December i, 1902.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



81 



the field by one of our officers for over two years, and the as- 

 sistance of practical help right in nature's own rubber land, we 

 feel in a position to say that we have the best rubber proposi- 

 tion of the day. We have placed on the market a small block 

 of stock at 25 cents per share, par value $1, the sale of which 

 has far exceeded our expectations. It will not be long, how- 

 ever, before the price will be advanced. But this company has 

 not been organized for the mere purpose of stock selling, but 

 for actual development, so that any one holding shares in the 

 company will in time look at its management as one of merit 

 and their investment one that will afford them a good profit. 



" We have found that planting 500 trees to the acre in our 

 climate produces better results than 300. In tapping for ex- 

 perimental purposes some very young trees planted 500 to the 

 acre, we obtained a greater yield of rubber than from those 

 planted 300 to the acre. Planting so closely that the entire 

 trunk of the tree is protected from the sun's rays, hinders the 

 growth of other vegetation, thereby saving expense in caring 

 for the trees. It also keeps the ground in a more moist condi- 

 tion and thereby furnishes more nourishment for our trees. 

 The tree is not retarded in its growth as when the trunk is ex- 

 posed to the sun. Strange as it may seem, those planted close 

 together are taller and larger in girth by 20 per cent, than those 

 planted farther apart. It takes longer, however, for the milk 

 to coagulate on those closely planted than on the others. The 

 gum produced from the densely planted tree, moreover, is 

 more free from insects and other foreign substances than the 

 gum on the trees exposed to the sun. The annual rainfall 

 here averages 20S inches. 



"We shall add continually to our now already large posses- 

 sions, and, in the near future, mail you some photographs 

 showing the advancement made, and especially illustrating the 

 rapid growth of a rubber producing tree in our climate ; also 

 showing you our method of tapping. The hard woods we aie 

 cutting and piling for future shipment will, in the event of the 

 Panama canal being built, be an important source of revenue 

 to our company. The variety is very great, numbering some- 

 where near fifty species, with ebony and mahogany predomi- 

 nating. Cocoanuts, vegetable ivory, and cacao beans are also 

 a great source of revenue to this country, and will be consid- 

 ered by our company later on. For the present, we shall push 

 the rubber culture to the full capacity of our many employes. 

 Labor is cheap here as compared with the United States. The 

 natives are not lazy, as is generally supposed, but quite indus- 

 trious when propeily treated." 



RUBBER TREES IN THE UNITED STATES. 



We have been asked many times whether the " rubber plant " 

 seen in so many conservatories in the United States belongs to 

 any rubber producing species. Dr. N. L. Britton, director of 

 the New York Botanical Garden, assures The India Rubber 

 World that this plant is the Ficus elastica, which, as is well 

 known, is the source of the Assam rubber of commerce, and is 

 being cultivated extensively in the Malay states, where it is 

 known locally as " Gutta rambong." In this northern latitude 

 the plant naturally is of less rapid growth than in its own hab- 

 itat, and it fails to show some other characteristics which be- 

 long to it in India, where it is one of the largest trees. This 

 plant is usually seen in hot houses growing in the form of a 

 straight stem, buttheie are specimens in the New York garden 

 15 and 20 feet high, branching freely — some of them very near 

 the ground — and showing many indications of aerial roots, 

 though here these wither and decay before reaching the 

 ground. In the same collection, by the way, are several speci- 

 mens of .Fj'cai^/(ii//c(2Z'ar/if^a/a — a plant resembling the Assam 

 rubber plant, except that the leaves are variegated, forming 



an attractive decorative plant. Mr. Harry W.- Bennett, presi- 

 dent of the Tehuantepec Rubber Culture Co., recently exper- 

 imented with a rubber plant standing in the office of a bank at 

 Hartford, Connecticut, from which he obtained an amount of 

 rubber of good quality, which he considered very liberal for 

 the size of the plant. ^^There have been added recently to the 

 collections at the New York Botanical Garden several young 

 seedlings of Castilloa elastica and one of Castilloa tunu— the 

 latter from Brussels. Also specimens of Landolphia Owariensis, 

 from Kew ; a Madagascar species of Landolphia, from Paris ; 

 and Landolphia Watsoniana from Brussels. These specimens 

 are all small as yet, but seem to be vigorous. They are kept 

 under glass during the winter at a temperature of 70° F. 

 RUBBER PLANTING NOTES. 



W. S. Todd writes to The India Rubber World from Am- 

 herst, Lower Burma, September 20: "The growth of the Para 

 rubber trees {Hevea Brasiliensis) has been excellent during the 

 present rainy season, and most of the three year old trees 

 already have permanent branches, which do not disarticulate 

 like the Castilloa. The average three year old trees have a clean 

 bole of 15 to 20 feet before the first branch." 



= According to Mr. Todd, the vitality of the seeds of Castil- 

 loa elastica is not so fugitive as various reports would lead peo- 

 ple to believe. Last year he imported a few thousand seeds 

 from Mexico. 260 of which he forwarded to Samoa, where 197 

 developed into healthy seedlings. The transmission of the 

 seeds from Mexico to Burma occupied 99 days, from Burma to 

 Samoa 77 days ; total, 176 days. Mr. Todd is not yet prepared 

 to make public his method of packing such seeds for shipment, 

 and he says that everything depends upon how the packing is 

 done. 



= Last year La Zacualpa Rubber Plantation Co., in Chiapas, 

 Mexico, obtained from London a shipment of seeds of Mani- 

 hot Glaziovii (Ceaia rubber), grown in Brazil, at an expense of 

 ^100. Mr. O. H. Harrison stated that a considerable number 

 of seedlings came up two or three months after planting, and 

 that others have been appearing from time to time since — 

 some a year after the seeds were planted. 



= The Tehuantepec Rubber Culture Co. (New York) have 

 been sending out notices to the holders of their bonds, looking 

 to the choice, from among their number, of an inspector to 

 visit Plantation " Rubio," in Mexico, in January or February 

 next. 



= Grant & Howard, of Salt Lake City, have become state 

 agents in Utah for the Chiapas Rubber Plantation and Invest- 

 ment Co. (San Francisco). Mr. B. F. Grant, of the firm, after 

 a recent visit to Mexico, writes to The India Rubber World 

 that he found 7200 acres of young rubber trees growing in the 

 first, second, and third " series " of lands developed on the 

 Chiapas plantation, with a force of men at work opening the 

 fourth and fifth " series," for next year s planting. 



= Referring to an inquiry, in The India Rubber World of 

 September i, for Paia rubber seed for experimental planting in 

 Mexico, J. P. William & Brothers, of Heneratgoda, Ceylon, 

 wrote October i that they were then prepared to fill orders 

 from the 1902 seed crop, under a guarantee that 50 per cent, 

 would germinate. 



= The Salt Lake City Ne-Ms contains a mention of " Mr. J. 

 W. Ellsworth, the manager of the Chiapas Rubber company, 

 known in the commercial world as the ' great American rubber 

 king.' " Rubber kings are becoming as numerous as rubber 

 trusts. 



= Mr. J. Jackson Todd, president of the Chicago-Bolivian 

 Rubber Co., is on his way to Bolivia, and will spend several 

 months viewing the company's concessions. 



