20 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October i, 1906. 



miles south west of Durango, and is admirably adapted for 

 the purpose envolved. We have established Cam]) Pinguay, 

 from which I am writing, as farm lieadquarters. and have as 

 farm superintendent, Mr. W. M. Peterson, for manj' years 

 a superintendent in the Indian service. We have employed 

 the Navajo Indians in the gathering of the roots; we have 

 experimented with Mexicans and intend to try Japanese. 

 You will appreciate that at pre.sent the cost of the labor in 

 gathering the roots is by far the largest item in the ultimate 

 cost of the rubber gum, and that when this becomes a farm- 

 ers' product, the labor will be as inconsiderable as the labor 

 connected with harvesting alfalfa. 



"The process is extremely simple and is in charge of Mr. 

 Henry Konker as superintendent. The process follows 

 closely along the lines of linseed oil extraction, with which 

 work Mr. Konker has been identified since its inception. 

 While further experiments will undoubtedls- lead to the pro- 

 duction of a better gum, the gum we are now able to produce 

 has a verj- high amount of vulcanizing power and a small ad 



MORE RUBBER COMING FROM BOLIVIA. 



CAMP PINGUAY-BAILINQ WEED. 



mixture of it renders the rubber made from reclaimed 

 rubber unusually tough and elastic. It has a very much 

 higher vulcanizing power and is a very much better gum 

 in everj- waj-, than any Guaj'ule gum that the writer has 

 seen. 



" To sum up, this compan}- aims to produce a seed of the 

 pinguay weed, which farmers can use ; its aims to evolve a 

 satisfactory process for cheaply extracting the gum ; it 

 hopes by selection and hybridization to improve the qnalitj- 

 of the pinguay gum and increase the yield per plant : it also 

 hopes to extend the area within which the pinguay grows, so 

 that instead of it being grown in no lower altitude than 6000 

 elevation, as is the case in its wild state, that it may be 

 made to grow at a much lower altitude. It hopes ultimately 

 to make the United States independent of all foreign coun- 

 tries for its supply of crude rubber gum. " 



I'ovllitis 



1S96 2, ,509,566 



1897 3.6S3.275 



189S 6,943, 100 



^ I "*HH output of rubber from Bolivia is again showing an 

 -^ increase. Below are given figures for nine years, de- 

 rived from ofiicial sources. For a few years, after the pro- 

 duction in the Acre district became important, the figures 

 fluctuated, the political troubles there sometimes checking 

 the e.xport of rubber. For the last two years covered bj' 

 the table the Acre production has not been included, as that 

 district now belongs to Brazil. As will be seen, the 1904 

 output exceeded that of the previous year by more than 500 

 tons ; 



rotinds. Pound*. 



1899 4,708,000 igo2 4,186,585 



1900 7,691,728 1903 « 2,906,274 



1901 7,623, 138 1904 <7 3,453, 1S2 



[(7- Iv.\(lu<liiig the Acre district.] 



The government of Bolivia is constantly in receipt of pe- 

 titions for grants of rubber concessions. In the de])arlment 

 of La Paz 51 such petitions were registered in the latter half 

 of 1904 and 84 during 1905. In the department of Cocha- 

 hamba 31 petitions were filed in the first half of 1905. Al- 

 together, these related to 38,769 estradas (groups of 150 

 I levea rubber trees). 



The yield of rubber per tree in the Amazon regions has al- 

 waj'S been a matter of uncertainty. It may be of some in- 

 terest in this connection to note that an oflBcial report on 

 rubber production on the rio Beni for one year shows 459 

 csfradas to have been worked by 461 picadores, the produc- 

 tion being 309,599 pounds. This would average 671^ 

 pounds for each worker during the year, and 674 ;> pounds 

 per cstrada. Assuming 150 trees per cstrada, the average 

 per tree would be a trifle less than 4 u ponnds, but it is un- 

 derstood that very many estradas have less than the legal 

 number of trees. 



UNION MADE POLICE RUBBER GOODS. 



nr^HE following extract from the New York ofiicial Ctly 

 -^ Record relates to a pretty good sized order. It maj- 

 be of interest, also, on account of the reference to union 

 1 abor : 



Ordered, That the proposal of Hknrv V. Allien & Co. of No. 

 734 Broadway. Borou.ijh of Manhattan, to furnish caps with detach- 

 able cloth cap- and rubber cap covers with cape for the use of 

 roundsmen patrolmen and doormen of the Police Department, for 

 the sum and ])rice as follows, be and is hereby accepted : 



Caps with detachable cloth cape, each {2.65 



Ruliber cap covers with cape, each 75 



Such caps and rubber cap covers to be made conformable with the 

 sealed sample on deposit in the bureau of clothing and equipment, 

 and to lie strictly union made throughout, each and every cap to 

 contain the union label. 



Thk Balgownie Rubber Estates, Limited, own the Bal- 

 gownie rubber and coffee estate in Selangor, Malay vStates. 

 Between October and March 3200 Heiva trees, the oldest not 

 over 5 'i years, were tapped lightl}' and yielded 1740 pounds 

 of dry rubber. During the current business year it is hoped 

 to obtain about 6i,so pounds from 7150 trees, some of which 

 will be 6!',' years old b}- next March. 



Thr United States consul general at Rio de Janeiro, Bra- 

 zil, reports an increasing import of rubber from that port. 

 The variety is " Mangabeira. " the total imports of which, 

 from the whole of Brazil, were smaller in 1905 than in the 

 year previous. 



