Janl-arv I, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



209 



was that the gum was much more pure and free from sand and 

 <lust and bark. They reported that it cost them to produce the 

 gum less than 8 cents a pound. 



Through some dissension in the management the enterprise 

 seems to have been abandoned and not since resumed, but the 

 success, or at least the reputed success, of this early undertaking 

 would at least seem to afiford considerable encouragement for 

 further experimentation in this direction. 



NOTES FROM BRITISH GUIANA. 



From our Regular Corresfioiidenl. 



Till-' report on the forests of the easily accessible portions of 

 the colony, by C. Wilgress Anderson, Forestry Officer, is 

 now being published. The general report and Series 1 have been 

 issued, and others are to follow in due course. It cannot be said 

 that the general report offers quite that amount of assistance upon 

 matters connected with the balata industry, that have long been 

 calling for settlement, that was expected. Mr. Anderson opens 

 that section of his report dealing with the balata resources of the 

 colony, by pointing out that "the collecting of balata has within 

 the last four years been most extensively carried on, so much so 

 as to have now become the foremost forest industry, but judged 

 by the value of the exports, the third most important one of 

 the colony." 



Mr. Anderson does not appear to have any original informa- 

 tion to give us respecting the yield of the tree, but points out the 

 well known fact that the flow of latex is best in the dry seasons, 

 and that "in very dry seasons many of the trees do not flow at 

 all." He proceeds to quote Jcnman, to whom we owe the great 

 amount of our existing knowledge of the bullet tree, and whose 

 advice, if followed, would have enabled us to have a promising 

 rubber industry at the present time, instead of the one of meagre 

 proportions we now boast of. Mr. John Ogilvie's estimates for 

 the Rupununi District are also quoted, and Mr. Anderson says 

 that these estimates "are in close accord with respect to the 

 average yield, which works out at four lbs. of balata per tree 

 on the first occasion of tapping. This I consider may be ac- 

 cepted as a reliable estimate, for apart from being based on data 

 obtained by highly observant and experienced individuals. I am 

 well aware that collectors are generally quite content if they 

 get as much as a gallon of milk for an average good-sized tree, 

 tapped in the usual way for the first tiine. On subsequent tap- 

 pings the yields are said to be less." This is not an important 

 contribution to the available knowledge on the subject. 



Mr. .A,nderson discusses also the question of felling the trees, 

 which was alluded to in a recent letter, but here again he adds 

 nothing new that will lead to a settlement of the question. For 

 the most part his figures are quoted from previous authorities, 

 which have already been referred to by those taking part in the 

 controversy. Jenman said, and his remarks are quoted by Mr. 

 Anderson, that "a young tree, a foot in diameter, felled, will give 

 a gallon. A gallon of balata milk weighs over 10 lbs., collectors 

 say Wyi lbs. Two samples I collected weighed 10.033 ll>s. Dur- 

 ing the rainy season collectors estimate the yield per gallon at 

 from 4 to 5 lbs. of pure balata and in the closing parts of the 

 year 5 to 6 lbs. Average balata milk loses less than half its 

 weight in drying." 



Mr. Anderson points out that in Venezuela the felling method 

 of collecting the milk is invariably practised, but that "this 

 method, although at first used in British Guiana, is now against 

 the law, as it also is in Dutch Guiana." He tells us that the 

 felling method involves a comparatively small extra amount of 

 labor, "and that the returns immediately obtained are far in 

 excess of those obtained by the method of tapping the trees' while 

 standmg," but he does not tell us how much they are in excess. 

 He tells us, however, that "the felling method is undoubtedly 



a most wasteful one, as the forests are denuded of valuable trees," 

 but again he gives us no figures, going on to say : "Unfortu- 

 nately there are no reliable data available as to the yields obtained 

 on the successive tappings made after the tree has first been bled, 

 the class of men employed as bleeders and the conditions under 

 whicli the work is being carried on being such as to render it 

 difficult, if not impracticable to obtain such data. Yet the indis- 

 putable fact remains that the tracts of Crown lands on which 

 the balata trees were first tapped a quarter of a century ago 

 arc still being worked and continue to yield supplies of balata. 

 That this is the case I can testify from personal experience, for 

 balata is still being obtained from certain tracts on Canje creek 

 surveyed by me in February, 1889, on which most of the trees 

 had at that date been already tapped." These remarks cannot 

 be said to help on the controversy one way or the other as to 

 the desirability of allowing licensees to fell trees. 



The report is equally lacking in original information in re- 

 spect to the age and growth of the trees, which bear an intimate 

 relationship to the felling problem. Mr. Anderson informs us 

 that the bullet tree is considered to be of very slow growth, but 

 so far little is known with regard to the time it takes for a 

 tree to grow sufticiently large to be fit for tapping, much less 

 how long it takes to reach maturity. lie informs us, however, 

 that a balata tree planted in the Botanical Gardens in George- 

 town, in 1880, has a trunk 48 inches in girth and branching 8 feet 

 from the ground, being over all about SO feet in height. He 

 proceeds : "It has been reported by an officer of this department 

 that on certain properties on the Canje creek, bullet trees of not 

 more than ten inches in girth are to be found growing on beds 

 originally laid out and cultivated by the Dutch, which probably 

 have been abandoned for at least 80 years and are now re- 

 covered with forest growth. The trees in this case are said to be 

 growing tall and straight. Further investigation on these lands 

 may help to throw some more light on this subject." 



Inasmuch as Mr. Anderson has been engaged since 1908 getting 

 data for this report, and the Acting Governor has told us that 

 it will be the standard authority upon Colony timbers for 25 

 years, it may be regarded as disappointing to be told that further 

 investigation is needed to throw further light upon the subject 

 of the balata resources of the colony when it is most needed. 

 In fairness to Mr. Anderson, how-ever, it has to be admitted that 

 he is engaged in a herculean task. It is quite impossible for 

 one Forestry Officer to investigate the resources of a forest area 

 of 83,000 acres and supply us with any important data. What 

 is needed is a thoroughly well equipped Forestry Department, 

 and the creation of such a branch of government activity would 

 appear to be well justified by the growth of the balata and other 

 forestry resources. It will be recollected that the government's 

 proposal to tax forest industries by means of the export duty 

 was justified on the ground of its growing demands upon the 

 revenue, and that this view was confuted by the Balata Com- 

 mittee, which pointed out that the industry's contributions to the 

 revenue were greatly in excess of the amount spent upon it. 

 The creation of a Forestry Department, it would appear, ought 

 to be one of the first acts of the constructive Administration 

 that is just opening. 



Mr. Anderson enters into considerable detail concerning tap- 

 ping regulations and tapping methods, but they are probably 

 familiar to readers of the Indi.\ Rubber World. .The balata 

 wood is described in the report "as a well-known marketable 

 one of considerable value. It is a very hard, heavy, dense wood 

 of a moderately fine grain, and varying in color from a reddish 

 tinge to a dark red. Because of its color it was a few years ago 

 put on the English market under the name of 'beefwood.' The 

 weight per cubic foot is 55 to 68 lbs.: the largest logs being 80 feet 

 long, and squaring over 40 inches." The restriction as to the 

 felling of the trees, however, prohibits its exportation as timber. 

 Mr. .\nderson points out that there are many large logs lying 

 waste, particularly in the forests of the North Western District, 



