ARTIFICIAL DRIERS FOR CREPE.--It is more common to find artificial driers in use in Ceylon than in Malaya, possibly because these driers have been in use in Ceylon for other products. Some time ago the question of installing artificial driers received the serious attention of a number of estates in this country, chiefly on account of the incidence of fungoid and bacterial diseases in crepe rubber. The simple treatment for the prevention of these diseases is to get the rubber dry in the shortest possible space of time. In most cases it is found sufficient to roll crepe thin for air-drying in order to prevent the appearance of coloured spots. It is found, however, that some drying-houses are so badly planned and constructed, that quick drying under even the best of conditions is a practical impossibility. Cases have been known in which the disease may disappear almost entirely during a period of freedom from rain, only to recur as soon as wet weather sets in again. There can be no doubt that, on the whole, the number of cases of "spot" disease is on the decline; but equally it is certain that a very few estates will always be liable to outbreaks as long as drying is attempted in existing houses. For these reasons it is a poor policy to temporise, and the only sound policy in extreme cases would be to give up ordinary air-drying in favour of some method of artificial drying. As regards the majority of estates preparing pale crepe for various reasons, it is not expected that any will instal artificial driers. Money has been expended in elaborate buildings which certainly do the work for which they were designed. As long, therefore, as the accommodation is sufficient, and regular shipments are the rule, it is expected that ordinary air-drying will still remain the general practice. Of the better-known artificial driers, there are only three which merit serious consideration in these pages. They are the vacuum driers, the Colombo Commercial Company's hot-air drier, and the Michie-Golledge process.