September i, 1907.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



385 



(100 rubber trees on an average), or about $1571, with exchange 

 •■■t ISJ4 pence. This was very low, since such property is usually 

 considered worth 500 niilreis per rslrada. But as our correspon- 

 dent writes: "It is very difficult to judge of the value of a piece 

 of property by the price it brings at an auction. At times, <iwing 

 to scarcity of money, properties go very cheap." 



INAMBARt MAKES A BEGINNING. 



At a special meeting of sliarehulders of the Inambari I'ara- 

 Rubber Estates, Limited (London, July 22), the chairman. Sir 

 William Martin Conway, explained the causes which had de- 

 layed completion of the purchase of the properties in Peru 

 which the company was formed to acquire. Mut preparations for 

 collecting rubber had not been delayed, the vendors having agreed 

 to guarantee the return of any money which might be expended 

 by the company in the event of the purchase of the properties 

 falling through. The company is provided with £75,000 [=$364,- 

 987.50] in working capital ; some rubber gatherers have been 

 secured and other preparations made. The next regular tapping 

 season is to begin in October. Thomas H. Slater has been 

 secured as manager of the company's properties. 



A PARA BOOK ON RUBBER PLANTING. 



The treatise on rubber planting, adapted fur use in the Amazon 

 region, referred to by the governor of Para in his last message 

 as being in course of preparation [see The India RunnER 

 World, January l, 1907 — page 104] has made its appearance. The 

 author is Dr. Jacques Huber, director of the Para Museum. It 

 discusses the practicability of cultivating the Hcvea Braciliensis, 

 the principal native rubber tree of Brazil, based upon the results 

 attained in the Far East, and points out the methods employed in 

 Ceylon and elsewhere. Mixed planting — that is, rubber with 

 cacao or other crops — is recommended. The title of the bro- 

 chure of 59 pages, printed in Portuguese, is : "A Seringueira 

 {llez'ca Bracilicnsis). Conselhos praticos para a sua cullura 

 racional." 



AN ALARM SOUNDED IN PARA. 



A NOTE in a recent issue of this Journal on a test for farinha 

 ■** in rubber serves as the text for a lengthy contribution to 

 the Para newspaper, Folha do Norte, on the adulteration of rub- 

 ber in its original preparation, signed by .Americo Rodrigues. 

 Doubtless Ini)l\ Ruwier Wori.d readers elsewhere will be inter- 

 ested in learning how rubber topics are di.scussed in the great 

 home of rubber — the lower Amazonian capital. It probably will 

 be news to them that the use of farinha in rubber has led to 

 such vigorous protests as are here reported. Senhor Rodrigues 

 writes : 



ADULTERATED RUBBER. 



It is reported by North American newspapers, and particularly 

 by reviews that are specialists in matters pertaining to the com- 

 merce and industry of india-rubber, that the manufacturers of 

 rubber articles in the different industrial centers of the great 

 republic are directing all their efforts to the refusal of the raw 

 article when it presents signs of adulteration by the addition of 

 mandioc flour. These manufacturers hope to be able to get 

 buyers in Belem (Para) and Manaos to refuse to accept the 

 rubber which is adulterated in such manner; or if they do buy it, 

 they should do so at a price relatively lower, so that the diflFer- 

 ence can compensate for the expenses incurred in removing the 

 extraneous substance. 



This question has been the subject of heated discussion in the 

 meetings of manufacturers which have been held lately, several 

 experiments made proving the inferiority of the adulterated 

 article in its use in certain manufactures. 



Several processes have been suggested for detecting the adul- 

 teration, that discovered by Mr. Walter E. Piper, of the Boston 

 Rubber Shoe Co., being the one which is commonly used. This 

 process consists in the employment of a solution in water of 



iodine water and potassium iodide, „ i.m, ,j\\ being applied with 

 a brush on the cutting of the rubber, reveals the presence of the 

 farinaceous admixture by the bluish color which the rubber as- 

 sumes upon contact with the solution. 



Now facts of this kind, which directly affect the commercial 

 welfare of the vast region which we inhabit whose very life is 

 si> closely interwoven with the rubber extracting industry, will 

 not pass unnuticcd by those who are properly solicitous about the 

 land that gave them birth. 



With this idea in mind, we shall attempt to bring to light these 

 facts, calling the attention of the interested parties to these 

 irregularities, fraught with so many perils to our principal in- 

 dustry, and at the same time demand from the competent authori- 

 ties the enactment of repressive measures against such a wanton 

 abuse. 



While conserving always the rudimcntal processes of extrac- 

 tion, here where the Hevca grows spontaneously, we arc 

 behind those progressive regions where the rational culture of 

 the precious plant is yielding already a liberal harvest. And we 

 blindly open the door — either through the adulteration of rubber 

 or through the criminal production of inferior qualities — for the 

 competition which vigilantly lies in wait to take advantage of 

 every opportunitj'. 



Statistics still give to the Amazon region the supremacy in the 

 world's supply of rubber ; but, on the other hand, they report a 

 depreciation in the value of the article, due to the facts already 

 related. 



The extraordinary progress of industry in this country, always 

 ascending, in proportion as science and civilization become in- 

 tensified, has made an article like rubber which, at least until 

 now, has had no substitutes, the object of the covetous dreams 

 of capitalists. Hence the constant organization of companies 

 and enterprises requiring the subscription of millions for the 

 exploitation of the rich industry and the establishment of rational 

 culture of the famous EuphorbiacccB in all tropical countries 

 where they can be easily acclimated. 



In Ceylon and the Malay peninsula alone there are approxi- 

 mately 30,000,000 Hevea trees planted, and, according to a very 

 useful publication by the distinguishe'd Dr. Huber. director of the 

 Para Museum, it is not impossible that in ten years this number 

 will be duplicated. It is very probable, says this scientist, that 

 by 1915 such plantations will be able to produce as much as, and 

 possibly more than, the quantity now produced in the .Vmazon 

 districts. 



In the face of such grave danger only a people like ours could 

 maintain an indifference so criminal. It may be that our indif- 

 ference to destiny is an effect of our environment, whose gran- 

 deur we continually extol, without deriving from it the advan- 

 tages which nature has intended. But it is urgent that we 

 awake from the ecstatic apathy into which we have fallen and 

 endeavor to ameliorate the rubber situation, including the exten- 

 sion of its production by means of rational cultivation. 



AMKRK'O KODRTC.UES. 



HE YEARNED FOR GALOCHES. 



I N the advertising columns of a recent number of the Paris 

 *■ Figaro, under the classification of "Renseignements Utiles," 

 or "Useful Notices," an advertisements appears, of which the fol- 

 lowing is a literal translation : 



"A Russian dwelling in Paris since a recent date feels deso- 

 lated at not being able to find galoches of india-rubber of the 

 Russian model, that is to say rigid. He would be grateful to 

 any one who would indicate to him a stock of these Russian 

 galoches in Paris. Write to the Figaro, Serge V." 



The advertisement occupies six lines of space and advertising 

 space is not cheap in Paris newspapers. It probably cost Serge 

 v., says the New Yo.k Sun. from $6 to $10 to seek relief for 

 his desolation at the lack of Russian galoches. 



