200 



THE INDIA RUBBER. WORLD 



[March i, 1909. 



of rubber from Para, which he gives for the periods of 

 five crop years, and the price figures are his, as well as 

 those for quantities : 



Average Average 

 Yearly Price 



Export. per lb. 



Five years to 1889-1890 tons 14.612 35. i^d. 



Five years to 1894-1895 18,702 ^s. 



Five years to 1899-1900 23-.'i24 3^- lo'/id. 



Five years to 1904-1905 30,235 4s. ^^d. 



zVi years to Dec.- 31, 1908 35-6/7 4-^- 8J4(^- 



While not certain as to how Mr, Lampard's "average 

 price" has been arrived at, we do know that Para rubber 

 costs more now than formerly, and that while prices fluc- 

 tuate, there is no indication, so far as the Ajiiazon rubber 

 situation alone is concerned, of a decline at any time to 

 the figures current a dozen years ago, or earlier. Mr, 

 Lampard has seen the average yearly production of Para 

 rubber increased 144 per cent, within a little more than 

 a score of years, while the average price has advanced 

 50 per cent, or more. At this rate, what would be the 

 ultimate result? We feel confident that, while extensive 

 rubber resources in the Amazon watershed are yet un- 

 touched, the growing demand for this material has devel- 

 oped the maximum productive capacity in those regions. 

 The reason that more rubber has not been forthcoming 

 is that the people on the ground there have not been able 

 to get it out. 



But the .\mazon region does not yield all the rubber 

 used ; probably not more than half comes from there. 

 The difference between this region and others, however, 

 is that whereas the Hcira trees, as exploited in South 

 America, yield rubber year after year, most other species, 

 under the methods of treatment applied to them, vield 

 rubber only once, leaving the forests in time entirely 

 without rubber. In the end, therefore, if the world's 

 dependence for rubber w^ere solely upon forest produce, 

 there would be left only the Hcvca trees, with a possible 

 price for the product which it would not be comfortable 

 to contemplate. 



It happens, however, that the production of rubber on 

 plantations has been undertaken with such success as to 

 insure possibly a sufficient supply even if all the forest 

 rubber reserves should become exhausted. Mr. Lam- 

 pard's own company have brought into existence a 

 planted rubber forest described as "a solid block of 1 1 ' 4 

 square miles," on which are nearly a million rubber 

 trees; not such a forest as one finds in South .\mcrica. 

 where five rubber trees to the acre are a good average. 

 This Sumatra plantation is typical of many hundreds, 

 the progress of which has led to the question whether 

 there is not danger of overproduction in sight. 



Mr, Lampard does not fear overproduction. He has 

 seen more rubber coming to market every vear, and at 

 the same time prices have gone up. There is no reason 

 to suppose that the limit of rubber consumption has been 

 reached ; on the contrary new uses for rubber are devel- 

 oped all the while. On the other hand, while more rubber 

 does come forward, the limits of forest ]iroductii)ii are 



discernible. The .Amazon country lacks facilities for a 

 larger output, and in other regions the rubber sources 

 are becoming exhausted. For these various reasons, Mr. 

 Lampard feels that when all the rubber trees now planted 

 have become tappable there still will not be too much 

 rubber coming to market to render its production 

 unprofitable. 



While on the subject of .\mazon rubber, it may be 

 pointed out that not nearly all the rubber coming down 

 that stream is "Para." or Hcvca rubber. There exist in 

 the forests of northern Brazil and parts of Bolivia and 

 Peru trees which yield plentifully a desirable rubber mar- 

 keted under the Spanish term "Caucho." It is under- 

 stood to be derived almost wholly by the destruction of 

 the trees, so that, while large quantities are now coming 

 to market, the mere largeness of the trade in caucho only 

 points to its earlier disappearance. This table shows the 

 total quantity (in kilograms) of rubber exported through 

 Para during the past ten calendar years, and also the 

 extent tt> wliich caucho figured in the shipments ; 



Years. Rubber. 



1899 22,894.538 



1 900 23,997,063 



1901 26,326,609 



1902 25.359.403 



1903 26,884,114 



1904 26,200.180 



1905 27,905,982 



1 906 28,436,733 



1907 30,358,712 



1908 30.631,737 



It will be seen that while the total exports of rubber 

 from Para have increased 50 per cent, in ten years, the 

 exports other than caucho have increased less than 34 per 

 cent. These figures are significant, in view of the fact 

 that only Hcvca rubber remains to be considered seriously 

 among forest rubber products by planters outlining their 

 policy for the future. Formerly no caucho came through 

 Para. It was discovered extensively in Colombia, which 

 used to ship as much as 7.000.000 pounds in a year, but 

 finally the export dropped to almost nothing — exhaustion. 

 The caucho gatherers shifted to new fields and to-day are 

 exerting themselves to the utmost to kill all the trees in 

 the Amazon valley yielding this grade of rubber. And 

 caucho trees, once killed, stav dead. 



Rise and Decline of Rubber Production in Colombia. 



[The- chart illustrates what is customary in other regions than where 

 rubber is obtained by systematic periodical tapping.] 



