 at the Government Estate

"Merboeh,· planted on continuous terraces trimmed with

High-stumped buddings or seedlings compared to budded stumps or

stumped seedlings '.'

Increase and development in girth of LCB 510 at Tjiomas Experimental

Influence of tapping on the girth development of Hevea seedlings

Relationship between wood formation (girth increase) and rubber production

Clockwise (left) compared to counterclockwise (right) tapping cuts

Bark consumption compared to tapping angle

The original "Testatex" grader

Semi-diagrammatic sketch of cross-section through virgin bark

of a seedling

Origin of a latex vessel in Hevea

Three-dimensional diagram of the bark

Different types of distribution of latex vessel cylinders

Longitudinal section through the bark of an old tree grown in poor soil

Longitudinal section through the bark of Hevea

Longitudinal section through the bark of the transition zone between the

Figure57

6465

66

6768

697071

72

7374

8182

LIST OF ILLUSTRA TIONS

Longitudinal section through the bark of Hevea: a) good producer;

b) pour producer Latex yield curves for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th panels of a tree ringbarked

Latex yield curves showing the effect of ringbarking a tree just below

Dry rubber content (DRC) of the latex obtained from each of three tapping

Dry rubber content (DRC) of the latex obtained from each of four tapping

Production of Hevea grown at different planting densities Theoretical relationship between the number of trees per hectare and pro-

Relationship between age of the tree, planting density and production Relationship between the number of trees per hectare giving maximum

Relationship between the physiological condition of Hevea and production onrenewed bark as influenced by the planting density

Relationship between planting density and girth at different ages Relationship between planting density and number of tappable trees per

Relationship between per tree yield (grams) and the planting density Production per hectare relation to planting density and age of the trees

Cumulative per hectare production in relation to planting density and age

Derris elliptica var woeloeng planted between stumped buddings of clone

BD 5 in rectangular pattern at the Governmental Estate" Merboeh"

Flow chart of vegetative selection and breeding in Hevea

1!.brasiliensis budding, one and 1/2 years old, showing the usual type

117118

118

119121

123124125

126

129132

161162163

214

220

200205

206193

224

211

212Yield index of 260 mother-trees, averages of 3 to 5 years of tapping

Correlation between the yields of Tjir 16 x Tjir 1 seedlings and the clone

Cumulative yield per tree of buddings made on hybrid Hevea Spruceana and

Correlation diagram showing the relationship between the yields of dry

rubber (grams/tapping) and girths of clones AV 36, Ct 88, and BR 2 in

PageDiagram of the various forms and directions of Hevea leaflets 164Basic shapes of!!.brasiliensis leaflets 164

Layout of clone test 1929 at the West Java Experiment Station 169Illustration of border effect in Hevea in a test area with open sides 170Section of A.V.R.O.S clone test layout 171Planting layout of secondary clone tests at the West-Java Experiment Station 174Pistillate.!!.brasiliensis flower at the stage ready for hand pollination 178Orientation test for secondary and tertiary seedling families and their

clones at the West Java Experiment station , , , • • 183

A.V.R.O.S - type breeding garden 188Frequency curve showing the production of 5,000 unthinned, unselected

seedling trees • 192Frequency curve showing the production variation of about 900 trees which

were left in an area of 5 hectares after thinning of the initial stand from

330 trees/ha to 180 trees/ha 192Production of 1953 mother-trees as shown by plotting log yield dry rubber

Correlation between individual tree production (grams dry rubber) for

the 1st and 5th tapping years from Hevea buddings planted in a hedge

Yields of the best Java and Sumatra clones in kg dry rubber/tree/year

Improvement obtained by clonal selection in test of the A.V.R.O.S General

Experiment Station as shown by plotting log kg dry rubber/tree/year

against age of the trees

Comparison of the average yields (kg dry rubber/tree/year) of the legitimate

seedling families AV 166 x AV 161 and AV 157 x AV 164 with those of the

Diagram of the various forms and directions of Hevea leaflets

Lengthwise and crosswise profiles of Hevea leaflets

Articulation of the leaflets in Hevea

Layout of clone test 1929 at the West Java Experiment Station

Illustration of border effect in Hevea in a test area with open sides

Section of A.V.R.O.S clone test layout •

Planting layout of secondary clone tests at the West-Java Experiment Station

Pistillate1!.brasiliensis flower at the stage ready for hand pollination

Orientation test for secondary and tertiary seedling families and their

clones at the West Java Experiment station • •

Layout of G.A.E clonal seedling test, type 1

Layout of G.A.E clonal seedling test, type 2

Layout of G.A.E legitimate seedling test, type 3

Frequency curve showing the production of 5,000 unthinned, unseleeted

Frequency curve showing the production variation of about 900 trees which

were left in an area of 5 hectares after thinning of the initial stand from

Page164164165165166168169170171174178

183184 184185188

192

192

101 Production of 1953 mother-trees as shown by plotting log yield dry rubber

(grams) against age of the trees • 193

102 Correlation between individual tree production (grams dry rubber) for

the 1st and 5th tapping years from Hevea buddings planted in a hedge

system where the planting distance is 1 meter ", 200

103 Yields of the best Java and Sumatra clones in kg dry rubber/tree/year 205

104 Improvement obtained by clonal selection in test of the A.V.R.O.S General

Experiment Station as shown by plotting log kg dry rubber/tree/year

against age of the trees • 206

105 Comparison of the average yields (kg dry rubber/tree/year) of the legitimate

seedling families AV 166 x AV 161 and AV 157 x AV 164 with those of the

clone AV 49 • • • 211

106 Yield index of 260 mother-trees, averages of 3 to 5 years of tapping 212

107 Correlation between the yields of Tjir 16 x Tjir 1 seedlings and the clone

Tjir 16 (kg dry rubber/tree/year) • 214

108 Cumulative yield per tree of buddings made on hybrid Hevea Spruceana and

illegitimate!!.brasiliensis 220

109 Correlation diagram showing the relationship between the yields of dry

rubber (grams/tapping) and girths of clones AV 36, Ct 88, and BR 2 in

experiment BF-I at Tjiomas Experimental Estate 224

•

in the clone test 1927 (East and West) of Tjiomas Experimental EstateProduction of areas planted withbuddings (plotted on the basis of year

The gradual improvement of production (as obtained from the 9th year

of tappability) per hectare by the introduction of improved planting materialMap of Sumatra showing the main rubber-growing districts and the majorvolcanic ranges Map of Java showing the main rubber-growing districts and the majorvolcanic ranges Map of Borneo showing the main rubber-growing districts and the majorvolcanic ranges

LIST OF TABLES

Page

1 Rubber consumption in the United States and England and exports from

the producing centers before 1900 (tons) 6

2 Plantation area (hectares) planted to rubber in Java and Sumatra 6

3 Native rubber areas and production compared to plantation areas and

production in the Far East 74a Export value of the main agricultural crops of the Netherlands East Indies

