318 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June i, 1909. 



than 5,315.902 pounds came in, or considerably more than two 

 years' consumption at the rate then prevailing, estimated in the 

 trade at less than 2,400,000 pounds. In opposing a duty on chicle 

 at that time the manufacturers asserted that by reason of the duty 

 the speculators would reap a harvest equal to at least $480,000, 

 before the government would collect any revenue, and which 

 would be in effect a direct grant from the congress. 



It is estimated that the average return to the chewing gum 

 manufacturers is 2.2 cents gross per 5 cent package, the re- 

 mainder going to the jobbers and retailers. Out of the 2.2 

 cents must come the cost of material, labor, advertising and dis- 

 tributing expense, and profits. 



United States Import Values of Chicle (Per Pound). 



Years. Value. Average. Years. Value. Average. 



1898-99 $363,051 i4-8c. 1903-04 .. $1,308,540 2S.7C. 



1899-1900 .. 354,720 15.4c- 1904-05 .. i,357>458 26.8c. 



1900-01 753.696 23.9c. 1905-06 .. 1,495,366 26.5c. 



1901-02 936,065 20.4c. 1906-07 . . 2,139,204 31.7c. 



1902-03 954,389 22.2c. 1907-08 .. 2,027,148 33.2C. 



E.XPORTS OF Chicle from Mexico (1906-07.) 



To Germany pounds 689 



To United States 4,009,984 



To France 88 



To Great Britain 2,548 



To British Honduras 752,006 



Total 4.765.315 



RUBBER SOURCES OF MOZAMBIQUE. 



AN interesting report on the collection of rubber in the terri- 

 tory comprised under the concession of the Companhia de 

 Mogamtique, in Portuguese East Africa— a region of which Beira 

 is the commercial and political capital — is made by Mr. W. H. 

 Johnson, director of agriculture to the company. Mr. Johnson 

 formerly filled a similar position under the government of the 

 Gold Coast Colony, and is the author of a work of value on "The 

 Cultivation and Preparation of Para Rubber" (London: 1904). 



The output of rubber from the region referred to grew from 

 43,859 pounds in 1894 to 214,500 pounds in 1905, since which time 

 the production has decreased, though the rate was larger in 1908 

 than in the preceding year. Mr. Johnson expresses the view 

 that since rubber has been exported continuously from the Beir.i 

 hinterland for nearly 30 years, and at an increasing rate, it is 

 doubtful "whether the extermination of the sources of wild rub- 

 ber is as imminent as the promoters of plantation rubber com- 

 panies would have us believe." 



The principal source of rubber in the territories of the Com- 

 panhia de Mozambique — and it was the only source for some 

 years — is the vine Landolphia Kirkii, discovered by and named 

 in honor of Sir John Kirk, now of Kew, and long time British 

 consul general at Zanzibar. Landolphia Kirkii, according to Mr. 

 Johnson, is widely distributed, growing within a few yards of 

 the seashore and at all elevations up to 4,000 feet, though its 

 habit is profoundly altered by the different conditions obtained in 

 various districts. In the dry areas of the low country it grows 

 less freely and produces smaller leaves, flowers, and fruits than 

 at higher elevations and where rain is more abundant. In the 

 latter districts Landolphia Kirkii develops into an enormous vine 

 with tappable stems often more than a hundred feet in length 

 and 10 to 12 inches in diameter. The bark of old stems is often 

 a half inch in thickness. The latex is white, thick, rich in caout- 

 chouc, and coagulates rapidly on exposure to the atmosphere. 

 The newly coagulated product is pure white, but changes to a 

 pale amber color on drying. 



