June i, 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



299 



RUBBER PLANTING AND EXPLOITATION. 



THE NORTH AMERICA RUBBER CULTURE CO. 



[Planlalion near Santa Lucrccia. canton of Juchitan, state of Oaxai-a, Mexico. 

 Offices : New York Life building. Kansas City, Missouri. See Thk Inuia Rubrbr 

 WoKLD, August I, i9iji— page 321.] 



THE annual report of Bixby Willis, general manager, 

 states that early in 1903 the company planted 188 acres 

 from nursery stock, with complete success. The 90 

 acres planted later in 1903 did not do well, and were 

 replanted in 1904. This, with the 150 acres additional planted 

 in 1904, is doing nicely, and it is intended to plant 90 acres this 

 year, which will make a total of 510 acres. Thousands of the 

 trees planted in 1903 are said to be 5 inches in diameter and 

 14 feet high. All the planting is done from nurseries, amid 

 debris left after felling the forest, and without burning over the 

 ground. The work of development is done under contract by 

 the Mexican Tropical Planters' Co., and the North America 

 company is put to no expense other than the payments made 

 under the development contract. The cash capitalization of 

 the company is $1 58,400, or $1 58 40 per acre for an actual area 

 of 1070 acres owned. The general manager of the Mexican 

 Tropical Planters' Co., from whocn this company purchased 

 this land, is Mr. Louis Kunz, who is now one of the oldest rub- 

 ber planters in Mexico in point of experience. Mr. Willis says 

 that the Tropical company has a paid up capital of $500,000, 

 and that its " Colombia " plantation is one of the best developed 

 in Mexico. 



BATAVIA COMPANY, INC. 



[Plantation " IJatavia." Jalapo de Diaz, district of Tuxtepec, slate of Oaxaca, 

 Mexico. Office: Wells building, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. See Thb India Rlbuer 

 World, June i, 1904 — pa^e 308.] 



The second annual inspection of Batavia plantation, under 

 its present management, was made by F. J. Finucane, of Antigo, 

 Wisconsin, as representative of the shareholders of the com- 

 pany, after spending two weeks on the property in February. 

 The 70 acres of rubber planted in 1899 to 1901 he reports in 

 good condition, together with the 40 acres planted in 1904. The 

 planting planned for this year is 110 acres. About 15,000 cof- 

 fee trees 5 years old are in bearing. In 1904 over 40,000 cofTee 

 trees were set out, and extensive nurseries have been prepared 

 for further planting. The company are about to install a coflee 

 mill. The original 60 acre planting of sugar cane has become 

 productive. The reportthroughout consists of details in shape 

 for verification, and indicates that a great deal of work has been 

 done on the property in the shape of permanent improvement, 

 in addition to planting crops. The net profit of the sales of 

 cofTee, cane, and corn are deposited with a trust company as a 

 dividend fund, out of which it is stated that a 7 per cent, divi- 

 dend was paid to the shareholders in 1904. 



THE OBISPO RUBBER PLANTATION CO. 

 [Hacienda de San Silverio el Obispo, stale of Oaxaca, Mexico. C^ffice, No. 15 

 William street, New York] 



Mr. James S. Beacom, a leading attorney in Pennsylvania, 

 and a former state treasurer, lately paid a visit to Mexico, to 

 inspect the plantation of the Pittsburg-Obispo Plantation Co., 

 of which he is treasurer. This is a new enterprise, adjoining 

 the Obispo Plantation Co., which has been mentioned fre- 

 quently in these pages. In a report to the shareholders of the 

 newer company, Mr. Beacom writes as follows in regard to the 

 work done by the company first formed : The " Obispo " plan- 

 tation consists of 9000 acres, of which about one-third is 

 cleared, and for the most part planted in rubber. Work was 

 started early in 1901 and the oldest rubber is now about 31^ 



years old. The work is being done under contract by the Re- 

 public Development Co., a New York corporation, and is in 

 charge of Mr. Maxwell Riddle, formerly of Ravenna, Ohio, who 

 is treasurer and manager. Mr. Riddle states that it is intended 

 to extend the planting until the whole tract is under rubber. 

 The rubber is planted 9X9 feet. The original planting was 

 from nurseries, but planting the seed direct has proved more 

 satisfactory, and this method has been adopted exclusively. 

 Two crops of corn are grown annually, the product finding a 

 ready market locally, and Mr. Riddle is experimenting with 

 additional crops and planning to introduce grazing. Mr. 

 Beacom and a companion tapped a wild tree in the neighbor- 

 hood which was supposed to be 15 years old and bore the 

 marks of former tappings, and obtained about 3 pounds of dry 

 rubber. They saw a seven year old cultivated tree tapped, 

 with a yield of }i pound. 



JOLIET TROPICAL PLANTATION CO. 



[Plantation " Joliel," Tierra Blanca, stale of Vera Cru/, Mexico. Office: Jolicl, 

 Illinois, See TuF. Inuia RuiiiiKK WoKLtJ, February 1,1904 — page 166.] 



Till", second annual inspection report, by Mr. F. M. Muhlig, 

 the stockholders' inspector, dated January 20, 1905, has ap- 

 peared in a pamphlet. The acreage planted to rubber at that 

 dale was stated at 230. from 6 to 18 months old, and the plan- 

 tation manager, James C. Dennis, was planning to plant 150 to 

 200 acres this year. The rubber nursery has been discarded, 

 and seed will be planted hereafter. The number of cattle has 

 been increased, and Mr. Muhlig recommends grazing on an 

 even larger scale, while awaiting the development of rubber. 

 The company have considerable land regarded as suitable for 

 sugar, but Mr. Muhlig does not regard sugar growing as profit- 

 able except in a large way. The company have derived a profit 

 from growing corn among the young rubber, since the cultiva- 

 tion of this crop serves also to keep the rubber clean. 



WORK ON PLANTATION "RUBIO." 

 The report on the Tehuantepec Rubber Culture Co.'s plan- 

 tation " Rubio," referred to in this Journal last month [page 

 276], contains the following in relation to the labor question 

 there : 



Mktiiod of Weeding — Mention should be made of the change 

 made during the past year in the method of weeding the trees, as it 

 plays such an important part in the expenses of the plantation. Until 

 the past year the ground between the trees has had all weeds cut down 

 completely by native help, not disturbing the soil, but practically shav- 

 ing off the surface with the machete, taking down all growth of weeds 

 and grass. During the past year the plan has been tried of clearing 

 only a strip 1^2 feet in width on each side of the row of trees, and 

 throwing the weeds and grass cut down into a windrow on top of a strip 

 of 3 feet in width. This growth is so dense that it kills off the weeds on 

 the middle strip so that they die without being cut, and is apparently 

 working satisfactorily. A man under the old method could weed out 

 about 150 trees in a day, while by the present method he can do 

 from 450 to 500 trees, thus cutting down the expense of weeding very 

 materially. This method of weeding has seemed to work all right, and 

 certainly no trees are suffering from this plan. In some of the lower 

 places the grass grows up to some extent through the dead stuff placed 

 on top of it, but as a rule the plan may be considered to be a success. 

 By this method of weeding, the force of laborers can be cut down to 

 about one half its former proportions. 



The inspector also says : "The experiment of employing Japanese 

 labor, which was tried last year, by the employment of some 27 Japanese, 

 was not satisfactory. The inability of the Japanese to do the weeding 