(in millions of guilders) 104b Importance of the agricultural products of the Netherlands East Indies

listed according to their export value 10

5 Production of rubber in kilograms per hectare per annum of unselected

and mother-tree seedling plantings in Sumatra's East Coast 13

6 Endert's climatic classes for Indonesia 18

7 Mineral analysis of old and young rubber trees grown on poor soil with and

without topdressing 20

8 Chemical composition of organic fertilizers derived from tropical

crop wastes 23

9 Moisture content of sandy soil in the dry monsoon in an East Java experiment

10 Growth measurements in Test Garden 1927 (East) 54

11 Growth measurements in "twin" experiment of Ramaer 1931, at Tjiomas

Experimental Estate, Buitenzorg, Java 55

12 Growth measurements of the stock/scion experiment 1938/1939 at PEWEJA

Experimental Estate, Batavia, Java 56

13 Growth measurements from slow and rapid growing clones from the 1928

14 Yield of Tjir 16 in poly-clone and mono-clone plantings 58

15 Production of AV 49 buddings on a mixed planting with AV 49 x (AV 33 and/or

AV 49) breeding garden seedlings 59

16 Bark thickness of MT clones from tests of Tjiomas Experimental Estate,

Buitenzorg, Java 60

17 Comparison between the effective bark of seedlings and MT buddings from

tests of Tjiomas Experimental Estate, Buitenzorg, Java 61

18 Correlation between the growth-vigor of clones comprised of MT buddings

and the thickness of the bark (after removal of the cork) of these clones

from tests of Tjiomas Experimental Estate, Buitenzorg, Java 61

19 Girth and yield comparisons between untreated seedlings and seedlings forced

to form a crown by removal of the tip of the main axis at a height of 2.5 m 65

20 General classification of tapping systems 78

xviii

LIST OF TABLES

Page xix

21 Correlation coefficients between youth tap yields and the yields of the first

normal tapping year and between the youth tap and the third normal tapping

year, respectively 81

22 Comparison of the number of latex vessel cylinders in different organs of low medium and high yielding seedling trees 89

23 Compositions of the latex extracted from the oldest, outermost latex vessels and of latex collected fractionally from the soft bark tapped to the wood 92

24 Production ratios and percentages (calculated on basis of the production of panel II-A) of virgin bark and first-time regenerated bark (averages of 49 trees) 104 25 Girth (in cm.) of two groups of LCB 510 (PR 107) buddings, planted at different densities in Tjiomas Experimental Estate • 115

26 Yield (in kg./tree/year) of two groups of LCB 510 (PR 107) buddings, planted at different densities in Tjiomas Experimental Estate 116

27 Growth compared to planting distance 120

28 Number of tappable trees compared to planting distance 122

29 Dry rubber content (DRC) of the latex from buddings growing at different planting densities 123

30 Individual tree yields at different planting densities 125

31 Hectare production at different planting densities and tapping system S/2, m/2, 100% 127

32 Planting density compared to average height of the trees 128

33 Planting density compared to wind damage 128

34 Planting density and root rot caused by Fomes lignosus 128

35 Planting density and panel diseases - I 130

36 Planting density and panel diseases - II 130

37 Comparison between the average girth of trees, 4 years 10 months old, planted in hedge formation at the Besoeki Experiment Station, Djember, and the same material planted in a square pattern at Renteng Estate, Djember, East lava , 132 38 Average thickness of virgin and regenerated bark of hedge-grown trees " 134 39 Planting density and the thinning program of Tengwall 136

40 Planting density and thickness of regenerated bark 137

41 LCB 510 (PR 107) - stem circumference and annual yields 170

42 Standard clones of the A.V.R.O.S General Experiment Station, Medan, Sumatra's East Coast 172

43 Standard clones of the Governmental Agricultural Enterprises in lava and Sumatra 173

44 Standard clones of the institutions belonging to the Association of Central Experiment Stations in lava and South and Wesi: Sumatra 175

45 Standard clones/families of the A.V.R.O.S General Experiment Station, Medan, Sumatra's East Coast • 186

46 Standard clones/families of the institutions belonging to the Association of Central Experiment Stations in lava and South and West Sumatra 187

in Java and Sumatra • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 188Frequency distribution of nursery seedlings tested with the" Testatex" grader 196Distribution of high -yielders based on normal tapping as compared to their

"Testatex" class 197Trees yielding more than 100 grams/tapping classified according to their

Testatex" test class 197Frequency distribution over" Testatex" classes based on normal tap 197Correlation between the yields of different tapping years in different families 199Analysis of the occurrence of potential yielders when chosen on the basis of

the first tapping year 200Frequency distribution of primary clones from Test 1926 to Test 1931,

inclusive, at Tjiomas Experiment Station, Buitenzorg, West Java 204Frequency distribution of the yields from Tests 1926 and 1927 of Tjiomas

Experimental Estate, Buitenzorg, West Java 204Observations on secondary clones as compared with the best primary clones

in tests of the West Java Experiment Station 207Comparisons between the productions of the first A.V.R.O.S legitimate

families, some of the earliest A.V.R.O.S clones and the scale for

un-selected seedlings 209Comparisons between the productions of hand-pollinated crosses from

West and East Java, some of the high-yielding Java and Sumatra clones

Comparisons between the production of breeding garden seedlings, clonal

seedlings, some of the high-yielding clones and the scale for unselected

Production of hand-pollinated seedlings, breeding garden seedlings and

clonal seedlings from commercial areas in comparison with commercial

Comparison between the production of some of the A.V.R.O.S breeding

garden and hand-pollinated seedling families, the best mother-trees they

Average yield (kg./tree/year) of seedlings budded with buds taken from

their own stems and unbudded seedlings from the same family

Growth of JT buddings on "wild" stocks compared with their mother-trees

and the standard clone BD 5 also budded on "wild" stocks

Classification of the yields of mother-tree seedlings of two large legitimate

Average girth (at a height of 100 em above the union) of clones AV 49, AV 50

and AV 256 budded onill !i. brasiliensis and hybrid!i. Spruceana stocks

Data on crown development of clones AV 49, AV 50 and AV 256 budded on

Average thickness of virgin and regenerated bark of clones AV 49, AV 50 and

AV 256 budded onill !!.brasiliensis and hybrid g. Spruceana stocks

210

211

213214215216216218218219

Table69

76

7778

79

80

81828384

8586

87

88

89

LIST OF TABLES

Average number of latex vessel cylinders in the virgin bark of clones AV 49,

AV 50 and AV 256 budded on ill !!.brasiliensis and hybrid!!.Spruceanastocks • • Yield observations on AV 49, AV 50 and AV 256 budded on ill !!.brasiliensisand hybrid!! Spruceana stocks • Recapitulation of the technological data obtained by the Goodyear Tire andRubber Co with rubber samples from Schmale's H Spruceana stock

Chemical analysis of conserved latex from Schmale's hybrid!!.Spruceanastock experiment • • Dry rubber content of creamed latex from Schmale's hybr id H Spruceana

Experimental Garden Tadjoer, first tapping panel (on intermediate stem),

Analysis of areas (in hectares) in different kinds of rubber plantingmaterial by planting years on estates in Indonesia up to 1939 Hectare productions of commercial plantings with selected material .Ratio between the production scales for commercial budded areas andcommercial unselected seedling areas, as determined by the InternationalRubber Regulation Committee in 1933/34 and revived, in so far as the

