326 



carry out liis recommendation of a quarantine of the district 

 along with a roundup of all the stock. This action was approved 

 and ratified bv the board at its monthly meeting. 



BRAZIL'S EXORMOUS RUBBER RESOURCES. 



An article on the wild rubber trees of Brazil in the Bulletin 

 of the Bureau of Agricultural Intelligence and Plant Diseases 

 contains facts that might well strike dismay into the developers 

 of rubber tn other counti'ies, were it not for the saving clause, so 

 to speak, of the inaccessibility of the vast resources of the wild 

 article for marketing — a condition that is not likely to be overcome 

 in the near future, or until the rapidly growing demand for rubber 

 will call for the prodigious reserves of the Brazilian forests. The 

 article says in part : 



"The world's consumption of rubber is calculated by ^I. A. Du- 

 bosc as being, for 1911, 85,000 tons, with a co-efficient of increase 

 of 8% per annum, which would raise the total world's consump- 

 tion to 180,000 tons about 1920, and the business turnover cal- 

 culated by Sir H. Blake at 1.100 million per year, would attain to 

 more than 2y^ thousand million francs. 



'"Of the whole of this enormous consumption, the greatest part 

 is supplied by Brazil with its wild rubber. Para, which also ranks 

 highest in point of quality. In 1910 Brazil is said to have pro- 

 duced 38,000 tons of Para, that is, one-half of the world's con- 

 sumption. 



"Each great producing region appears to have its special rub- 

 ber plant. In Brazil the area of Amazonas, which is the principal 

 producing centre, amounts to nearly 63/ million sq. kilometers 

 (2,509,000 sq.' miles) i. e., 12 times the area of France. In all 

 parts of this state there are found one or another of the varieties 

 of Hevca or Castilloa but especially that wonderful tree. Hcvca 

 BrazHiensis, which, with well-conducted tappings can when ma- 

 lure, at about ZS years, yield up to 12 kgs. (25.4 lbs.) of rubber. 

 The number of trees standing in the two States of Para and 

 Amazonas is estimated at 200 million. In the State of Amazonas, 

 the field of working of the natural 'seringaes' (rubber estates) 

 is growing day by day, in consequence of exploration being carried 

 lo the very remotest ramifications of the great rivers, which are 

 the confluents of the Amazon ; unfortunately the impossibility, 

 almost, of transport make the cost price unremunerative. Still the 

 reserves of rubber ripe for tapping in the Amazonian region are 

 not limited to the great number of Hcvca Brazilicusis forming the 

 principal wealth of that country. They are also formed by other 

 natural rubber bearing species of appreciable value, at least equal 

 to that of some famous plants of other countries." 



