246 



THE INDIA RUBBER V/ORLD 



[May 1, 1906. 



first suggestion of the coining show was from private 

 sources — a local affair, for a day- but the government 

 took the matter in hand, proposed a broader program, to 

 cover a fortnight, and is assuming the cost. 



The real development of the planting interest, of 

 course, has resulted from the enterprise of the planters 

 themselves, who have had the good judgment to work 

 in concert, through their associations, in studjing prob- 

 lems connected with rubber, just as they did in the pio 

 neer days of tea in Ceylon. But while the planters have 

 not depended upon the government, the latter has sought 

 in many ways to promote the interests of the planters. 

 On the whole, the situation in Ceylon is one which might 

 well be desired in many other localities. 



As for the exhibition, it can hardly fail to give a 

 healthful impetus to the rubber planting interest. It 

 will make more definite the world's knowledge of what 

 has been done, and the work in progress in relation to 

 rubber. It will make possible a fuller comparison than 

 has yet been made of the products of various methods of 

 curing rubber. And in general it ought to serve a valu- 

 able purpose as a clearing house for experience among 

 rubber planters, in a broader way than the local planters' 

 associations provide for. But we doubt whether many 

 rubber manufacturers will respond to Dr. Willis's invita- 

 tion to make e.^hibits at Peradeniya, though all who use 

 crude rubber might find it to their interest to attend the 

 exhibition, or else become informed as to its results. 



A NTMBKR OF Mexican rubber pi..'\ntations, according 

 to reports recently made public, by the owning companies, 

 are in a thriving condition, apparently having made all the 

 progress in development to have been expected by this time. 

 Some of the planters evidently feel that there is now noth- 

 ing to do but to keep them cared for and to wait for the 

 trees to reach a tappable size. But what is of chief impor- 

 tance is the study of tapping methods and the treatment of 

 the latex, in order that, when the productive period does ar- 

 rive, the rubber may be handled practically and econom- 

 ically. 



In the matter of enterprise in the way of resuming 

 business in San Francisco, we take it that the rubber trade 

 will compare favorably with any other interest which suf- 

 fered from the late disaster. 



RUBBER TAPPING AT " RUBiO." 



'"OhH Tehuantepec Rubber Culture Co. (New York) have 

 -^ distributed to their shareholders the report of the 

 latest annual inspection of their plantation " Rubio, " in 

 Mexico, made by a representative of the shareholders, the 

 inspector this year being Mr. W. H. Hyde, of Cleveland, 

 Ohio. His inspection began on Febniar}- 4. The details 

 given confirm those in former reports, except that the trees 

 are larger in size, and further improvements have been made 

 on the property. The company have finished planting and 

 the energies of the management are devoted to keeping the 

 young rubber trees in the best possible condition. 



Anticipating that the problem of economically tapping a 



million rubber trees will call for much study, the company 

 have leased a i)lantation about 20 miles from Minatitlan, on 

 which are about 800 rubber trees from 9 to 18 years old, and 

 a competent man has been engaged to undertake regular 

 work in experimental tapping, in which will be embraced 

 "all known and propo.sed methods and processes " for tap- 

 ping the trees and treating the latex. During the j'ear 

 General Manager Luther visited important rubber regions in 

 Panama, Columbia, Peru, and Bolivia, and saw the syste- 

 matic exploitation of wild rubber, both Castilloa and Hevea. 

 In a statement which he prepared for inclusion in Mr. Hyde's 

 report Mr. Luther says of the situation in South America: 

 "Taking all the difficulties into consideration and the evi- 

 dent impossibilitj^ that the product can increase, I returned 

 with renewed and better fortified confidence in our cultiva- 

 tion business. " He adds : 



I expect to prove in experiments about to lie betjun tlml by ap- 

 plying tile careful gradual system of tapping practiced on the 

 Hevea trees we can count on at least twice as large a product from 

 this sort of rubber than the Hevea, and that we will produce at 

 least twice as much over a period as has customarily been gotten 

 from the wild Castilloa trees, and this of course at a very uuicli 

 reduced expense. 



No more frame, tiled roof houses will be built in the camps, 

 as the natives prefer the palm houses, which, in the course 

 of time, prove to be practically as economical as the more 

 modern structures. Corn was planted two years for marking 

 the hills of the young rubber trees, but as no more rubber is 

 to be planted, the future requirements of corn will be pur- 

 chased in the rieighborhood. 



THE EDITOR'S BOOK TABLE. 



ASBESTOS: ITS OCCURRENCE, EXPLOITATION AND USES. BY FRITZ 

 Cirkel. M.E. (Mines Branch-Depanrnent of the Interior.) Ouawa, Canada : 

 1905. [S vo. Pp. Xiv+i69-f.l9 plates and two maps.] 



THE second of the important series of publications on the 

 economic minerals of Canada to be issued under the di- 

 rection of the government superintendent of mines, relates to 

 Asbestos, the production of which of late years has assumed 

 such a prominent place among the mining industries of 

 Canada. As is generally known, that countr3' is to-day the 

 largest producer of asbestos, and the qualitj' is of a superior 

 grade, in addition to which the deposits are of great extent. 

 The Canadian production increased from 380 short tons in 

 18S0 to 35,068 in 1904, besides which is to be noted in the 

 latter year 13.087 tons of asbestic. The largest customer by 

 far for Canadian asbestos is the United States, to which 

 24.9S0 tons were exported in 1904, against 4375 tons to 

 Great Britain, 1984 to German}', 1354 to Belgitim, and 1154 

 to France. Mr. Cirkel's admirably prepared report deals 

 with geology, the characteristics of asbestos, the details of 

 mining, including an analysis of costs, and a chapter on the 

 Commercial Applications of Asbestos, in which latter are 

 mentions of various purposes for which asbestos is used in 

 connection with India-rubber. Not only is this true, but the 

 substance is of much interest to the rubber trade for the 

 reason that it finds many applications in which it comes in 

 competition with rubber goods. In both America and Etirope 

 asbestos finds a considerable market in the rubber industrj-. 

 A number of illustrations occur in the book. 



Report upon a Vi.sit to Great Britain to Investigate the ludia- 

 Rubber Industry in its Relation to the Growth and Preparation of 

 Raw India-Rubber in the Malay Peninsula. By P. J. Burgess. 

 Agi-kultural Bulletin, S\\\pi\>ore IV=i2(Dec '05). Pp.458472. 



