August i, 1902.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER AVORLD 



353 



12 to 36 feet in four to six years. It yields rubber at a very 

 early age, the average stated at about 2>2 years from planting, 

 when from 7 to 35 ounces of rubber may be obtained in a sea- 

 son. Rubber is obtained by removing from the trunk a 

 V-shaped piece of bark, to the lower angle of which a small 

 vessel is placed to collect the latex. Coagulation is assisted by 

 smokmg, as in the case of Para rubber, though the latex will 

 coagulate spontaneously in the air. The cost of planting and 

 gathering the initial crop is stated to be less than in the case 

 of coffee, sugar, or cotton, while the profit is greater, and the 

 consul believes that the new industry will become important. 



NEW YORK TRADING AND DEVELOPMENT CO. 



Incorporated under New Jersey laws, with Sioo,ooo capi- 

 tal. Conrad C. Hewitt is president, and James Westervelt, a 

 lawyer at No. 51 Wall street. New York, secretary. The com- 

 pany report the possession of 5000 acres of land in Vera Cruz, 

 Mexico, of which one tract of 1000 acres is to be taken by the 

 New York Teachers' Plantation Co., mentioned recently in 

 this paper, and another is to be taken by the Empire State 

 Plantation Co., said to be composed of about forty New York 

 business men. The company offer other tracts to companies 

 formed for planting rubber, coffee, and cacao, agreeing to ac- 

 cept stock of such companies in payment for the land, and 

 offering to contract to develop the plantation. The company 

 have issued a pamphlet entitled " Rubber, ColTee, and Divi- 

 dends." 



THE WILLIAM V. BACKUS CO. 



Incorporated June 25, under New Jersey laws ; capital, 

 $250,000, all paid in. Objects, planting rubber, vanilla, to- 

 bacco, bananas, and other tropical products; the charter also 

 gives them the right to deal in plantation lands and promote 

 plantation companies. Officers: William Vernon Backus, 

 president; William Backus, Sr., vice president; A. B. Nichols, 

 secretary ; M. K. MuUin, treasurer. The office in New Jersey 

 is that of The Corporation Trust Co., No, 15 Exchange place, 

 Jersey City. The principal office is in the Society for Savings 

 building, Cleveland, Ohio, which is also the headquarters for 

 two other Mexican development companies, planned, among 

 other things, to cultivate rubber, and of both of which Mr. 

 Backus is also president — The Mexican Investment and 

 Manufacturing Co. and The Imperial Plantation Co. These, 

 by the way, have been mentioned already in The India Rub- 

 ber World. 



tehauntepec rubber culture co. 



[Plantation '* Rubio," Coatzacoalcos, canton of Manatitlan. state of Vera 

 Cruz, Mexico. Oftices: No. 35 Nassau stieet, New York.] 



The first annual report of this company, relating to its op- 

 erations to June I, 1902, the end of its first fiscal year, states 

 that practically all the company's 2500 gold mortgage bonds 

 have been subscribed for, with the realization of sufficient funds 

 to carry on all the development work that has been planned. 

 Most of the subscribers have elected to carry the life insurance 

 connected with the investment, and the death is reported of 

 three of the subscribers during the year, together with the de- 

 tails of the settlement of their life insurance claims. The plan- 

 tation manager reports nursery stock in readiness and plans 

 completed for bringing up the area planted in rubber trees to 

 1 500 acres this season, closing with the end of August. Em- 

 ployment is given to 400 native laborers, and the report says : 

 " Coupled with our intention to make this plantation the largest 

 and greatest of its kind in the world, we are determined to 

 make the town Rubio a model plantation headquarters," and 

 detailsare given of the construction of accommodations for the 

 company's employes as well as the construction of roads, 

 bridges, and the like, the progress of which has been most sat- 



isfactory, considering the short time since a beginning was 

 made on a virgin forest tract. The report concludes with a let- 

 ter written by an investor in the company's securities, Mr. 

 Francis A. Crum, of Hartford, Connecticut, after a visit to the 

 plantation, and for the information of his immediate friends, 

 giving some additional details regarding the progress made on 

 this plantation. 



LA ZACUALPA RUBBER PLANTATION CO. 



[Plantation near Tapachula, state of Chiapas, Mexico. Offices : San Francisco, 

 California.] 



The representation of this company for the Eastern states 

 has been taken by Smith, Kemble & Co., No. 106 Wall street, 

 New York, who have issued a new edition of the several 

 pamphlets descriptive of La Zacualpa plantation and of the 

 methods and prospects for rubber cultivation, including one 

 titled " Rubber ; What it is and How it Grows." 



ORIZABA RUBBER PLANTATION CO. 



[Plantation at El Salto, state of Chiapas, Mexico. Office : No. 215 Dearborn 

 street. Chicago, Illinois.! 



Incorporated April 1 1, under the laws of Illinois ; capital, 

 $[00,000. The company own 12,354 acres in the department 

 of Palenque, Chiapas, on the Tulija river, navigable by steam- 

 ers from the gulf of Mexico, at Frontera, about 120 miles dis- 

 tant. It is intended to develop first one half of this tract, for 

 which purpose 6177 plantation certificates are offered for sale, 

 each to represent one acre of ground, which the company 

 agrees to clear, plant, and bring to full cultivation. The prin- 

 cipal interest of the company will be rubber planting, though 

 it is intended to plant " side crops " while the rubber is reach- 

 ing a productive age. In offering these certificates for sale on 

 the installment plan, the company's prospectus refers to the 

 advantage of this form of investment over stock in a build- 

 ing and loan association. The officers are James B. Sanborn, 

 president; Charles C. Emmons, vice president; S. M. Suther- 

 land, treasurer; and E. L. Hagenbuck, secretary — all of whom 

 are connected with important business enterprises in Chicago 

 and neighboring cities. 



METHODS OF RUBBER PLANTING. 

 The managing director of a rubber plantation company op- 

 erating in Mexico writes to The India Rubber World: 

 " We are planting in the partial shade; a great many planters 

 are planting in open sunlight. My honest opinion is that 

 every one who has planted in open sunlight will get a tree 

 50 per cent, larger in five or six years than we in the partial 

 shade. On the other hand we will get from 60 to 75 per cent, 

 more rubber from a small tree than they do from a large tree. 

 About three months careful study was made of this proposi 

 tion ; the trees were tapped both in the shade, partial shade, 

 and open sunlight, and the results carefully tabulated by a 

 committee of which I was not a member." 



RUBBER PLANTING PUBLICATIONS. 



The Obispo Rubber Plantation Co., New York'=(i) Book No. i of 

 photographic views. 12 pp. (2) Announcement of offering of $12,000 

 of share contracts. 16 pp. (3) Report of C. S. Dooaldson, first annua', 

 inspector. (4) Consular and Other Reports on Rubber. 25 pp. 



The Isthmus Rubber Co., of Ubero, No. 29 Broadway, New York=^ 

 [Plans, objects and purposes.] 20 pp. 



Boston Tropical Co. (Boston, Massachusetts)= Mortgage or Deed 

 of Trust to Manufacturers' Trust Co. 35 pp. 



The Hartford Sugar and Rubber Co. of Mexico (Hartford, Con- 

 necticut) = Sugar and Rubber. 24 pp. 



Isthmus Plantation Association of Mexico, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 

 =(i) Inspector's Report, 1902. 30 pp. (2) Information Bulletin 

 No. 14. 6 pp. 



