October i, 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



9 



of the varieties of the Castilloa are of distinct value. He 

 divides the Castilloa of Costa Rica into four species, the white, 

 the black, the red, and the"tunu," the first three being all 

 varieties of the Castilloa elastica. Botanists so far have not 

 followed his discrimination carefully, and it is a question if 

 rubber planters have made any distinction, nor has it been 

 proved necessary. Of course, it would not pay planters to raise 

 " tunu " gum instead of Panama rubber, but so far as we know 

 no such planting has ever been done in Costa Rica or, indeed, 

 anywhere where the Castilloa has been put in. 



RUBBER AND COCAO ALTERNATINQ, SHOWING METHOD OF CLEANING. 



for.oreven allowed to grow, they should have been somewhete 

 about 20 years old and certainly big enough to tap. The gos- 

 sips of the country appear to believe that so much quicker pro- 

 fit came to the planter through bananas that the rubber plan- 

 tations were sacrificed to that industry. 



From 1900 onward quite a number of companies were incor- 

 porated for the planting of Castilloa. A planter named Ed. 

 Coles furnished in 1902 a list of eleven planters who had put in 

 rubber, all the way from 10 to 100 acres. Some of these planta- 

 tions, if they had been continued, would have trees that should 

 be at the present time producers of rubber. The questioning 

 of either natives or foreigners on the ground elicited very little 

 information ; about all they seemed to know or care about was 

 bananas. From an American planter, however. we learned that 

 Messrs. Hoffenstadt and Gillett, of Banco de la China, have a 

 plantation where they lately tapped 600 Castilloas which were 

 6 or 7 seven years old, getting a pound of rubber from each 

 tree. 



The correspondent also mentioned an American family 

 named Hogan who were planting rubber at the mouth of the 

 Tres Amigos river, which was the beginning of the Costa Rica 

 Development Co., with headquarters at Los Angeles, Call 

 fornia. The officers of this company made arrangements for 

 us to visit their plantation but that meant a call at Greytown, 

 Nicaragua, to reach the Tres Amigos river, and we found that 

 to be impossible. This company have 25,000 trees, a little over 

 three years old. and about 15.000 two years old, which from 

 the photographs that we secured appear to be in a most excel- 

 lent condition. 



In this connection it is interesting to note the activity of 

 Mr. Th. F. Koschney, an old time settler on the San Carlos 

 river, and one who has studied the Castilloa carefully. While 

 not a botanist in the strictest sense of the term, his description 



DEVELOI^MtNT OF COLOMBIA. 



THE United States consular agent at Ouibbo, Colombia, re- 

 ports that President Reyes of that republic is undertak- 

 ing to promote the development of the immense region in 

 southern Colombia bordered by the Amazon and Orinoco 

 rivers, and which for the most part has been neglected in the 

 past. Not even such exports of rubber as are made by the 

 semi civilized Indians in that region contribute to the national 

 revenues, as they have always gone through the hands of trad- 

 ers of Venezuela or Brazil, being taxed as products of the lat- 

 ter countries. The Pari rubber tree {Ilevea Brasiliensis) is as- 

 serted to abound in the forest of part of this region, in addition 

 to other rubber producing species. The government of Co- 

 lombia has entered into a contract with Dr. Luis Cuervo Mar- 

 quez, formerly attached to the Colombian legation in Wash- 

 ington, and a partner, by which an exclusive concession of a 

 very large area is granted for 25 years, in consideration of agri- 

 cultural colonies being formed and small steamers placed on 

 certain rivers, and an export tax of $1 (gold) per 100 pounds 

 paid upon all exports of rubber. The contract provides that 

 certain large areas will be given in perpetual ownership if 

 planted or cultivated during the 25 years' limit above men- 

 tioned. The contract is for all kinds of development in the re- 

 gion covered. 



A correspondent of The India Rubber World mentions 

 that the two concessionaires referred to above are among the 

 most prominent citizens of Colombia. Dr. Cuervo Marquez was 

 sometime governor of the department of Santander, has been 

 charge d'affaires at Washington, is now a member of the nation- 

 al assembly, and is in the drug business in a large way in Bogo- 

 ta. His partner in the concession is Dr. Indalecio Camacho, 

 educated in Europe and the United States, and famed in South 

 America as an oculist and aurist. He is the owner of large 

 planting estates and mining interests. The standing of these 

 gentlemen leads to the belief that their concession will be de- 

 veloped on an important scale. Our correspondent adds that 

 President Reyes's term of office will not expire for several 

 years, and that during his administration a condition of tran- 

 quility and progress may be expected to be established which 

 will continue under his successors. This opinion, by the way, 

 is now held by many others. 



COLORADO RUBBER "HOODOOED." 



COCAO PODS AND SCRAP RUBBER FROM WILD TREES. 



EVERYTHING, material and mental, political and religious, 

 new inventions are met bv the masses at their birth with 

 a frown and a suspicion, and are fought from start to finish. 

 Everything is compelled to grow and fructuate on its merits. 

 So, with the Colorado rubber plant. It has been " hoodooed " 

 by the claim of certain rubber companies to patents, that cover 

 the product. This has hindered and obstructed its progress. 

 It has been a scarecrow that has caused capitalists to wait and 

 hesitate.— 5a//(/(j (Colorado') Mail, August iS. 



