December 



1905] 



THE INDIA RUBBER 'WORLD 



81 



A GERMAN CONGRESS DISCUSSES RUBBER CULTURE. 



AT the second GermaiTColonial Congress (Berlin, October 

 4 8) a considerable part of the program was devoted 

 to the consideration of topics connected with Caout- 

 chouc and the world's supplies of this important com- 

 modity. In section V — "The Agricultural Condition of the 

 Colonies and Transmarine Possessions " — almost the entire 

 first session was devoted to the Caoutchouc question. The two 

 speakers were Professor Dr. Otto Warburg, member of the Kol- 

 onial-Wirtschaftlichen Komitees, a well known Colonial tech- 

 nologist, and one of the foremost authorities on the Ficus spe- 

 cies, and Herr Louis Il&ff, director of the V'ereinigte Gummi- 

 waren-Fabriken Harburg-Wien.and President of the Zentral- 

 vereins Deutscher Kautschukwaren - Fabrikanten (Central 

 Union ol German I^ubber Goods Manufacturers). The formal 

 addresses delivered by these gentlemen were followed by dis- 

 cussions in which much interest was evinced. In the absence 

 of copies of the two papers The India Rubber World is 

 pleased to acknowledge its indebtedness to a summary of them, 

 with comments, by Dr. Soskin, in GummiZeitung. 



» * * 

 Dr. Warburg expressed great confidence in the future of 

 rubber culture in the German colonies — in Kamerun, New Gui- 

 nea, and Samoa, particularly in regions having a copious rainfall, 

 and also in German East Africa. AH of these he thought would 

 be able to report an important development in rubber culture 

 within a very few years. Already more than 1,000.000 rubber 

 trees have been planted in the German colonies, nearly half of 

 them in New Guinea and one quarter in Kamerun and German 

 East Africa. Samoa, also, in consequence of the recently 

 formed Samoa-KautschukCompagnie, is preparing to cultivate 

 rubber extensively. 



In New Guinea Ficus elaslica and Hevea IWasiliinsis have 

 already given excellent results, tappings of old Fictcs elastica 

 yielding z% kilograms per tree valued at 7.50 marks per kilo. 

 Manihot iilaziovii {iht rubber of Ceara) has given satisfactory 

 results in East Africa, eight year old trees yielding 100 grams 

 [=about 3,'4 ounces] of a quality saleable at 6 to 7 marks per 

 kilo. This tree promises to be of great importance for East 

 Africa on account of its easy cultivation and early productive- 

 ness. Kamerun possesses a valuable native rubber tree in the 

 Kickxia (Funlumia) elastica. Recent experimental tappings of 

 five year old trees under cultivation gave promising results as 

 to quantity, and the product showed under analysis 87.2 per 

 cent of Caoutchouc of fine quality. 



A " rush " such as prevails in Ceylon and the Malay States, 

 where an enormous amount of capital has been invested in 

 rubber culture, does not exist in the German colonies and is 

 not desirable. " But," said the speaker, " the plantation com- 

 panies who devote themselves early to this culture will be well 

 repaid, even if they should be unable to divide a 60 per cent, 

 dividend, like some of the English plantations." 



Dr. Warburg felt that great changes would be necessary in 

 Caoutchouc plantation methods in the near future — in connec- 

 tion with the manner of tapping rubber, for instance. The 

 crude tapping practice of the present will have to be replaced 

 by more practical methods. As in the case of the cinchona 

 plantations, every particle of Caoutchouc contained in the bark 

 should be obtained, though the speaker did not indicate defi- 

 nitely by what methods such desirable results might be reached 

 further than mentioning the removal of sections of bark from 



some species, as is done with oak trees for tanning purposes, or 

 by the pulling up of young plants in a system of annual field 

 culture. Dr. Warburg mentioned that from Caslitloa elastica 

 plants not yet a year old from 6 to 8 per cent, of Caoutchouc 

 had been extracted. Sufficient data is lacking, however, to 

 establish a satisfactory theory as to whether either of these 

 methods would prove practicable, though under Dr. Warburg's 

 direction experiments are being made bearing upon these 

 points. 



Dr. Warburg made a very interesting statement in regard to 

 a new Caoutchouc yielding plant— a species of mistletoe dis- 

 covered in Venezuela,* containing in the dried fruit from 12 to 

 24 per cent, of a good, easily extracted Caoutchouc. This is 

 from a botanical standpoint of great interest, because hitherto 

 no fruits containing Caoutchouc in any important quantity have 

 been known. It is of agricultural interest as well, since the 

 Venezuelan plant may prove susceptible to cultivation, particu- 

 larly on plantations which have been abandoned as unprofitable, 

 or on shade trees or hedges. The plant is said to fruit abun- 

 dantly at the age of one to four years. The speaker had in- 

 duced the Kolonial-Wirtschaftliche Komitee to send a spec- 

 ialist to Venezuela for studying the mistletoe culture, with a 

 view to adapting it to the German colonies. 



The question of the eventual overproduction of rubber was 

 next touched on by the speaker, as a matter of practical inter- 

 est in connection with engaging in this culture. He quoted 

 figures to show that at present some 60,000 hectares [ = 148,260 

 acres] were devoted to rubber plantations, of which i6,oco are 

 in Ceylon, 15,000 in the Malay States, and 4000 in Mexico. 

 Should the yield be only 1000 marks per hectare (at present a 

 net profit of twice this sum is calculated on plantations of 

 //fz/ifa), within a few years a harvest would be valued at 60,000- 

 000 marks [=$14,280,000]. Or if we figure the annual yield per 

 hectare at an average of 200 to 250 kilograms of rubber, the 

 60,000 hectares would yield 12,000 to 15,000 tons of Caoutchouc, 

 equal to about 20 per cent, of the world's total present produc- 

 tion. It must be considered, however, that the production of 

 wild rubber will decrease rather than increase, especially if 

 prices should decline. At the same time, a fall in prices would 

 lead to increase in consumption. Therefore, the overproduc- 

 tion of Caoutchouc is not to be feared for a long time to come. 



» » » 



The well known director of the Harburg-Vienna company, 

 Mr. HofT, gave a discourse which gained special attention be- 

 cause, on account of his practical knowledge as a manufacturer, 

 he represented the view of the Caotchouc industry. He pointed 

 out that the practical applications of rubber dated back only 

 about 60 years, to the epoch making discovery of vulcanization 

 by the American, Goodyear. In Germany rubber goods have 

 been manufactured for 50 years, the Harburg works, founded 

 in 1855, being one of the first in Germany. To-day there are 

 in the empire 90 rubber goods factories, employing a capital 

 of at least 100,000,000 marks [=$23,800,000], and no less than 

 30,000 workers. 



Such is the important position held by rubber in the various 

 industries that many of them would be practically impossible 

 without rubber. The machinery, brewing, chemical, and sugar 

 industries employ rubber in many forms — packing, belting, 



* See "Die Kautscliukniisteln",by Dr. Warburg, in Drr Tr^/en/ylaxzer {RerMa), 

 November, 1905. Pp. ^yiS-t>-i7. 



