Makch I, I(j07. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



icS7 



Tai'pixc "Castilloa" Rubber on Hacienda Del Corte, in Mexico. 



RUBBER TAPPING ON "DEL CORTE." 



IX response to an inquiry regarding the e.xperiirental tapping 

 *■ of rubber in progress on the hacienda "Del Cortc," owned by 

 the Isthmus Plantation Association of Mexico. .Mr. C. G. Cox, 

 the secretary of the company, at Milwaukee. Wisconsin, has 

 written at length to The India Rubber World, giving details, 

 which, in part, are summarized below. The plantation manager 

 had not then finished tapping, and complete records had not 

 reached the home office. 



Owing to the lack of age of the planted rubber in Mexico, none 

 ■of the planters there has had much experience in extracting 

 rubber. Hence, the tapping at "Del Corte" has proceeded very 

 'Cautiously, to avoid all possibility of injuring the trees. Up to 

 this time it has been a question of methods and not of what 

 ■quantity could be got from a tree in the first tapping. 



The only tapping done has been by means of V-shaped incisions 

 — usually three on one side of each tree. They do not believe in 

 machete tapping. Their manager, Cecilio Oest, has had a knife 

 made according to his ow-n ideas, which makes a nice clean cut 

 that heals readily without harming the tree. On the contrary, it 

 is believed that the few trees subjected to their first tapping last 

 year were benefited, becoming larger and apparently better than 

 neighboring trees not tapped. 



^Ir. Cox states that at "Del Corte" the trees have been tapped 

 less freely than at the same age in Ceylon, and adds : "But we 

 prefer to make haste slowly, feeling that there is a sure future for 

 our rubber trees, and there is no occasion for taking any risks. 

 We have demonstrated the fact that every tree planted is a pro- 

 ducer. 1'he latex has flowed freely from every tree we have 

 tapped. We have also demonstrated that trees can be tapped 



watliout injury. .'Xnothcr very important matter is that the lap- 

 ping and coagulating is not going to cost as much as we first 

 thouglit." 



In regard to the yield of rubber per tree. Manager Oest does 

 not think it safe to estimate approximately more than one ounce 

 per tree for the first tapping. He would not risk damaging the 

 trees for the sake of a larger yield. By the next tapping he 

 hopes to get more rubber, and to find less care necessary. 



Cups are not used for gathering latex, but a spoon-shaped 

 implement. The idea is to tap many of the trees twice this year. 

 For coagulating, a small box of burned clay is used, which per- 

 mits the black water contained in the latex to filter through, so 

 that it is only necessary to wash the latex in three or four sets 

 of clean water. Within three or four days after filling the box 

 with latex a w-ell-dried and uniform sheet of rubber is obtained. 

 One man, it is said, can prepare loo pounds of dry rubber in a 

 day, 



.An .American importing house, asked to report on samples of 

 rubber referred to above, stated (on January 29) : "We should 

 say that the value of the rubber represented by your samples is 

 $T.io per pound, possibly a little more." A leading firm of 

 rubber brokers in London reported about the same time : "No. I 

 is fine, clean Castilloa sheet and fairly strong ; value about 

 5 siiillings [=$l.2if^] per pound. In quantity this would prob- 

 ably fetch near 55. 3d. [=$i.27>i] per pound." 



The Isthmus Plantation Association of Mexico was organized 

 in 1000 by citizens of Milwaukee, to grow tropical products gen- 

 erally. The company took over an estate on which some rub- 

 ber and coffee had been planted in 1900, and additional planting 

 has been done every year since. The hacienda "Del Corte" is 

 among the best and n:ost carefully managed rubber planting 

 properties in Mexico. 