The system which once obtained in cutting up the vines into 

 short pieces for the purpose of extracting the latex has been 

 abolished in the regions controlled by the Mozambique company, 

 and a study has been made of the tapping systems best calculated 

 to conserve the plants. As the majority of the laticiferous vessels 



traverse the bark of Landolphia Kirkii in a longitudinal direction, 

 a transverse incision taps more vessels than a longitudinal one 

 of the same length. Necessarily the climbing habit of this plant 

 does not allow of the adoption of such methods of tapping and 

 collecting of latex as are employed on plantations of rubber 

 trees. The latex being very thick does not flow readily. Any 

 which is likely to run off the vine on to the ground from a 

 tapping incision is wiped off by the tappers and smeared over 

 their bodies. Both the latter and that left on the vine rapidly 

 coagulates and is wound off by the tappers into small balls or 

 "spindles." It is stated that the collection of rubber from forest 

 vines requires a large amount of agility and de.xterity, for many 

 of them are suspended from the branches of high forest trees. 



The product of Landolphia Kirkii possesses excellent physical 

 properties, as is indicated by the prices obtained for it. Mr. 

 Johnson has been experimenting with a smoking process and 

 the rubber resulting from it was declared by London brokers tc 

 be slightly better in both quality and appearance than rubber pro- 

 duced on the same ground and dried without smoking. The 

 smoked samples were rated at 4s. id. per pound, and the un- 

 smoked samples at 3.?. iid. to 4s. per pound, when fine Para was 

 selling at 4s. 2d. per pound. 



In addition to Landolphia Kirkii several other native rubber 

 species have been discovered in the Mogambique company's terri- 

 tory. Landolphia florida abounds there, and while this plant is 

 generally regarded as not yielding a product of commercial value, 

 Mr. Johnson has been treating its latex by boiling and hopes to 

 get from it a marketable commodity. Ficiis J'ogclii is closely 

 allied and similar to Ficus elastica (the rubber tree of Assam). 

 It yields latex freely and some of the coagulated product has 

 been valued in London at 2s. per pound. Another rubber tree in 

 the same region is Mascarcnhasia elastica. It reaches a height of 

 30 feet, and has a bright dark green foliage, with leaves varying 

 from 3 to 9 inches in length and from I to 2 inches in breadth. 

 The latex is white and thick and rapidly coagulates on exposure 

 to the air, resulting in rubber which is only slightly inferior in 

 quality to that of Landolphia Kirkii. 



Mr. Johnson's report is devoted to a considerable extent to the 

 subject of cultivating Ceara rubber in Africa. The report con- 

 cludes : "It is evident from the results of this investigation that 

 Ceara rubber of very satisfactory quality and value can be pro- 

 duced in Portuguese East Africa. It now remains to be ascer- 

 tained whether the yield of rubber obtainable by the use of im- 

 proved methods of tapping will render the cultivation of the tree 

 remunerative." 



In Cassell's Saturday Journal (London), Stanley P. Hyatt, a 

 pioneer traveler in a portion of the Mozambique company's terri- 

 tories, says that originally the natives "used to collect the rubber 

 for the purpose of making it into a sort of candle, the most 

 evil smelling illuminant conceivable ; then they discovered that 

 the white man wanted it, and traded it to him at a price which 

 allowed him a hugh profit." But now the native is not so simple 

 as formerly. "He may be wearing nothing more elaborate than 

 a yard and a half of dirty calico, his head may be plastered with 

 red ocher, and his skin may be as black as soot" — yet the white 

 man nowadays must look sharp in order to avoid being swindled 

 by him. 



The rubber plantation machinery plant, including washer, 

 presses, and drying house, sent to the Coomassie agricultural 

 show by Messrs. David Bridge & Co. (Manchester, England), 

 under the superintendence of Mr. John Bridge, is referred to by 

 a Gold Coast correspondent of London Tropical Life, as now 

 being fitted up near Coomassie, where it appears to be doing good 

 work, and its progress is being watched with much interest. The 

 outfit is referred to as having cost more than £1,000. Already 

 better rubber than hitherto has been coming forward from the 

 Gold Coast, and still further improvement is looked for through 

 the use of improved machinery. 



