354 



THK INDIA RUBBER >VORLD 



[July 



i9«>S- 



preservative, which is the result of practical experience, having 

 been in use for more than three years on an important trunk 

 line, since which time it has been adopted on a number of rail- 

 ways. The material is referred to as being easily applied, while 

 the cost is extremely moderate, the expense for a section of air 

 brake hose averaging less than one cent. [G. S. Wood, Room 

 309, Great Northern building, Chicago.] 



* • • 



People who have pieces of fine china and cut glass which 

 they like to display on sideboard and buffet, will be pleased 

 with the new rubber covered stands which come for that pur- 

 pose. They are shaped like the ordinary wire stands, but are 

 covered with fine rubber tubing, the idea being to protect the 

 edges of the glass orchina, which under ordinary circumstances 

 are liable to become chipped when thus displayed. 



HIGH VALUATIONS OF MEXICAN RUBBER. 



THE well known rubber brokerage firm of Lewis & Peat 

 (London), whose valuations of Ceylon plantation rubber 

 have been widely credited, have written the following letter, 

 quoting estimates on specially prepared rubber from CastiUoa 

 elastica trees 6^ years old, under cultivation on " La Esperan- 

 za " plantation, in Mexico. The equivalent prices in United 

 States (gold) currency have been added by The India Rubber 

 World. Brazilian Para rubber was quoted about the same 

 time as high as ^s. S}4d. [=:$i.38js] for hard fine, and Ceylon 

 plantation " Para" sold at the London auction on May 26 at 



LEWIS & PEAT, 6, Mincing Lane, 



London, E. C, 29th May, 1905, 



Gbo. Cullen Pearson, Esqr., 



6, Queen Street place, E. C. 

 Sir : We have the pleasure to own the receipt of your favour of the 

 26th instant, with samples of India-rubber which we have carefully ex- 

 amined, and beg to report upon same as follows ; 



Value about 

 per lb. 

 la. Fine clean black biscuit, well prepared, 



but a little brittle and short 4^.612'. [=$1.09!^] 



3a. Ditto, but biscuit a little 



thinner and cleaner 4J. 6,/. [=$1,093^] 



33. Good clean pale biscuit, mottled- ( Ss. oJ. [=$[.21 J^] 



colour in places 1 5-f- 6,/. L = |i.33?4J 



4*. Fine thin darkish biscuit, strong, ) 5^. 9./. [— ii-SQjs] 



clean, and well prepared ( 6j. or/. [=$1.46 J 



5* Small thick scrappy biscuits 

 and mixed, pale and dark in colour, 



6i. probably rejections from above ^s. M. [=$l.ogj4] 



7. Fine thin pale biscuit, well 



prepared, clear, clean, strong and elastic 6j, 3</. [=$1.52 ] 



All the foregoing are good saleable quantities, especially Nos. 41*. and 

 7. There is a good growing demand for plantation grown Rubber, so 

 long as it is sent home pure and in good condition. Damp and heat 

 prodace stickiness which is fatal to any raw rubber. Yours faithfully, 



[Signed] LEWIS S: PEAT. 



STATE OF THE WEATHER IN CEARA. 



[from " FOI.HA DO NORTE "(para), MAY I8.] 



AFORTALEZA newspaper says that after a period of long 

 continued drought, which appalled the inhabitants of 

 Ceara, rain again commenced to fall during a severe storm on 

 April 23, during which some bolts of lightning struck, happily 

 without causing severe accidents. 



The rain gage in Formosa street registered during this rain- 

 fall, which lasted seven hours, 85 millimeters of rain, or a total 

 of 186 during the entire month of April, in which there was 

 very little, there having been only 11 days on which rain fell, 

 and consequently only slight hope of a continuance of the win- 

 ter season this year. 



During 1904, rain fell on 17 days during the same month, 

 the precipitation being 133 millimeters. May, moreover, set in 

 with discouraging weather, the heat being very severe. 



Between January i and April 30 last, there were 47 days on 

 which rain fell, the rain gage recording a total rainfall of 824 

 millimeters [ = 32^^ inches], against 40 rainy days with a total 

 rainfall of 636 millimeters [ = 25 inches] during the same period 

 of 1904. 



[Note. — The significance of weather conditions in the Bra- 

 zilian state of Ceara is that a severe drought there drives hosts 

 of the Cearenses from their homes, many going up the Amazon 

 to work in the rubber fields, thus enhancing the rubber output 

 through ParA. The above report would appear to be unfavor- 

 able, the conditions being little better than last year, when 

 many thousands were exiled from their homes by the excessive 

 drought.— The India Rubber World.] 



SOME WANTS OF THE TRADE. 



[334] T^ ROM a factory : " Can you advise us of the fountain 

 -'■ pen manufacturers or any other sources of supply 

 where we might procure hard rubber scrap and shavings of 

 good quality ? " 



[335] From a factory : " We should like to know the names 

 of some firms in Germany who manufacture rubber substitutes." 



[33(5] From a broker : " Will you kindly inform us where we 

 can obtain ' Fox brand ' (shrub) rubber -■ " 



1337] From a factory: " Referring to a report on 'The 

 Manufacture of Cut Sheet ' in your April issue, you will con- 

 fer a great favor by sending me the addresses of firms making 

 this article." 



[33s] From a factory: "I am desirous of knowing what 

 firms manufacture formers for gloves and finger cots, such as 

 are used in vulcanizing in acids." 



[33!(] From Arizona : " Can you tell me where I can obtain 

 some of the plants or seeds of the Guayule, growing on the 

 plateau near Torreon, Mexico.'" 



THE EDITOR'S BOOK TABLE. 



international exposition, ST. LOUIS, 1904. OFFICIAL CATA- 

 loEue of the Exhibition of the German Empire. Edited by the Imperial Com- 

 missioner. Berlin; Georg Stilke. 1905. [Leather. 8vo. Pp. ^jS.j 



THIS comprehensive and informing descriptive list of 3721 

 exhibits is prefaced by 358 pages of so called " introduct- 

 ory articles," in which a score of experts have summarized the 

 industrial status of the German empire at the beginning of the 

 twentieth century, not forgetting to note the social and educa- 

 tional progress of the empire. We do not know where a more 

 satisfactory resume of these subjects is to be found, and, wholly 

 apart from the catalogue of industrial exhibits made by Ger- 

 many at St. Louis, this volume deserves to be studied by who- 

 ever desires to be well informed, without a world of study, in 

 regard to the causes of the recent progress of that country and 

 her industrial prospects. This is a companion volume to a 

 similar work published under the auspices of the Imperial gov- 

 ernment in connection with the International Exposition of 

 1900 at Paris. It is printed in the same type of special design 

 which was first used in the 1900 report, and the arrangement of 

 matter in the volume is somewhat similar, though the indus- 

 trial prefatory review is much more comprehensive. It may be 

 mentioned in passing that the chapter on bicycles in the earlier 

 report has been supplanted by one on motor cars, bicycles 

 having very scant mention in the later volume. The report 

 has been received through the courtesy of the Imperial German 

 consulate general at New York. 



