March 



1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



189 



mechanical action the success of the process of coagulation 

 •iescribed above. 



I hope you will be good enough to allow the use of youi 

 columns for the debate of these and other knotty probleius 

 of the ])atietit and persevering industry of rubber planting. 



GORDON WALDRON. 

 Toronto, February 17, 1906. 



MR. WAl.DRON MARKETING RUBBER. 

 TiiEKE arrived in New York during the latter part of Feb- 

 ruary the first shipment of rubber produced on Mr. Waldron 's 

 plantation in Nicaragua — " Cukra " plantation, owned by 

 The Cukra Co, of Toronto, Limited, and described in TliK 

 India Ruhher World July i, 1905 (page 329). This rubber 

 left Bluefields on the steamer Corinto on January 25 and 

 reached New Orleans February i, coming thence to New 

 York, Mr. Waldron left Bluefields on the same steamer, go- 

 ing to his home in Canada via New York. The Waldron 

 rubber, about 1800 pounds, was delivered to the Manhattan 

 Rubber Manufacturing Co. From a cursory examination it 

 was exceedingly attractive. It came in irregular strips, quite 

 dark as to color, and Ather spong}-, thus allowing it to dry 

 easily, but it was firm, free from surface stickiness, and 

 when cut showed a very dense texture. After washing and 

 drying it was apparently as tough as coarse Para. Experts 

 valued it at 51.26 a pound and if large lots of it were obtain- 

 able a somewhat better price could be named. 



SHIPMENT OF MEXICAN PLANTATION RUBBER. 



Mk. George CuLLEN Pearson, proprietor of " La Espe- 

 ranza " rubber plantation, near Orizaba, Mexico, has begun 

 tapping on a commercial scale, the oldest of his Castilloa 

 trees being 6j< years old from the date of transplanting, or 

 about 7 years from the seed. Pie is not attempting to get 

 the greatest possible quantity from the trees, but to test va- 

 rious methods of tapping and a method of coagulation vihich 

 he has decided upon after extended experimenting, with a 

 view- to producing a rubber of the highest possible quality. 

 One shipment of about a ton has gone forward to London, 

 and he hopes to increase the amount to about 5000 pounds 

 during the present month. The illustration on this page 

 gives a view of the interior of Mr. Pearson's rubber dr3ing 

 house from a photograph, Mr. Pearson himself appearing at 

 the left of the picture. 



QEOROe C. PEARSON'S RUBBER DRYINQ HOUSE, 



OVERTAPPED PARA RUBBER TREES. 



An illustration on this page is reproduced by permission 

 from "Ten Thousand Miles in a Yacht, " the new book by 

 Mr. Richard Arthur, reviewed on another page, and is inter- 

 esting as showing the effect upon Hevea Rrasiliensis of 

 reckless and too frequent tapping, by which the latex ducts 

 in the bark have no opportunity to become renewed, and the 

 bark swells out, rendering new tapping after a time impos- 

 sible. An interesting note on this subject, from a report by 

 United States Consul Ayme at Para, under the heading 

 " Cameta Rubber from Brazil," appeared in The India 

 Rubber World August i, 1904 (page 379). 



RUBBER EXPLOITATION IN BRAZIL. 

 At the fourth annual met ting in London recently of the 

 Brazilian Rubber Trust, Limited, Mr. Ashmore Russan who 

 presided said that the income for the year ended September 

 30, 1905, was .^3,255 or £'S^ more than thej' had looked for- 

 ward to as the minimum amount. The estates are still un- 

 der lease, and it was reported that the lessees were doing a 

 business of ^80,000 a year, at a profit of ^20,000 or ^25,000. 

 When the company had gathered their own rubber they had 

 lost money, but then the circumstances were different, Mr. 

 Russan said. For one thing the price of rubber was only 2S. 

 6d. per pound then, against 55. ^d. now. The company were 

 considering plans for the sale of the property, and the lessees 

 were desirous of making a lease for a longer period, but, of 

 course, better terms for the company would be demanded. 

 [For the last preceding report see The Indi.v Rubber 

 World, February' i, 1905— page 151.] 



MACHINE FOR TESTING RUBBER. 

 The Afalay Mail KcenWy referred to the apparatus spe- 

 cially designed by the director of agriculture of the Feder- 

 ated Malay States (Mr. J. B. Carruthers) for testing the elas- 

 ticity and resiliency of rubber, which is now being experi- 

 mented with at the laboratory of the department ot agricul- 

 ture. The object of such machines is to subject the piece of 

 rubber to be tested to a measured and exact strain, and one 

 which increases gradually from nothing to the required 

 amount. In Mr. Carruthers's machine this is achieved by 

 pouring a fine stream of quartz sand into a receiver attached 

 to the rubber being tested. The rubber is first carefully 

 measured between two marks ; then the required strain is 

 applied, and a second measurement, showing the amount of 