Commercial production of selected seedlings as percentage of commercialclonal production in Java and the production scale on unselected seedlings .Relationship between elevation above sea level and the beginning of tapping

Monthly distribution of the production (as%of the annual production)

Relative humidity in Java at different elevations above sea level Distribution of rainfall (in mm.) in the coastal plains east of the Boekit

Distribution of rainfall (in mm.) in the lowlands of Borneo Comparison between soil analyses of the Tjiomas and Pankalan

Growth measurements in the test garden at Pankalan in comparisonwith those of the same clones in Experiment 1927 of Tjiomas Experi-

Yield of test area Pankalan in comparison with the yield of the sameclone numbers from Experiment 1927 of Tjiomas Experimental Estate

at same age of the trees • Growth of the most widely used commercial clones in the Malang area(Pasoeroean District) and Kediri District in East Central Java at

225

237237

238

239

245246247247

248249

Growth of the most widely used commercial seedlings (in comparison with

clones) in the Malang area (Pasoeroean District) and Kediri District of

Yields per hectare of older Java and Sumatra clones grown at different

Yields per hectare of seedling families developed by the Besoeki

Experi-ment Station, Djember, East Java, compared with West Java and Sumatra

Comparison between the planting material advisories for Java, Sumatra's

Page

264265

266267

Chapter IINTRODUCTION

Sugar

Quinine Bark

Oil Palm

CoffeeTobaccoTeaRubber

1~40

YEAR

1930 1920

Through the application of selection techniques,planting densities, soil improvement programs,tapping systems, and the breeding of improvedclones and families - all a result of continued re-search coupled with enlightened plantation and na-tive management - the average per hectare rubberyield rose from barely 500 kg in 1910 to over

1890 1880

1870 1860

Although the history of Hevea brasiliensis

stretches halfway around the globe and nearly 450

years into the past with many brilliant discoveries

- the Wickham importation of 1876 being an

im-portant milestone - the major development of this

industry has taken place in the Far East during the

years 1910 to 1940 The outbreak of the Pacific

War in 1941 cut short a period of applied

scien-tific agriculture in the Netherlands East Indies

(Indonesia) which during the span of a single gen-'

Fig 2 Indonesia's share in the world export markets (expressed in percent) (After Huitema 1940)

2,000 kg in 1940, a fourfold increase Although

Hevea was brought to Indonesia originally as a

plantation industry, 49% of the production

(313,632 metric tons) in 1941 (Figure 3) came

from the gardens of approximately four million

native farmers (Huitema 1940; McFadyean 1944)

In its social aspects as well as the economic, the

rubber industry, largely through its extensive

educational programs, has also had a tremendous

impact upon the lives of the Indonesian people

While the events of the past ten years have

made necessary radical changes in the planning

for the future production and expansion of natural

rubber by reason of its increasing replacement

in large measure with synthetics, particularly in

the United States (the largest single consumer of

rubber), as well as the expanding demand of the

newly-awakened countries of Southern Asia, the

story of Hevea culture in the East Indies remains

an unparalleled example of applied research in

tropical agriculture The lessons learned here

and the improved planting materials developed in

the East Indies and Malaya can be and are being

utilized in Central and South America, the West

Indies, Liberia, and elsewhere for the

newly-established plantations of those areas (Rands

1942, 1945; Bangham 1945) In like manner, thesuccess of the native Indonesian farmers can serve

as an example to be adapted for small holdings inthose and other countries Finally, the methods ofselection and breeding and of soil improvementand many of the other techniques can be applied toother tropical or temperate crops

REFERENCESBangham, W N (1945) Rubber returns to LatinAmerica In New crops for the New World

Ch M Wilson, ed New York, Macmillan

p 81-109

Huitema, W K (1940) De geschiedenis der bercultuur in Nederlandsch-Indte In Dictaatvan den cursus over de rubbercultuur

rub-Buitenzorg, Den Dienst van den Landbouw

1

THOUSANDS OF METRIC , T.: O=-N:.: S= - -, _~ _ _ _ _ , - - -

4100 i

:leo RUBBER PRODUCTION IN INDONESIA of

NATIVE and PLANTATION HOLDINGS

:l20 (IN THOUSANDS OF METRIC TONS)

4 HEVEA

Rands, R D (1942) Hevea rubber culture in

Latin America India Rubber World 106:

239-243, 350-356, 461-465

- (1945) Hevea rubber culture in Latin

America, problems and procedures InPlants and Plant Science in Latin America

F Verdoorn, ed Waltham, Mass ChronicaBotanica p 183-199

L

Chapter IIHISTORICAL

1 Early history 2 The introduction and development of Hevea in the Far Eastern countries

3 Restrictive agreements 4 Hevea is returned to the Western hemisphere References Tables

1 Early history

Since the history of rubber has been published

in considerable detail by various authors (Cook

1928; Burkill 1915; Huitema 1940; Rands 1942,

1945; McFadyean 1944; Bangham 1945; Dinsmore

1951), only the briefest outline will be presented

here

After its discovery by Columbus and later

Spanish explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries,

rubber remained completely unknown to the

Euro-pean world until the astronomer de la Condamine

sent samples of a mysterious elastic substance

or ·caoutchouc" back to France from Peru in

1736 De la Condamine's report, complete with

detailed descriptions of the trees, the native

methods of collection, their procedures for

proc-essing, and his estimate of its possible uses in

European trade, created an immediate demand

(de la Condamine 1755; Macquer 1768) Soon

thereafter, expeditions were sent to French

colo-nies as well as to the original Spanish sources

with the samples obtained showing much diversity

in their resin content and elasticity (Many years

later, Aublet (1775) established there were

actu-ally several species of Hevea, rather than only

-By the beginning of the 19th century, many

species of plants had been found by the various

explorations to have latex capable of being

coagu-lated and used for similar purposes as Hevea

rub-ber, such as Ficus elastica Roxb., Castilloa

elas-tica Cerv., Funtumia elaselas-tica Stapf, Willughbeia

spp., Landolphia spp., Palaguium~Burck,

Payena spp., Mimusops_balata (AubL)Gaertn

Achras Zapota L., Manihot Glaziovii Muell Arg.,

and later, Cryptostegia spp., Guayule (Parthenium

argentatum Gray) and Solidago spp., among others

Prior to the invention of the vulcanization

proc-ess by Goodyear in 1839 (Goodyear 1855), the

rub-ber industry limped along with little expansion

The vulcanization process, utilizing sulfur and

crude rubber mixtures, revolutionized the

indus-try overnight since now for the first time rubber

goods could be produced which lacked the

deleter-ious qualities of the raw product A long chainof

improvements followed; however, the new industry

by 1860 it became increasingly difficult for Brazil

to keep up the continued expansion of its tion With the invention of the automobile in 1895,the demand began a precipitous rise so that by

produc-1900 the world production could not possibly keep

up the pace and prices rose accordingly yean 1944)

