Feisruary I, 1903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD" 



151 



RUBBER PLANTING AND EXPLOITATION. 



SUMMARY OF PLANTING IN MEXICO. 



IN answer to a circular letter sent by The India Rubber 

 World to the various incorporated rubber planting com- 

 panies now operating in Mexico, asking for details regard- 

 ing their progress, to be held in confidence except for use in 

 making up statements of totals, responses have been received 

 from most of the companies that have actually begun planting. 

 From a few substantial companies the desired details have not 

 yet been received, and in a few other cases the statements have 

 not been made in a form to permit of their use in the computa- 

 tions which follow. The returns which appear in the table of 

 total planting, below, are supplied by twenty-six companies. 

 Of the companies referred to, one was incorporated in 1897, two 

 in 1899, three in 1900, nine in 1901, and two in 1902; regard- 

 ing the other nine we are not informed. It will be seen that 

 the companies are mainly new, and some have done very little 

 of the planting contemplated. Two, however, state that they 

 have finished planting. 



The total number of trees planted by the twenty-six com- 

 panies, by years, is reported as follows : 



Planted, 1897...". ... 5,200 Planted, igoi 1,101,678 



Planted, i8g8 .. .... 21,700 Planted. 1902 2.991,000 



Planted, 1S99 370,785 



Planted, igoo 952,742 Total 5.443,105 



The total acreage reported is 11,117. The acreage cannot 

 be presented by years in some cases, but by partially estimat- 

 ing, from the returns supplied, it appears that about 5300 acres 

 were put into rubber in 1902. Thirteen of the reports, in 

 which exact details appear, give the following average number 

 of trees planted per acre in that year ; 



These thirteen companies report a total planting of 2,671,000 

 trees in 1902, on 4113 acres, or an average of 650 trees per acre. 

 It will be understood, of course, that the practice is general of 

 close planting, both to allow for failures, and with the idea of 

 extracting some rubber from the surplus trees when they have 

 grown so as to make their removal necessary. 



While some of the companies have tried various methods of 

 planting as regards shade, generally one plan has been adhered 

 to in each case, and further planting, as a rule, will be done 

 under the same method as in the past. The distribution of the 

 total planting to date has been as follows ; 



Planted in the open 3,202,920 trees 



Planted in the open and semi shade 1,117,000 " 



Planted in semi shade 1,019,185 " 



Planted in shade 4,000 " 



Not stated 100,000 ' ' 



Total 5,443,t05 trees 



Ten companies planted in the open, two in the open and 



semi shade, eleven in semi shade, one in shade altogether, and 



two fail to report. 



Nine companies planted from nurseries and at stake, twelve 



from nurseries principally, three at stake alone, and two fail 



to report. 



In regard to transplanting from nurseries, and planting seeds 



at stake, while the practice of the different companies varies, 



in most cases the plan adopted in the past will be continued. 



The total planting has been distributed as follows: 



From nursery and at stake 2,075,400 trees 



From nurseries alone ',S95.705 " 



At stake alone 372,000 " 



Not stated 100,000 ' ' 



Total 4.443,105 trees 



To give an idea of the extent of the preparations made for 

 future planting, it may be mentioned that nineteen of the 

 twenty-six companies reported having in nurseries at the end 

 of the season a total of 11,462,000 young plants, in numbers 

 ranging from 7000 to 2,000.000 each. Two companies reported 

 no nurseries, having completed planting, and five made no re- 

 port. 



CHACAMAS PLANTATION CO. 



[Piaiiution on ihe lio Chacamas, department of Palenque, state of Chiapas, 

 Mexico. Office: 1019 Royal Insurance building, Chicago, Illinois.] 



Incorporated June 22, 1902, under the laws of Illinois. 

 The company own 5000 acres of land, the development of 1000 

 of which it is proposed to begin this year under the designation 

 " Series No. i.'' The principal planting is to be rubber (Cus- 

 tilloii elasl tea), ihoiigh "short crops" will be planted at first, 

 and attention may be given to sugar cane and fruits. The com- 

 pany's financial scheme embraces some novel features. They 

 offer to the public fifty "development shares, " or income cer- 

 tificates at $5 each, amounting to $250 per acre developed. 

 Their contract with an investor is in the form of an option, on 

 say 50 shares at $5 each, to be paid for within fifty months. 

 Upon each payment of §5 the investor receives one share, and 

 in case at any time he should cease making payments, the op- 

 tion will be held to have expired, but the investor will be in pos- 

 session of all the shares for which he may have paid. In case 

 of the death of any investor before the completion of all the 

 payments provided for in his option, the remaining shares of 

 the series will be issued to his heirs. The officers are : Frank 

 M. Luce, car mileage auditor, Chicago and Northwestern rail- 

 road, president ; .7?'V/ii2rrf Walsh, of Walsh Boyle & Co., Chi- 

 cago wholesale grocers, vice president ; Edward P. Skene, gen- 

 eral land commissioner, Illinois Central railroad, secretary ; 

 George IV. Speick, of the American Trust and Savings Bank, 

 treasurer; F. R. McKinstry. general manager. These gentle- 

 men and six other business men of good standing in and near 

 Chicago form the directorate. Mr. McKinstry and some of the 

 directors were due to sail from New York on January 22 for 

 the plantation, where it is planned this year to establish a nur- 

 sery of 5 acres. C. E. Rickard is plantation manager. 



JOLIET TROPICAL PLANTATION CO. 

 [Plantation at Tierra Blanca, state of Vera Cruz, Mexico. Office : Joliet, Illinois,] 



Incorporated July 12, 1902, under the laws of Delaware; 

 authorized capitalization $360,000, iii 1200 shares of $300. 

 The original holding of land was 1200 acres, but in December, 

 1902, an additional 2000 acres was purchased. These lands 

 were acquired from Alfred Bishop Mason, of Chicago, who is 

 president of the Vera Cruz and Pacific Railway Co., and is 

 otherwise interested in Mexican development. It adjoins two 

 extensive private rubber plantations — the "Yale," owned by 

 Mr. Mason and conducted by his two nephews, Messrs. Trow- 

 bridge and Willis, and the " Esperanza," owned by two English- 

 men, Messrs. Pearson and Leversley. This new plantation is 

 the outgrowth of a club formed by 100 citizens of Joliet, with a 

 view to investing in some rubber plantation, with the result 

 that they determined to start a company of their own. The 



