March i, 1903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



185 



NEW PROCESS FOR WORKING BALATA. 



T N a recent issue The Argosy, published at Georgetown 

 A (Demerara), British Guiana, contained some notes on the 

 exploitation of Balata on the southern borders of Venezuela by 

 French concessionaires. About two years ago the Comte de 

 Lichtenburg. a director of the Caoutchouc de I'Orinoque de 

 Paris, and Dr. Frank Rouberol, an analytical chemist, proceeded 

 to the Caratal district, in Venezuela, to exploit Balata under a 

 concession which that company had secured there. Financial 

 troubles having overtaken the company, these gentlemen pro- 

 ceeded to El Dorado, in the Uruan district (claimed by British 

 Guiana before the settlement of the boundary dispute by the 

 treaty of 1897). There they obtained extensive Balata conces- 

 sions for a new French company, and, according to The Ar- 

 goiy, a considerable quantity of Balata had been prepared and 

 was awaiting shipment to France. 



Dr. Rouberol is reported to have installed a plant for the 

 treatment of the /a/£>.r of Balata by a special process, whereby 

 the resin and glucosides are removed, and a gum of unusual 

 value obtained, in the form of either sheets or blocks. The 

 hope is entertained of producing Balata worth 8 shillings per 

 kilogram [=88 3 cents per pound.] The gentlemen named 

 were on their way to France, with a view to procuring a more 

 extensive mechanical plant after the subsidence of the troubles 

 which now interfere with business in Venezuela. Balata is re- 

 ported to be plentiful in the Uruan district, but the latex is ob- 

 tained by destroying the trees. The available laborers, how- 

 ever, are most unsatisfactory. 



OFFICIAL NONSENSE ABOUT BALATA. 



THE India Rubber World has received some inquiries 

 as to whether it would not be wise to cease any efforts 

 in the direction of cultivating India-rubber, on account of cer. 

 tain information made public in a recent report by the United 

 States consul at Para, Mr. Kenneday, in relation to somebody 

 in Brazil who has " brought a concession and has lately begun 

 the practical work of producing Guttapercha for the market." 

 The consul says further : " As in the case of rubber, there is 

 practically no limit to the supply of Guttapercha on the Ama- 

 zon, and as it can be produced at a fraction of the cost of rub- 

 ber, it offers a much higher percentage of profit." Consul 

 Kenneday makes use of a repDrt by a man described as an 

 expert in the management of Balata estates, and who asserts 

 that Balata trees have been found by him all over the states 

 of Pard and Amazonas, while he is informed that vast area's 

 of them exists on the Puriis and Acre and other tributaries of 

 the upper Amazon. He says that for more than thirty years 

 the Balata trade has been carried on with immense profit in 

 the Guianas and on the Orinoco, but that those fields are now 

 almost exhausted and little is being shipped. Balata, he 

 thinks, can be produced on the Amazon in unlimited quanti- 

 ties, and of a quality " it not better, at least, as good as the 

 Guiana Balata." Further, he says, "these trees yield many 

 times as much sap as the rubber tree, and one man can easily 

 produce as many kilograms of Gutta-percha in a day as twenty 

 men can extract of rubber. The trees will average y/z pounds 

 of Gutta-percha each, and a competent bleeder can prepare 

 40 or 50 pounds per day. The gum is first fermented and then 

 dried in the sun, after which it is ready for shipment." 



" I am surprised," writes Consul Kenneday 's informant, " to 

 find that this valuable gum, which is so easy of access and so 

 cheaply prepared for market, has never become known to the 

 trade here." The India Rubber World is surprised that 



any government on earth, sufficiently advanced in civilization 

 to maintain a consular service, will permit the publication un- 

 der its official sanction of such " tommy-rot " as makes up this 

 report from Mr. Consul Kenneday. Samples of this so called 

 Balata from Brazil reached The India Rubber World about 

 a year ago, and an opinion in regard to the same appeared in 

 our issue of January i, 1902, on page 1 1 1. 



* * * 

 In relation to the so called Brazilian Balata, the following 

 letter comes to us from a highly respected source, in the rubber 

 trade at Para : 



To THE Editor of The India Rubber World : In reply to your 

 inquiry about the production of Balata in the Amazon valley, we beg ro 

 say that of late we have heard of several parties who are studying this 

 matter here, but so far we have not yet heard that they were successful. 

 It is true that there exists here a tree, which is said to be the Balata 

 tree, but so far no positive result has been obtained by working it. We 

 further may add, that we have known of the existence of this tree for 

 some years, and have also sent samples of the stuff contained in the tree 

 to the United States and to London, but it was not judged satisfactorily. 

 Considering the failures to date, we are rather sceptical about the prob- 

 ability of Balata ever being produced here, though perhaps it is with the 

 tree as with the rubber tree?, which grow very well in many places, but 

 do not yield what the same yield here. 



& CO. 



Pard. Brazil, January 9, 1003. 



WHAT BECOMES OF ALL THE BALATA? 



A WRITER in London Engineering, speaking of the con- 

 ^^ tinued increase in the production of Balata in the north- 

 ern districts of South America, remarks: "What becomes of 

 all the Balata at present shipped from Bolivar is a matter — al- 

 most indeed a mystery — which has exercised the minds of a 

 good many people, because its applications are neither numer- 

 ous nor extensive. We are not prying into trade secrets, but 

 it may turn out that the prevailing idea in British Guiana, that 

 the Balata shipped goes for the submarine cable manufacture 

 in England, is not wholly beside the mark, though we are aware 

 that it has been expressly stated by British experts that Balata 

 cannot replace Gutta for this purpose. The bulk of the Balata 

 produced goes to Europe, the United States apparently not 

 having found any extended use for it. The States, it must be 

 remembered, do not make their own deep sea cables — a rather 

 sore point with some of the senators, nor do they supply the 

 full home demand for golf balls: facts which may or may not 

 have a connection with the much greater demand for Balata in 

 Europe than in America. Hamburg, Rotterdam, and London 

 are the principal ports of arrival, the large amount received at 

 the first named place being, no doubt, explicable by the fact 

 of German firms being chiefly interested in the Venezuelan pro- 

 duction." 



The same writer speaks of the important consumption of 

 Balata in the manufacture of belting by R. & J. Dick & Co. 

 (Glasgow, Scotland), under a patent granted to the late Robert 

 Dick, which mentioned Gutta-percha, Balata, and canvas spe- 

 cifically. " Probably," he says, " though it is but conjecture, 

 Balata is used more for its cheapness than for any special ad- 

 vantages it shows over Gutta-percha, the former, although 

 fluctuating in price, never having exceeded 2s. 6d. per pound 

 during the last couple of decades. The present quotation, it 

 may be said, is rather under 2s. per pound ; and although, as we 

 have indicated above, there is plenty of material to draw sup- 

 plies from, the expenses of collection in somewhat inaccessible 

 districts, coupled with the scarcity of labor, will continue to re- 

 act against any considerable reduction of price." 