(McFad-2 The introduction and development of Hevea inthe Far Eastern countries

As early as 1860, the Englishman Collins hadwarned of the possible difficulties which mightdevelop in the future when Brazil's productionwould fail to meet the steadily growing demand ofthe rubber manufacturers His arguments that thewild rubber trees were scattered over vast areas(in Brazil), the inadequate labor supply, thedisease-infested jungles, and the destructive tap-ping methods used by the "siringueiros" finallybore fruit when in 1870 Hooker and Markham ofthe (British) Indian Office investigated the possi-bilityof introducing Hevea brasiliensis into India

so as to establish a new supply center (Collins

1868, 1869, 1872) The first lot of 2,000 seedssent to Kew by Farris in 1873 and a later shipment

in 1875 were both unsuccessful Markham thensent Wickham to Brazil and Cross to Panama.Cross returned from Panama with 134 seed-lings of Castilloa, and when he was sent to Brazil

he brought back 1,000 Hevea seedlings and 43small Manihot plants in November 1876 In themeantime, Wickham in June 1876 returned to Kewwith 70,000 Hevea seeds from which 2397 seedlingswere raised Of this number, about 1900 were sent

to Ceylon, a number to Malaya and 2 to the tuurtuin at Buitenzorg, West Java (van Romburgh1900; van Gogh 1938; Vollema and Dijkman 1939;Huitema 1940; van der Giessen and Ostendorf 1948)

Cul-In later years, other importations were made:

35 seeds in 1882 supposedly from the original

6 HEVEA

TABLE 1

East Ceylon

Far-Belgian Congo

Exports Sierra Leone Nigeria

Year

RUBBER CONSUMPTION IN THE UNITED STATES AND ENGLAND AND RUBBER SUPPLY

FROM PRODUCING CENTERS BEFORE 1900 IN TONS THE FIGURES ARE AVERAGES FOR EACH DECADE EXCEPT FOR ODD YEARS Im-

exist-tractive rubber prices and a series of disasters

in the culture of tea (the break in the world ket price), coffee (the outbreak of the Hemileiarust), cacao (the unsatisfactory climate in WestJava), and "Deli" tobacco (the limited amount ofsuitable soil in Sumatra's East Coast) forced theplantation owners to an immediate conversion oftheir estates to Hevea in an effort to save theirinvestments

mar-PLANTATION AREA PLANTED TO RUBBER

IN SUMATRA AND IAVA, IN HECTARES

TABLE 2

, ,

10125 15390 24300 43335 63990 84240 95966 97200 93150

Sumatra Year

(After Huitema 1940)

1900 1901

Wickham trees sent to Malaya, of which 33

germi-nated; in 1890 from Kew to Buitenzorg; in 1896

from Brazil to "Tarik Ngaroem" Estate, Java; in

1898, from Brazil via Paris to "Pasir Oetjing"

Estate, Java (Huitema 1950); and others in 1913,

1914, 1915, and 1916, from Brazil and Surinamto

Buitenzorg, these including shipments of several

Hevea species (H Spruceana, H guianensis, and

H collina) in addition to H brasiliensis (Huitema

-The development of the Hevea plantations and

native holdings in the Far East proceeded very

slowly for nearly 30 years after Wickham's

intro-duction (Bally 1939; Huitema 1940), there being

four major reasons: a) the original systems of

tapping patterned after the Brazilian methods

gave mediocre yields; b) there was no particular

need for new crops in Ceylon, Malaya, or the

East Indies; c) the growers were under the

im-pression that Hevea required swampy conditions

for its growth; and d) since nothing was known

about the quality of the rubber obtained from the

Asian-grown trees, the plantation owners hesitated

to risk their capital to introduce the crop into

large scale cultivation

Trial plantings made in Malaya, Ceylon,

Suma-tra, and Java soon established that Hevea was far

less specific in its soil requirements than had

been anticipated About the same time, Ridley

(1890, 1891, 1897) and Curtis (Ridley 1897; van

Gogh 1930) in Malaya started tapping experiments

which culminated in the development of the

"her-ringbone" or V-shaped tapping cut, the forerunner

of the present-day left-spiral cut and its many

ex-pressions The combination of increasingly

HISTORICAL

TABLE 3 NATIVE RUBBER AREAS AND PRODUCTION IN COMPARISON WITH PLANTATION AREAS

AND PRODUCTION\IN THE FAR EAST

30,365 667,755 1,590,471 1,730,092

66,040 340,360 619,760

first native rubber was planted in Malaya shortly

alter 1900 and in Sumatra and Borneo about 1908

(Dijkman 1939)

The Far Eastern rubber plantings remainedrather small until 1910 when the world price be-

came so attractive as to induce large-scale

in-vestment to enter the picture (see Tables 2 and 3;

Huitema 1940; McFadyean 1944) For the first

decade of the 20th century the Para -rubber from

Brazil was preferred by the American and

Euro-pean manufacturers because of its more uniform

qualities and supposedly greater elasticity By

1912, however, the difficulties of securing enough

Para-rubber to satisfy the demand became too

great to over-balance the ready supply of the Far

Eastern plantations Itwas also discovered that

the latter equalled or surpassed the Brazilian

product in quality In the succeeding years, the

Far Eastern production has grown until nearly

97% of the world natural rubber supply came from

this area in 1938 (Huitema 1940; Yonk 1940;

Mc-Fadyean 1944)

3 Restrictive agreements

With continued increases in the production ofrubber by the various Far Eastern countries and

a general leveling of world market prices the

English, commencing in 1917, began to impose a

series of restrictive agreements, mainly

volun-tary, to protect the producers in their colonies and

protectorates since their commercial areas were

then largely planted to unselected, low-yielding

materials (see Appendix 1) Although the situation

inthe East Indies was less competitive as a

re-sult of their large proportion of selected,

high-yielding mother-tree seedlings and clonal

plant-ings, there were still sizeable areas in unselected

material where the conversion to newer Hevea

strains and seedlings had lagged

Beginning with the Rubber Growers Association(British) agreement in 1918, a number of restric-

tive agreements were put into force, including the

Stevenson Act of 1922-1928 and the -International

Rubber Regulation Agreement- of 1934-1938

(ex-tended for an additional four years in 1938), whicheventually covered the entire Far Eastern rubber-growing areas (Huitema 1940; Yonk 1940; Mc-Fadyean 1944)

4 The return of Hevea to the Western Hemisphere.The natural result of these agreements has been

to impel the world's largest raw rubber consumer,the United States, to seek other possible sources

so as to become eventually independent of the FarEastern supply Consequently, in 1923 the Fire-stone Tire and Rubber Company began negotiationsfor plantation sites in Liberia, West Africa (WilsQn1947), followed by the Ford Motor Company inBrazil in 1927, and the Goodyear Plantations Com-pany in the Phillipines in 1928 (Galang 1928; Bang-ham 1945) Goodyear used its Phillipine estates

as a repository for selected planting materialsfrom Java, Sumatra and Malaya, and after makingextensive studies of methods for reducing produc-tion costs brought the now greatly improved Heveastrains to Central America in 1934 Since thistime, Ford as well as Goodyear, in cooperationwith the United States Department of AgricultureRubber Experiment Stations (from 1940), have con-tinued their research and development programs

in Central and South America with the ultimategoal of an organized rubber industry in these coun-tries (Sorenson 1942; Rands 1942, 1945; Bangham1945; Klippert 1946)

REFERENCESAublet, M F (1775) Histoire des plantes de laGuiane Iraneorse v , 2 p 871-873.

