244 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April i, 1909. 



THE NEXT B.UBBEB EXHIBITION. 



The proposal to repeat in London the International Rubber 

 Exhibition held at Olympia last year is being kept alive, and 

 doubtless such an exhibition will be held, though the question of 

 the proper date is in abeyance. A communication to The India 

 Rlbber World indicates that the management are still making 

 inquiries, and that thus far the manufacturers who have ex- 

 pressed an interest are mostly in favor of holding the exhibition 

 in 1910, while the planters seem to prefer 191 1. Later informa- 

 tion is to the effect that 191 1 has been fixed upon definitely as 

 the date, and every indication points to this as being satisfactory 

 to all interests concerned. 



PLANTING MISCELLANY. 



There are now growing on the "Chival" estate of the Orizaba 

 Rubber Plantation Co. (Chicago), in Chiapas, Mexico, about 1,000 

 Hevea rubber trees, the growth of which encouraged the owners 

 of an adjoining plantation recently to order 25,000 Hevea 

 "stumps" from Ceylon. 



The new rubber planting interest has opened the way for a 

 new branch of patent litigation as related to rubber. An illus- 

 tration is found in the proceedings before the registrar of patents 

 of Ceylon over the alleged infringement of a patent granted to 

 Mr. E. L. Walker, a planter in the Ratnapura district for the 

 coagulation of rubber latex. Mr. Walker is one of the superin- 

 tendents of a large group of plantations owned by The Weyganga 

 Rubber Co.. Limited, with 3,100 acres planted to rubber. 



The Kalutara Planters' Association — one of the several dis- 



trict planting associations in Ceylon — reports that at the end of 

 1908 its members had 26,637 acres planted to rubber against 

 23,000 acres one year previously. It is estimated that there are 

 7,000 acres under rubber to-day not represented by the associa- 

 tion. The rubber production in this district in 1908 was 568,945 

 pounds, against 285,299 pounds in 1907. 



Plantation rubber from the Congo Free State has actually be- 

 gun to come to market, though as yet in very small quantities. 

 The Societe Anonyme Beige pour le Commerce du Haut Congo, 

 who have planted 3,000,000 rubber vines, are reported to have 

 sold 1,144 pounds of rubber, the product of 3,000 plants, at 9.50 

 francs per kilogram [==97^ cents per pound]. 



"LA ZACUALPA" RUBBER LABORATORY. 



QOME views on this page relate to the rubber laboratory on 

 *^ La Zacualpa Rubber Plantation . in the state of Chiapas, 

 Mexico. The latex obtained by tapping is conveyed to the labora- 

 tory in five-gallon cans and poured through a strainer into vats, 

 where it is diluted with water, when the rubber rises to the top 

 like cream on milk, in a white spongy mass some three or four 

 inches thick. The rubber thus formed is then cut into strips, and 

 passed between heavy corrugated rollers, water being run through 

 at the same time and is pressed by the rollers into sheets about 

 Yi-mch in thickness. The sheets are then hung in the drying 

 room and when sufficiently dry are pressed into square blocks of 

 about 25 pounds each, hydraulic pressure of 1,500 pounds to the 

 square inch being used. 



Vats for Coagulating RtTBBEE. 



Rollers for Tre.\ting Rubber. 



Rubber in the Drying Room. Hvdr.^ulic Press for Rubber. 



PRKPARATION OF RUBBER ON "LA ZACUALPA" PLANTATION IN MEXICO. 



