July i, 1902.] 



itLE INDIA RUBBER \A^ORLD 



315 



Preuss : " One has repeatedly asserted to me that there were, 

 on the other hand, places where Castilloas exist that are rich 

 in caoutchouc, and yet whose latex flows along the trunk, so as 

 to be collected in liquid state in vessels, but I have never been 

 able myself to prove the fact." Which would indicate an in- 

 teresting difference between the trees on " El Baul," the late.i 

 of which, as above stated, coagulates on the trunks, and those 

 in Mexico, for example, whose ialex flows more freely and re- 

 quires to be coagulated by other means. 



TABASCO COMMERCIAL CO. 



[Plantation " El Zapote," state of Tabasco, Mexico. Office ; No. 49 Pearl 

 street, Hartford, Connecticut.] 



The company own 14,000 acres of land. Within eighteen 

 months they have shipped over $20,000 worth of mahogany to 

 the United States. They purpose planting rubber and cacao 

 on a portion of their property, expecting this year to set out 

 50,000 rubber trees and to make a nursery of 350,000 plants. 

 The capital is $150,000, taken principally by thirty New Eng- 

 land business men. Officers: Hon. Daniel N. Morgan, late 

 treasurer of the United States, president ; H. C. Williamson, 

 superintendent of the Danvers Arms Co., vice president; Rev. 

 Charles A. Piddock, treasurer; and Corey F. Wood, secretary. 

 G. H. Clemow is manager in Mexico. 



HARTFORD SUGAR AND RUBBER CO. OF MEXICO. 



[Plantation in the state of Tabasco, Mexico. Office ; No. 49 Pearl street, 

 Hartford, Connecticut.] 



Incorporated April 22, under the laws of Maine; capital, 

 $600,000. Incorporators: R. P. Chapman and Corey F. Wood, 

 the latter being secretary of the Tabasco Commercial Co., men- 

 tioned in this paper, and whose plantation the new company's 

 property adjoins. The efforts of the company will be devoted 

 at present to planting sugar cane, which promises earlier re- 

 turns than rubber, and a $100,000 sugar mill will be erected. 

 Enough sugar will be cultivated to give employment to such a 

 mill, and it is proposed to plant the remainder of the tract of 

 2000 acres in rubber. The management is practically the same 

 as that of the Tabasco Commercial Co. 



THE MERIDEN RUBBER PLANTING CORPORATION. 



[Plantation '' El Meriden," Tula, state of Vera Cruz. Mexico. Office: Meriden, 

 Connecticut.] 



J. Herbert Foster, manager, reports from Tula to his com- 

 pany that he has closed the option that he held on the Buffum 

 property, near Tula, and made the first payment on the purchase 

 price. He has removed with his family to Tula and begun 

 work on the plantation, on which rubber planting had already 

 been begun, having the assistance in the way of advice of the 

 former owner of the property. 



A "TEACHERS' PLANTING COMPANY." 



Articles of incorporation were filed April 27, under the 

 laws of New York, for the New York Teachers' Plantation 

 Co., to plant rubber in Mexico. The capital mentioned is $150,- 

 000, and the first directors named are Magnus Gross, George 

 H. Chatfield, and W. L. Ettinger. It appears that the first two 

 named are teachers in New York city, and the third a physi- 

 cian. A preliminary pamphlet on the objects of this company 

 has been issued from the office of Fred C. Leubuscher, a lawyer, 

 No. 99 Nassau street. New York. The idea is to have 750 shares, 

 of $100 each, subscribed by teachers on monthly payments of 

 $2 per share, which shall be preferred stock. The remainder 

 of the capital — 750 shares of common stock — is to be devoted 

 to the purchase of land and the payment of salaries for five 

 years, promoters' fees, etc. The owners of the preferred shares 

 will have a representation of four out of the five directors of 

 the company, three of whom shall be teachers. The idea is 

 emphasized throughout that it is to be a teachers' company. 



It nowhere appears that any one is interested who has had 

 experience in rubber or other tropical planting, except that 

 mention is made of the manager of an important planting en- 

 terprise in Mexico who has promised to give some supervision 

 to the development work on a tract of 1000 acres to be pur- 

 chased on the isthmus of Tehauntepec, near the Coalzacoalcos 

 river. So far as the statements in regard to rubber in Mr. 

 Leubuscher's pamphlet are concerned, they are neither very 

 informing nor so misleading as some others that have appeared 

 lately. It is doubtful, however, whether rubber trees ten years 

 of age will "produce anywhere from three to five pounds." It 

 is also too good to be true to learn that " The present profit 

 of from thirty to sixty cents per pound [on cultivating rubber] 

 might easily be doubled in a few years." 



The not unusual mistake is made of considering Mexican rub- 

 ber as worth less than Pard rubber only on account of being 

 less clean, and the pamphlet states that "With Pard rubber 

 worth $1 per pound, clean Mexican rubber is worth from 65 to 

 90 cents," and it is added that the cost of putting rubber in 

 market is only 10 cents. There can be no objection to the 

 printing of any statement regarding rubber planting profits so 

 long as their distribution is confined to persons who can readily 

 afford to lose their investments in case these estimates should 

 prove unfounded. But it is to be hoped that the teachers of 

 New York city, none of whom, presumably, have any money to 

 waste, will not invest in the enterprise here outlined without 

 first seeking advice from persons competent to criticise new 

 financial schemes. It may further be suggested that a rubber 

 plantation should be founded upon a better basis than monthly 

 subscriptions of $2 per head from persons whose income is 

 neither large nor assured. 



AN ENGLISH RUBBER PLANTATION IN MEXICO. 

 [Hacienda la Esperanza, Postoffice Tiena Blanca, state of Vera Cruz, Mexico.] 



Whii,e most of the interest in rubber planting in Mexico has 

 been developed with capital from the United States, and 

 principally under the control of large companies, there are 

 some plantations privately owned by citizens of other coun- 

 tries. One, for instance, is that above mentioned, the property of 

 George Cullen Pearson, of England. In a statement from the 

 manager of this plantation to The India Rubber World, 

 under date of May 20, it appears that there are now growing 

 on this property 50,000 rubber trees {Castilloa elastiai) which 

 were four years old in June ; 100,000 trees three years old ; and 

 200,000 trees two years old ; besides a large number of plants in 

 nurseries. This plantation, by the way, is one which has been 

 referred to in certain quarters — but not on the authority of the 

 owner — as embracing a large number of rubber trees old 

 enough to be tapped this year.= = Mr. Pearson's plantation 

 is located two miles from the " Hacienda de Yale," owned 

 by Alfred Bishop Mason, of Chicago, and president of the Vera 

 Cruz and Pacific Railway Co. Mr. Mason's two nephews, 

 James Trowbridge and R. Willis, are resident managers of this 

 hacienda, on which a considerable amount of rubber planting 

 has been done. 



RUBBER PLANTING COMPANY PUBLICATIONS. 



Mexican Gulf Agricultural Co., Kansas City, Missouri. = Coffee and 

 Rubber Culture as an Investment. 62 pp. 



The Vera Cruz Development Co., Canton, Ohio. = [Folder, giving 

 outline of plans for rubber planting.] 



Isthmus Plantation of Mexico, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. :=(i) Informa- 

 tion Bulletin, Nos. 8-9, 13. 6 pp. each. (2) Mexico, The Land of 

 Prosperity. 48 pp. (3) Opportunities. 13 pp. 



Mutual Rubber Production Co., No. I, Boston. = (i) Proofs of Profit. 

 (2) A Certain and Safe Income. 26 pp. (3) Form of Contract [with 

 shareholders], 4 pp. 