Bally, W (1939) The proportion of estates andnative holdings in the world production ofrubber In International Review of Agricul-ture

Bangham, W N (1945) Rubber returns to LatinAmerica In New crops for the New World

Ch M Wilson, ed New York, Macmillan

p 81-109

8 HEVEA

Burkill, I H (1915) Garden's Bul 1: 247-295

Collins (1868) On the commercial kinds of India

rubber or Caoutchouc Jour Bot

- (1869) India rubber, its history,

com-merce and supply

- (1872) Report on the caoutchouc of

com-merce, methods of collecting it, the plants

yielding it, their geographical distribution,

climatic conditions, and the possibility of

their being cultivated and acclimatized in

India London

Condamine, E M de la (1755) Sur une resine

elastique, nouvellemente decouverte a

Cayenne par M Fresneau et sur l'usage

de divers sues laiteux d'arbres de la Guiane

ou France Equinoctiale Mem Acad Sci

Paris 1751: 319-333

Cook, O F (1928) Beginnings of rubber culture

Jour Hered 19: 204-216

Dijkman, M J (1939) Bevolkings rubber in het

Gewest Zuid Oost Borneo In Report for

Het Algemeen Landbouw Syndicaat Batavia

27 p

Dinsmore, R P (1951) Rubber chemistry Ind

Eng; Chem 43 (4): 795-803

Eck, L von (1939) Chronologische Uebersicht

ueber die aeltere Kautschukgeschichte

Gummi Zeitung 53 (39) Sept 29

Galang, F G (1928) The rubber industry in the

Middle- East Bulletin of the Government

of the Philippine Islands Manila,

Depart-ment of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Bureauof Agriculture 42: 5-120

Giessen, E van der and Ostendorf, F W (1948)

The oldest Hevea trees in Java Chronica

Naturae 104: 197-200

Gogh, F van (1938) Het ontstaan en de groei

van de ondernemings- en de bevolkings

rubbercultuur in Nederlandsch-Indie,

Economisch Weekblad voor

Nederlandsch-Indie, p 125-129

Goodyear, Ch (1855) Gum Elastic New Haven,

Conn v 2

Huitema, W K (1929) Guide to the Economic

Gardens at Buitenzorg Buitenzorg, Den

Dienst van den Landbouw

Huitema, W K (1940) De geschiedenis der

rubbercultuur in Nederlandsch-Indie, In

Dictaat van den cursus over de

rubber-cultuur Buitenzorg, Den Dienst van den

Landbouw p 9-38

Klippert, W E (1946) The cultivation of Hevearubber on small plantations Washington,D.C United States Department of Agricul-ture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils andAgricultural Engineering, Agricultural Re-search Administration 69p

Luytjes, A (1925) De bevolkings rubbercultuur

in Nederlandsch-Indie II Zuider- enOosterafdeeling van Borneo Buitenzorg,Den Dienst van den Landbouw

Macquer (1768) Sur un moyen de dissoudre le

restne caoutchouc, comme presentement sur

Ie nom de resine elastique de Cayenne et defaire reparaitre avec tous ses qualites

Mem Acad Roy Sciences, Paris

McFadyean, Sir A (1944) The history of rubberregulation 1934-1943 London, Geo Allen &

Unwin, for the International Rubber tion Committee 421 p

Regula-Rands, R D (1942) Hevea rubber culture inLatin America India Rubber World 106:

239-243, 350-356, 461-465

- (1945) Hevea rubber culture in Latin ica, problems and procedures In Plants andPlant Science in Latin America F Verdoorn,

Amer-ed Waltham, Mass Chronica Botanica

getah-s'Lands Plantentuin Batavia, 1900 XXXIX

Sorensen, H G (1942) Crown budding for healthyHevea Agriculture in the Americas 2:

191-193

U S Department of Commerce (1925) Rubberproduction in the Amazon Valley U.S Dept

Commerce Trade Prom Ser 23

Vollema, J S and Dijkman, M J (1939) taten der toetsing van Hevea cloonen in denProeftuin Tjiomas n.Arch v d Rubber-cult in Ned.-IndiEi 23: 47-129

Resul-Vonk, H (1940) De bevolkings rubbercultuur,mogelijkheden en methoden.van voorlichting

In Dictaat van den cursus over de cultuur Buitenzorg, Den Dienst van denLandbouw p 38-56

rubber-Wickham, H A (1908) On the plantation, vation and curing of Para Indian Rubber

culti-

Chapterill

HEVEA AS A FACTOR IN THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE EAST INDIES

~

In a preceding paragraph it was mentioned that

during the early development of the Indonesian

plantation and native rubber holdings there were

differences between the market price of the

Bra-zilian Para-rubber and of the Far Eastern estate

product ascribed to the inferior quality of the

latter The Para-rubber had a greater

vulcaniza-tion speed and was more uniform in its qualities

To determine whether the differences were a

result of changed environmental conditions or were

purely a matter of processing, both products were

given exhaustive tests as to their chemical,

physi-cal, and technological properties in specially

created laboratories in England and in Holland

The East Indies rubber was examined by the

-Rijksvoorlichtingdienst ten behoeve van den

rub-berhandel en industrie" (Government Extension

Service for Rubber Commerce and Industry) at

Delft

These investigations proved a) that the

en-vironmental conditions prevailing in the Far East

were not responsible for the differences in

qual-ity, b) that there were no differences in their

in-trinsic properties, but c) that the differing

meth-ods of processing used for the Far Eastern and

the Brazilian products were the sole cause of the

difficulty The smoke-cured, unwashed Brazilian

rubber was graded by its appearance, whereas the

raw Far Eastern plantation rubber was washed

when it was prepared for shipment in the local

factories and had to be graded by laboratory

methods (de Vries 1920; Handleiding 1938;

Huite-rna 1940)

About the same time as the results of these

investigations became known, organic catalysts

were discovered, by means of which any desired

vulcanization speed could be given to the rubber

Moreover, the minute quantities added did not

alter the rubber properties as had the inorganic

catalysts used previously As a consequence, the

Far Eastern product became the more desirable

of the two owing to its higher purity and lower

subsequent loss during processing (Huitema 1940)

The discovery of organic catalysts together

with the plentiful, cheap labor supply permitted

the Far Eastern plantation and native grown

rub-ber to win an overwhelming proportion of the

world market within a very short period As

shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, and Tables 1 to 4,

9

the rubber industry in the East Indies has developedsteadily to become the country's leading exportproduct (Indisch Verslag 1941) The credit for thisachievement must in large part be attributed to thewell-organized research centers and the close co-operation with them by the plantation managers andnative growers Over the period of 30 years, theplanting materials have been greatly improved,resulting in very considerable increases in theper hectare yields (See Appendix 2) Greaterefficiences in plantation management, such asbetter and more economical tapping, better con-trol of planting, improvements in upkeep and soilconservation, better thinning programs, more ef-fective processing by improvements in methods andmachinery, standardization and rubber testing, andmany other factors have combined to bring aboutmarked reductions in the cost per kilogram ofdry rubber

