THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October i, igo8. 



THE EDITORS BOOK TABLE. 



ESTUDO SOBRE OS LATEX BORRACHIFEROS E OS METHODOS 

 de Fabrico da Borracha. (Seguido de uma noiicia sobrc uma nova 

 tspecie borrachifera descoberta pclo auctor no sertao de Benguella). For 

 Carlos Eugenio de McUo Geraldcs. Lisbon: Lucas. 1906. [Paper. 8yo. 

 Pp. 1-7.) 



THE author has contributed through the pages of Revista 

 Agronomica (Lisbon) and other journals some important 

 additions to our knowledge of African rubber species, particu- 

 larly in the district of Benguella, which already has furnished 

 many thousands of tons of rubber to the world's markets. This 

 brochure is a general resume of the history of the use of rub- 

 ber, with notes on the qualities of the leading commercial brands, 

 but its notable feature is the first scientific reference to the plant 

 in the Bihe district, in Angola (Portuguese Africa), known locally 

 as "Ekanda." Unfortunately, Portuguese is not so widely read 

 as some other languages in which progress in rubber is recorded. 

 This publication, as its title shows, appeared in 1906. The Kew 

 Bulletin two years later (No. 5—1908) says: "But it was only 

 in the summer of the following year that the discovery became 

 more generally known through a short abstract from Pro- 

 fessor Geraldes's paper published in The Indi.\ Rubber World 

 [July I, 1907 — page 200]." Following this latter notice the Ekanda 

 tuber was studied at Kew, where it has been identified by Messrs. 

 Brown and Stapf as Raphionacme utilis. The plant referred to 

 has attracted the serious attention of the important Companhia de 

 Mozambique, engaged to so large an extent in development in 

 Portuguese East Africa, and who have recently secured the 

 services of Mr. W. H. Johnson, lately director of agriculture 

 for the Gold Coast Colony, in West Africa, and author of a 

 work of considerable value entitled "Para Rubber." While the 

 Ekanda plant is a native of Angola, in West Africa, the Mozam- 

 bique company are hopeful of acclimatizing it in their Beira ter- 

 ritory. The 1907 report of the Mozambique company says : "It 

 would appear that the 'Ekanda' propagates rapidly, and does not 

 require special care; it is therefore probable that it will easily 

 develop in our territory; we could therefore thus rely upon an 

 important source of revenue, for the bulbs of Ekanda are un- 

 doubtedly rich in india-rubber, which is of excellent quality and 

 the sacrifices [cost] which its cultivation demands are, so to 

 speak, insignificant." It is interesting to note that Professor 

 Geraldes has in preparation a supplementary study : "Da ex- 

 ploragao racional das principaes especies borrachiferas." 



THE FUTURE OF CACAO PLANTING. A PAPER READ BEFORE 

 the Royal Horticultural Society, London. By Harold Hamel Smith, 

 Editor of Tropical Life. With an Introduction by Sir Daniel Morris, 

 K. c. M. G. London: John Bale, Sons & Danielsson, Limited. 1908. 

 [Paper. i2mo. Pp. xiii -f 95. Price i shilling.] 



It doubtless will become- recognized in the near future that a 

 community of interest must e.xist between the cultivators of 

 india-rubber and other tropical products. Mr. Smith, rightly, we 

 think, is an advocate for planting more than one crop at a 

 time, in order to distribute the risks and minimize the effects 

 of adverse markets. The commercial value of cacao (the choco- 

 late tree), already great, is constantly increasing, and it happens 

 to be adapted to the same natural conditions as Hevea and some 

 other species of rubber. In fact, some of the more important 

 Ceylon plantations of rubber had their origin as a side issue 

 with planters of cacao. Later there was considerable interplant- 

 ing of rubber and cacao, but this we understand Mr. Smith to 

 discourage ; his theory of mixed crops extends only to encour- 

 aging planters to devote attention to both crops, but not to the 

 extent of interplanting, for reasons which he clearly sets forth. 

 Our author is an authority on cacao, and his little work can be 

 recommended to rubber planters as meriting their interest, 

 whether or not they have been planters of this crop. The fact 

 of Mr. Smith's activity in connection with the London Rubber 

 Exhibition will give rubber planters an additional reason for 

 giving his valuable little book a penisal. 



IN CURRENT PERIODICALS. 

 The Atlantic Cable of 1858. By William Maver, Jr.:=Electrical World. 

 New York. LII-S (Aug. 22, '08). Pp. 385-387. 



V'eranderung des Kautschuks beim Lagern und Seine Konservierung. By 

 W. Schellmann, rii.D.^dJcr Pflan:er, Amani. IV-i (Jan. 4, '08). Pp. 1-8 



Ecanda Rubber {Raphionacme utilis). By Otto Stapf. [The tuberous 

 rubber producing plant described in The India Rubber Wori-d, July i, 

 1907 — page 300.]=/C(*t£' Bulletin, London. No. 5 (1908). Pp. 209-215 

 with plate. 



The Rubber Plant of Southern Europe. By Professor Matter and Gus- 

 tave Van den Kerchhove. [Report on Atractylis gumnvifera reprinted from 

 The India Rubber World, March i, 1908 — page 177.3 = 7/1* Indian 

 Forester, Allakabad X.\IV-7. (July, '08). Pp. 386.392. 



Rubbers from Trinidad. [Report on 23 specimens of plantation rubber, 

 from several species. ]=i?«//f(iM of the Imperial Institute, London. VI-2 

 (1908); Pp. 135-144. 



Localizing High Resistence Breaks in Cables. By J. Rymer-Jones.= 

 The Electrical Review, London. LXIII-1600 (July 24, '08). Pp. 124-125. 



ALSO RECEIVED. 



Le Caoutchouc en Nouvelle-Caledonie. Par M. Etesse. Paris: Augustin 

 Challamel. 1908. 24 pages. 



Views in the Congo Free State. Development of Central Africa Under 

 the Rule of King Leopold. [A series of pictures from photographs. Re- 

 ceived from the consulate general of the Congo Free State at Baltimore.) 

 34 pages. 



Rubber Cultivation in Ceylon. [The advantages of artificial manures 

 for bearing rubber trees.] Freudenberg & Co., Colombo. 11 pages. 



Methods of Analysis of Raw Rubber. By D. Spence, PH.D. 16 pages. 

 Distribution of the Protein in Para Rubber. By D. Spence, PH.D.. 15 

 pages. Analysis of Latex from Ficus Vogelii and of "Memlcku" Rubber 

 Therefrom. Note on the Karite Gutta. By D. Spence, PH.D. 15 pages. 

 [Reprints from The Quarterly Journal, Institute of Commercial ResearcKr 

 Liverpool University. 6d. each.] 



Plants a Caoutchouc. By Professor G. E. Mattel and Gustav van den 

 Kerckhove. [On the possibility of the cultivation of rubber species outside 

 the tropics.] 23 pages. 



The Mogambique Company. Memorandum with respect to Rubber in the 

 Territory of Manica and Sofala. Translated from the Portuguese. London: 

 Whitehead, Morris & Co., Limited. [Paper. 4to. Pp. 72. Price i 

 shilling.] 



"The India Rubber World's" Editor in Japan. 



[Advantage is taken by the staff, in the absence of Mr. Pearson, to give 

 his friends in the trade a glance at an excellent photograph which conies 

 from Japan, where evidently at one time he pi:sed before a camera with 

 Mr. Kenzo Okada, of an important rubber manufacturing company at 

 Tokio.] 



