December i, 1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



73 



THE RUBBER RESOURCES OF FORMOSA. 



WIIII.E in Japan, before the recent war, the Editor 

 of Thi; India Rubbur World had the pleasure 

 of visiting the Fujikura Insulated Wire and Rub- 

 ber Co., at Tokio, the oldest and most important 

 in this branch in the empire, and meeting tiie enterprising 



eCOVSANTHERA ROSEA "—A RUBBER PLANT OF THE SAME FAMILY 

 AS THE FORMOSAN RUBBER. 



manager, IMr. T. Matsumoto. The Editor having with him 

 late information on the success attained in rubber culture in 

 Ceylon and the Straits, Mr. Matsumoto became interested in 

 the possibility of planting rubber in Formosa, an island for- 

 merly belonging to China and as j'et not greatly developed. 

 The foUewing letter has been received from Mr. Jlatsumoto : 



Hhnrv C. Pkakson, Esq., New York — Dear Sir : First I must 

 a.sk to be excused for lu)' long silence, since }-our visit to our fac- 

 tory. I have to thank you for your kind suggestions for the benefit 

 of our works, and then shall write a few lines about my trip to 

 Formosa. 



When you visited our factory, in 1904, 1 asked your idea in regard 

 to trying rubber culture ou the island of Formosa, and I told you 

 that I hoped to get a chance to go there to investigate the matter. 

 But the war coming ou, I was kept verj' busy, without any chance 

 to leave our factory. At the beginning of this 3^ear however, I 

 veceived reports from a friend on that island, that rubber trees had 

 been planted on trial in the botanical garden at Taipei, and also 

 tliat wild rubber trees had been found in the Sinchu district. So I 

 could not wait longer, but started from here ou Jlarch 16, and 

 spent one mouth on the island. The outlines of what I learned are 

 as follows : 



One small tree of Ficiis elaslica was sent from the Imperial 

 Botanical Garden of Tokio, and planted in the garden at Taipei. 



From this resulted 2000 or 3000 stumps, which were sent to every 

 district to be planted on trial. Those seen by me seemed to be 

 growing in good condition, but the result is a question, as tlie trees 

 are yet too young for tapping, being only 5 or 6 feet in height. 



The wild rubber plants found in Formosa are vines, described as 

 a species of Ecdysanlhcra (botanical name). The largest that I 

 saw were 50 or 60 feet high, and 6 inches in diameter. The milk 

 is very thick, and coagulates readily into a brown colored rubber 

 of fine quality. When I visited the island the season was blossom 

 lime, and I enclose a sjiecimen blossom and leaf. 



These vines were discovered first at Taipeen, near Bankai (a 

 savage district), seven miles from the city of Happo in the Sinchu 

 district, and 70 miles from Kihing. Mr. T Kawakami, an oflicial 

 of the bureau of agriculture, was very much interested. After in- 

 vestigation he found rubber everywhere in the forest near Bankai, 

 in tlie northern part of Formosa, and he hopes to make that a 

 leading production of the island. On the other side of the island 

 we are trying to plant these vines hy various methods, but are not 

 very liopeful of success, since the)- do not seem to grow quickly. 

 Hence I am considering a plan to plant the Fard rubber, or some 

 other rubber tree, and am trying to get seeds from Ceylon. 



In Bankai, which embraces about one third of F'ormosa, about 

 100 000 savages are living, and some of their tribes are very cruel. 

 They like to kill natives and prize the heads very highly. In fact, 

 a man's rank is settled by the number of heads they have. A 

 young man will carry the heads he has when he goes to a girl to 

 ask her to be his wife. Tlicre are two festivals each year, at seed- 

 time and at harvest. Then thej- nmst offer a new head to their 

 gods, from which these events are called head festivals. There- 

 fore, before a festival, they will all go out for head hunting, carry- 



SPECIMEN OF RUBBER FROM A NATIVE VINE IN fORVOSA. 



ing food for five or six days, so that during these seasons the other 

 natives are afraid to go loo near Bankai. As a custom of express- 

 ing friendship, when a man gets a new head, he will invite bis 

 closest friends. He makes a hole in the head, which they fill up 

 with wines, and then put their mouths together under the neck, 