It should be stressed that the above mentionedimprovements have been applied not only to theplantations (in 1934, approximately 593,000 hec-tares, 38% in Java and 62% in the Outer Provinces,mainly Sumatra) but also to the extensive nativeholdings (681,187 hectares, predominantly in Bor-neo, Sumatra and the Riouw Archipelago) (Dijkman1939; Vonk 1940; Indisch Verslag 1941; McFadyean1944) An interesting feature of the native holdings

is that the bulk of the plant materials adopted fortheir commercial areas have been clonal seedlingsrather than the clones themselves (Dijkrnan 1939).With a majority of the Indonesian farmers, rice,not rubber, is the main crop and seedlings havebeen found better able to compete with the wildvegetation during the time the lands are left fallowafter food cropping As will be pointed out in laterchapters, the methods practiced by the nativefarmers, when applied to plantation routine, havebeen responsible for a number of the most start-ling developments known in the culture of rubber -for example, planting density programs and thehedge-row system of planting were both adapta-tions from native practices

REFERENCESDijkman, M J (1939) Bevolkings rubber in hetGewest Zuid Oost Borneo In Report for

\\

\

10 HEVEA

TABLE 4a EXPORT VALUE OF THE MAIN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF THE NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES IN MILLIONS OF GUILDERS

1927 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 Sugar and

1927 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 Sugar and

HEVEA AS A FACTOR IN THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE EAST INDIES 11Het Algemeen Landbouw Syndicaat Batavia

27 p

Handleiding (1938) Handleiding voor de rubber

bereiding Batavia, C.P.V and A.V.R.O.S

Reprint of the 3rd edition ordered by theBoard for the Netherland Indies, Surinamand Curacao, New York Dec 6, 1943.174 p

Huitema, W K (1940) De geschiedenis der

rub-bercultuur in Nederlandsch-Indie InDictaatvan den cursus over de rubbercultuur Bui-tenzorg, Den Dienst van den Landbouw

p 9-38

Indisch Verslag (1941) Indisch Verslag over 1940

Batavia Het Centraal Kantoor voor deStatistiek October 1941 573 p

Landbouwexportgewassen (1939) De

Landbouw-exportgewassen van Nederlandsch-Indie in

1939 Jaarbericht #4 Batavia.Departementvan Economische Zaken Landsdrukkerij

rubbercul-Vries, O de (1920) Estate rubber, its tion, properties and testing Buitenzorg.Reprint ordered by the Board for the Neth-erland -Indies, Surinam andCuracao, NewYork Feb 29, 1944 649 p

prepara-Chapter IV

1 Early steps in rubber selection 2 Commercial plantings of mother-tree seedlings and their sults 3 The development of a vegetative propagation technique 4 Large scale organized selection.References Tables Figures

re-1 Early Steps in Rubber Selection

When van Romburgh became head of the

Cul-tuurtuin in 1890, he brought to the Plant

Introduc-tion Center an interest in rubber and gutta-percha

dating from the time when he was working on

these products in the Agro-Chemical Laboratories

at Buitenzorg (Van Romburgh 1900; Cramer

1941a) The importation of the Wickham seeds

from Malaya in 1886 was the result of his activity

Several later importations, either directly from

South America or via the Botanic Garden in

Paramaribo, Surinam, were also his work (The

Surinam seeds were sent in by Cramer, at that

time working at the Plant Introduction Center

lo-cated in Paramaribo.) Cramer later became van

Romburgh's successor and continued the

experi-mental work on Hevea In 1912-1913, Cramer

made another trip to South America and, during

his journey along the Amazons, he studied the

natural variations of the rubber trees in their

original habitat His special objective was to

collect seeds of Hevea species other than

brasil-iensis and of natural hybrids between these and

H brasiliensis

The purpose was to collect as many rubber

trees as possible in the Buitenzorg Plant

Intro-duction Center for breeding work Cramer

suc-ceeded in obtaining seeds from H Spruceana, H

collina, and.!!: guianensts, typeS-that were nearest

to the species descriptions of Huber, the Hevea

specialist (Huber 1906, 1913) Additional seeds

were collected of the most vigorous trees of what

Cramer thought to be natural Hevea brasiliensis

hybrids with these species (Recently valuable

revisions of the genus have been established by

Seibert, Baldwin, and Schultes, for which refer

toChapterXVII For historical sake the original

names will be used in this and the following

par-agraphs.)

In Buitenzorg, all of the various importations

were tapped as soon as the trees reached

matur-ity The data obtained brought a very important

fact to light, namely, that the Wickham trees

originating from the original introduction to

Ma-1aya proved to be far better yielders than any of

12

the later importations

As in their native country, the Hevea species,guianensis, collina, and Spruceana, were verydisappointing (Duke 1935; Seibert 1947) This wasalso the case with the hybrids of these species with

H brasiliensis (However, the growth-vigor fromthe hybrids of guianensis and Spruceana, especi-ally from the latter, was striking.)

It is most interesting that the same resultswere obtained with the H brasiliensis importedinto the Belgian Congo.In Malaya, the Wickhamtrees and their offspring were superior to theseedlings imported by Cross The first Belgianimportations direct from Brazil to the Congoproved to be so poor in comparison with later in-troductions of the offspring from Wickham treesfrom Ceylon that they were distinguished fromthe latter by a special name: "Hevee typebrestlten." These trees gave yields of 200-250kgs per hectare per year in contrast with 500-600kgs for the "type Ceylon" as the Ceylon importswere called (Fallon 1927)

The 1883 plot in Buitenzorg in which the 33Penang seedlings from Wickham trees wereplanted really made history Cramer carried outhis first variation analyses on these plants Thisresulted in the selection of a number of betteryielding trees from which the first clones in theEastIndies were derived Itwas seen that in 1910the rubber area was expanding rapidly due to thefact that large capital had become attracted bythe exorbitant rubber prices Enormous quantities

of Hevea seed were imported from Ceylon andMalaya and also collected at random in the olderplantings in Sumatra and Java

With the knowledge obtained from his yieldanalyses on the Wickham seedlings, Cramer cor-rectly pointed out that no one could know anythingabout the quality of the seed obtained from suchsources From his experience gathered from theBuitenzorg rubber plots, he knew that Hevea could

be improved by (a) vegetative selection, or cloneselection and (b) generative selection or breeding

He had already selected outstanding yielders fromthe 33 Wickham trees, but, since the technique of

