June i, 1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



287 



plantation rubber has shown the defect of softness and tack- 

 iness, and these samples have tended to injure the reputa- 

 tion of plantation rubber. Manufacturers were without decid- 

 ed opinions as to the form in which rubber is exported. As 

 long asit is dry and clear enough to show the absence of iniinir 

 ities, the form of the rubber was considered relatively unim- 

 portant. Preference for the crepe form was shown by some, 

 and most were agreed that this was as good a condition of 

 packing and exporting rubber as any. 



There is one danger connected with the use of a washing 

 machine on a plantation, says Mr. Burgess. By its means 

 adulteration with inferior rubber, rubber substitutes, and 

 recovered rubber could be carried out without possible de- 

 tection b\- eye or hand inspection, although chemical analy 

 sis or practical use of the rubber would reveal the sophistica- 

 tion. In unprincipled and fraudulent hands such adultera- 

 tion might be carried to a considerable pitch before detection 

 occurred, and this possibility of mis- 

 use should not be lost sight of by 

 those who are responsible for the pur- 

 ity of the rubber produced. 



SMOKING PLANTATION RUBBER. 



The London rubber brokers, Lewis 

 & Peat, who have from the beginning 

 shoivn a special interest in the devel- 

 opment of the market for plantation 

 rubber, handling an important share 

 of the Ceylon and Straits product, 

 write at length in The Times of Ceylon 

 in regard to the proper preparation of 

 this rubber. Their attention has been 

 called to some lots of biscuits appar- 

 ently well cured, arriving in London 

 in a heated and sticky condition, and 

 the question has arisen as to whether 

 the present mode of curing and the 

 biscuit forms are the best. The firm 

 regard this question of great import- 

 ance, and they seek to impress upon 

 planters the necessity of doing every- 

 thing possible to establish plantation 

 rubber on a sound basis as a competi- 

 tor of the Brazilian smoke cured rub- 

 ber, which "is still the standard and 

 has maintained its character as the 

 best up to this day, viz., for elasticity, strength, and dura- 

 bility for general purposes." 



It is essential, they say, that plantation rubber should be 

 so prepared and cured that it can be used for all sorts and 

 purposes by manufacturers. At present, so far as they can 

 ascertain, it is only used for solution and small special pur- 

 poses, and is not strong enough nor suitable for waterproof- 

 ing or tires and many other purposes that fine Para is used 

 for. 



They have noticed sometimes cases arriving with the bis- 

 cuits sticking together and in some cases actually more or 

 less compacted in one heated mass This they attributed 

 formerly to want of proper curing and drying, but they have 

 been impressed by a theory put forward in the trade "that 

 Ceylon pancakes and Straits sheets are at present made too 

 ' pure ' ; that is to say, too much moisture, etc.. is taken out 



HEVEA BRASILIENSIS, 



is reduced and that it will be found the rubber in this form 

 will not keep, but will inevitablj' become soft and treaclj' if 

 stored for any time or subjected to pressure and a raised tem- 

 perature. " 



The author of this theory believes that it is the extra 

 nuiisture left in the fine Para smoke cured that renders it fit 

 and strong enough for all purposes and accounts for its not 

 deteriorating. His argument is that Ceylon planters should 

 smoke cure their rubber and make it into large balls as they 

 do in Parii. He also suggests that there are plenty of nuts 

 in Ceylon that when burnt will produce the thick heavy 

 smoke containing the active principle, "creosote," which is 

 the antiseptic which cures Para rubber in Brazil. It is fur- 

 ther suggested that while plantation rubber so cured might 

 fetch less than the Ceylon biscuits and sheets do, the gain 

 in weight in moisture left in the rubber would more than 

 make up for the slightly lower price. 



Lewis & Peat remark that they 

 have seen Rangoon and .Assam rubber 

 nicely washed and cleaned in India, 

 arrive in London "a mass of heat," 

 and with it other rubber from the 

 same source, prepared by the natives, 

 containing earth and other impuri- 

 ties, but quite sound and free of heat, 

 suggesting that the cleaning weak- 

 ened and destroj'ed the fiber of the 

 rubber and thus unfitted it to stand 

 the heat of a ship's hold or variations 

 of the temperature. 



The Thiics of Ceylon, in reproducing 

 Mr. Gordon Waklron's letter in The 

 Indi.^ Rubber World in regard to 

 smoking Castilloa rubber in Nicara- 

 gua, mentions that Mr. Alexancer C. 

 Devitt, a member of Lewis & Peat, 

 who has been visiting Cej'lon. inclines 

 to the belief that plantation rubber 

 from Hci'ca may one da\- be treated 

 by smoke instead of by the methods 

 which usuallj' obtain to-day. 



CF.YLON AND .STRAITS PLANTING. 

 The report presented at the yearly 

 meeting of the Ceylon Tea Planta- 

 ti(ms Co., Limited (London, April 26) 

 mentioned 307,495 rubber trees on the estate, mostly among 

 tea, though the company are now beginning to plant rubber 

 extensively alone. During the year 5596 of the older trees 

 yielded 3685 pounds of rubber, which brought an average of 

 55. i\d. [ = §[.44]. Mr. H. K. Rutherford, the chairman, 

 said, as far as he could make out, the prices at which rubber 

 compan3' shares stood, gave roughly an average value of 

 about 10 shillings per tree, of all ages. If this company- 

 adopted 5i. as a basis, their rubber would be vi-orth ^75,000 

 as an asset. 



The Times of Ceylon \\?iS h(i<Lr\ making inquiries in regard 

 to the exports of plantation rubber from the Federated Malay 

 States, and finds that the government has not completed the 

 machinery for supplying exact figures, and it is a difficult 

 matter for private enterprise, owing to the number of sea- 

 ports from which rubber is shipped, besides which a certain 



of the latex, with the result that the elasticitj' and strength amount crosses the border into adjacent provinces. 