THE DEVELOPMENT OF RUBBER RESEARCH IN INDONESIA 13vegetative propagation was still in the experi-

mental stage, no practical results were yet

pos-sible,

In the tremendous hurry to obtain planting

material during and after 1910, there was no time

for experimenting on a commercial scale with the

second method, that of controlled hand pollination

ofselected mother-trees - the highest type of

selected seed production However, there was

still another way to serve the rubber industry

al-most immediately The al-most elementary phase

of seed selection was available, and Cramer tried

his utmost to interest the growers in it He led

the way by picking the naturally pollinated seed of

his select Wickham trees and urged the planters

todo the same with the high yielders in their own

groves Recognizing the draw-backs resulting

from the possibility of cross pollination by

ad-joining inferior yielders, he assumed that the

chances of obtaining better yielding plantings

from such "mother-tree seed" would be far

great-er than from seed picked at random and, thgreat-ere-

there-fore, preferable to seed from entirely uncontrolled

pollinations from abroad or grown locally

2 Commercial Plantings of Mother-tree

Seed-lings and their Results

Soon after the first plantings came into tapping,

the estate people, guided by the example given by

the Cultuurtuin and the advice by Cramer to use

seed picked exclusively from high yielding trees,

noticed the great yield variability of Hevea

bra-siliensis' and almost all of the planters began

ob-servation of the best producers in their gardens

Before long, they began to use the seed of these

trees for the establishment of new plantings

As Sumatra's East Coast and North Sumatra

were first to adopt Hevea as a new crop, the

pi-oneer commercial plantings were established

there; and, stimulated by the great demand for

planting material, Sumatra became the earliestsource of supply of this primitively selected seed

on a commercial scale A number of progressiveplantations, of which the most prominent were

"Tandjong Merah," "Marihat," and" Tjinta Radja,"specialized in this field, and, from 1916 on (justbefore the establishment of the AVROS GeneralExperiment Station that same year), they suppliedlarge quantities of this so-called "mother-treeseed."

The plantations of mother-tree seed soon grew

to such large dimensions that the greater part ofthe Sumatra and Java plantings of so-called un-selected seedlings after 1916 consisted of thisprimitively selected material Its commercialbenefit was clearly demonstrated when, with theimposition of the 1934 rubber restriction, Indonesiacould show statistically that these mother-treeseedling plantings were 40-70% higher in yield thanthe groves comprised of really unselected seed-lings Table 5 shows data from Sumatra illustra-ting this (Maas 1948) With reference to the data

in this table, the plantings prior to 1917, posed mainly of those of the years 1914 and 1915,were made with seeds picked at random fromhome-grown and imported trees The plantingsfrom 1917 to 1921 were of various "grades" ofhome-grown and commercial mother-tree seed

com-It is interesting to note how the quality of the.,mother-tree seedlings" gradually became better

as a result of increasingly critical selection

3 The Development of a Vegetative PropagationTechnique

Soon after Cramer selected his high yieldingrubber trees in the 33 seedlings from the 1883plot, van Helten, horticulturist of the Cultuurtuin

at Buitenzorg, started experiments to propagatethem vegetatively He assumed that, if rubbercould be multiplied vegetatively and these

TABLE 5 PRODUCTION OF RUBBER IN KILOGRAMS PER HECTARE PER ANNUM OF UNSELECTED

AND MOTHER-TREE SEEDLING PLANTINGS IN SUMATRA'S EAST COAST

Production at adult age Planting material Year of planting Area in hectares Range Average

14 HEVEA

propagations should prove to be identical in their

yielding capacity with the mother-tree from which

they were derived, commercial plantings could

be established with a uniformly high production

From 1910-1913, he conducted experiments on

this subject, but the results, though not

unsatis-factory, were of no practical value He continued,

however, in collaboration with two planters, Bodde

and Tas, managers of the "Bodjong Datar" and

·Pasir Waringin" estates, West Java (de Vries,

Schweizer, and Ostendorf 1929) In 1915, van

Helten managed to find a better method, and, in

1916, he, Bodde, and Tas improved this so much

that it could be applied commercially The first

handbook on the subject was published by Bodde

in 1918

Before the budding of Hevea trees was

gener-ally accepted, however, by the rubber growers

and developed into the present day routine on

plantations, the doubts of the skeptical planters

had to be overcome Even the research workers

of the newly established West-Java Rubber

Ex-perimental Station ("West Java Rubber

Proef-station") at Buitenzorg, as late as 1923, gave vent

to their doubts as to whether the cost and trouble

of the difficult manipulation would ever permit

commercial plantings of budded trees (Steinmann

1923)

The very encouraging yields of the early

Cul-tuurtuin clones and the claims made for them by

this Plant Introduction Center gradually convinced

the planters of the usefulness of the new planting

material Courses given by the Cultuurtuin for

the instruction of the European growers and the

Indonesian estate personnel on the vegetative

propagation of Hevea were well received, and

plantations all over the islands soon started to

organize budding work on a large scale by

estab-lishing nurseries for the material and training

special gangs of Indonesian budders

Although the earliest buddings were established

in 1915, it was not until February, 1918, that the

first two commercial plantings were started, one

at the Cultuurtuin and the other on Sumatra's East

Coast, the difference in age being only one day

As no information can be obtained as to which of

the two was planted first, the claims of both

is-lands on this historic priority must be left to

pos-terity The fact is, however, that Sumatra in

those days took up the new technique on a larger

scale than Java

As the Cultuurtuin was the first to start

selec-tion for commercial planting, the first clone

numbers to be released were Cramer's

"Cultuur-tuin" (Ct) 3 and 9 from the 33 Penang-Wickham

trees planted in 1883 Seeds derived from the best

mother-trees of this lot, planted in a test-plot,

yielded another good clone, "Cultuurtuin" (Ct) 88(Cramer 1924, 1941, 1942; van der Giessen andOstendorf 1948)

These three numbers obtained from that earlymaterial soon paid dividends For instance, pro-ductions of well over 1700 kg per hectare wererecorded in the 9th year of tapping from mixedplantings of these clones - a result giving fullcredit to Cramer's optimistic ideas of the impor-tant future for budded Hevea in the economic de-velopment of the East Indies rubber industryespecially and the rubber industry in general Howthe plantings of budded rubber developed in Indo-nesia in comparison with other rubber growingcountries is shown in Appendix II

4 Large scale Organized Selection

The Cultuurtuin at Buitenzorg was, until farinto the "boom" period, the only office to whichthe commercial rubber growers could go for helpand advice regarding their difficulties with thenew crop As might be expected, the expandingrubber industry rapidly outgrew the facilities andscope of the Cultuurtuin, whose main purpose as

a plant introduction center was to introduce andpopularize new plants of economic value, the pre-liminary research service being added later inorder to assist the pioneer planters in their cul-tural problems and to set up means of combattingthe diseases hampering the expansion of the infantindustry

Soon after the large companies began plantingrubber, the need for a specialized rubber researchservice was felt so that within a short time theyestablished their own cooperative experimentalstations These institutions gradually releasedthe Cultuurtuin from the work it had been doing asthey developed the research program needed bythe young, developing industry In the beginning,especially, their task was not an easy one

Commercial growers are always in a hurry.This is not strange when we consider that with anew crop which develops rapidly many questionsshow up which need the speediest possible answer.Research with perennial crops, however, is a slowjob in the case of rubber, the material yields theneeded information only after it has reached tap-ping maturity; this requires time and costs money

In the early stages of the research work, thevarious institutions set up by the rubber companieskept in close contact with each other so that theirbasic set-ups showed many features in common,but, as the first experimental work was nearly allstarted on the estates themselves, the personalviews of the managers often interfered Also theexperimental institutions often had to yield, to acertain extent, to pressure exerted by the economic

a West Java Experiment Station station West Java) at Buitenzorg, Java(from 1916-1933 under the name of Rub-ber Proefstation West Java).

(Proef-b Experiment Station for Central and EastJava (Proefstation Midden en Oost-Java),located at Malang, Java

c Besuki Experiment Station (BesoekischProefstation) at Djember, Java

d Extension Service for South and WestSumatra and Riouw Archipelago (Voor-lichtingsdienst voor Zuid en West Sumatra

on Riouw Archipel) at Tandjong Karang,South Sumatra

e Extension Service for Mid -Java lichtings dienst voor Midden Java), lo-cated at Semarang, Java

(Voor-These institutions have eight experimental tations with a total area of 400 hectares All ex-cept the West Java experiment station were started

plan-in the early twenties Admplan-inistratively they arecentralized in a special research body, the Associ-ation of Central Experiment Stations (CentraleVereeniging tot Beheer van Proefstations voor deOverjarige Cultures in Nederlandsch- Indle, ab-breviated C.P.V.)

Full cooperation exists between all of these stitutions, in addition to regular exchange ofprinted or mineographed communications, main-tained by frequent personal contact between theofficers

in-2) The research departments of large companies.Several of the large companies have establishedtheir own special research departments, substantialwork being done by the Governmental AgriculturalEnterprises (Gouvernements Landbouw Bedrijven),the organization managing the plantations of theNetherlands Indies Government, the GoodyearPlantation Company, the Anglo-Dutch, etc

These organizations working closely with theGovernmental Extension Service (serving around722,610 hectares of native holdings) were respon-sible for a total of about 550,000 metric tons of

f

'

•

needs of the companies The scientific workers ment Station (Algemeen Proefstation der AVROS)often had to take chances and to make compro- founded in 1916, and two experimental plantationsmises in giving their advice, this situation quite started in the early twenties, with a total area offrequently resulting in divergent advisory policies 100 hectares, located near Medan, capital of the

of the local extension services province of Sumatra's East Coast

The first steps to end this unsatisfactory con- The plantations belonging to the second center,dition were the establishment by each experimental with a total area of 305,956 hectares, are coopera-station of its own experimental grounds and thus tively represented by the General Agricultural

toallow the scientists to control all experiments Syndicate (Algemeen Landbouw Syndicaat, without undue interference from the growers As viated A.L.S.), a body which operates three ex-soon as this was accomplished, closer cooperation periment stations and two extension services, asamong the research workers was possible This indicated in the following list:

abbre-gradually resulted in a more uniform set-up of

the field experiments The hampering factors

caused by the necessity for haste were eliminated

by an educational program for the commercial

growers in the fundamentals of experimental work

- in fact, by placing the entire, large-scale

com-mercial growing of Hevea rubber in Indonesia on

a scientific basis This enabled the institutions

togive much better general and local advice than

was possible in the beginning

Other very important results were that the

testing of mother trees, clones, and seedlings and

the distribution of certified planting material were

brought under the control of the experimental

stations Continuous identification of trees on the

estates by the selectionists or by specially trained

field assistants of the research organizations

guaranteed the proprietors accurate knowledge of

the composition of their plantings This was of

great value during the tenure of the International

Rubber Regulations Agreement in settling disputes

over the classification of plant materials

A further improvement was the establishment

in1933 of a stable independent financial program

for the experimental institutions to assure

con-tinuation of the work in time of economic

de-pression

1) The cooperative experimental stations

The entire plantation rubber area of 626,390hectares (1940 census) in Indonesia is served by

two experimental organizations, each located near

the major rubber-growing centers The first of

these comprises North Sumatra and Sumatra's

East Coast, totalling 320,434 hectares, the second

center being located in West Java, with additional

areas in Central and East Java, South and West

Sumatra, the Riouw Archipelago, Borneo, and

Celebes

The North Sumatra and Sumatra's EastCoast plantations are cooperatively incorporated

in the General Association of Rubber Planters of

Sumatra's East Coast (Algemeene Vereeniging van

Rubberplanters ter Oost Kust van Sumatra,

abbrevi-ated AVROS) This organization operates one

ex-perimental station, the AVROS General

Experi-16 HEVEA

dry rubber, produced in 1940 (Huitema 1940;

In-disch Verslag1941; McFadyean 1944) Figure 3

presents a graphic analysis of the development of

the production potentiality from native and

planta-tion holdings from 1900 to 1940

REFERENCESAanwijzingen (1940) Aanwijzingen voor het ocu-

leeren van Hevea Buitenzorg, Centrale

Vereeniging tot Beheer van Overjarige

Cul-tures in Neder-Iandsch-Indie Archipel

Drukkerij 34 p

Cramer, P J S (1924) Onze geoculeerde

Hevea's in hun eerste proefjaar; hun groei

en hun productie Arch v.d, Rubbercult

in Ned -Indie, 8: 289

- (1941) Wild rubber and selection Rubber

Recuefl v 13

- (1942) Oude vrienden en nieuwe kennissen

in den Cultuurtuin De Bergcult 16: 134-142

Dijkman, M J (1939) Identificatie kenmerken

van de voornaamste in de praktijk

aange-plante Hevea cloonen Buitenzorg, Centrale

Proefstations Vereeniging Archipel

Druk-kerij 263 p

Fallon, Baron F (1927) La culture de I'Hevea

en Congo BeIge In Report International

Conference Tropical Products Paris 1927

p.27

Giessen, E van der and Ostendorf, F W (1948)

The oldest Hevea trees in Java Chronica

Naturae 104: 197-200

Huber, J (1906) Ensaio d'uma synopse das

especies de genero Hevea Bolo Mus Goeldi

rub-p 9-38

Indisch Verslag (1941) Indisch Verslag over 1940

Batavia, Het Centraal Kantoor voor de tistiek October 1941 573 p

Sta-Maas, J G J A (1948) De selectie van Hevea

in de praktijk Arch v.d Rubbercult inNed.r-Jndie 26: 19-114

McFadyean, Sir A (1944) The history of rubberregulation 1934-1943 London, Geo Allen &

Unwin, for the International Rubber lation Committee 421 p

Regu-Pfliltzer, A (1941) Meeldauwbestrijding doorzwavelbestuivingen Vlugschrift der Cen-trale Proefstations Vereeniging #1

Buitenzorg 5 p

Romburgh, P van (1900) Caoutschouc en pertja in Neder'landsch-Indie Meded v

getah-s'Lands Plantentuin Batavia, 1900 XXXIX

Seibert, R J (1947) A study of Hevea (with itseconomic aspects) in the Republic of Peru

Annals of the Missouri Bot Gard 34:

261-352

Steinmann, A (1923), Enkele beschouwingen overoculaties Arch v.d Rubbercult, in Ned.-Indie, 7: 287

Vries, O de, Schweizer, J and Ostendorf, F W

(1929) Hevea selectie op Java Arch v.d,

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I