June I, 1913. 



. THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



457 



promoters. I have therefore turned to the statements of Dr. 

 Santiago Cardwell Quinn, who is in the center of the Maiiilwt 

 district, and an unbiased observer. He says : 



"The tapper works approximately six months in tlie year, 

 covering January fo June. He takes one set of 650 trees, on 

 the average tapping on Mondays and Tuesdays 250 trees per 

 <iay and on Wednesdays 150. On Thursdays and Fridays lie 

 re-taps Monday's and Tuesday's lots and on Saturdays those 

 he tapped the previous Wednesday. The same trees are tapped 

 twice a week. With Manilwt, as with llcvca, the so-called 

 •wound response is very marked. 



"In the season his output may be taken on the average at 

 360 kilos of damp rubber, equivalent to about 475 pounds market 

 rubber, or, say, equivalent to about 285 pounds actual dry rubber. 

 He is paid by the kilo, depending more or less on the state of 

 the market. Nowadays the average price may be taken at 

 1$200 Brazilian — or say 29 cents — per pound for market rubber, 

 or about 48 cents per pound for dry rubber. These costs, how- 

 •ever, do not represent the real ones. The tapper is paid really 

 by a barter method as on the Amazon, and the profits on the 

 barter transaction must be deducted in order to arrive at the 

 true cost. We may deduct, therefore, at least 12 cents per 

 pound on this head, making the original net cost about 17 cents 

 per pound. 



"The carriage of this rubber to the railway is not so great 

 as one might imagine. Thus every year some 200 to 300 tons 

 of Manihot rubber is despatched from Gruna, an important 

 rubber center in Bahia at some distance from the right bank 

 of the River San Francisco, for shipment on rail at Bomfim. 

 The distance is about 150 miles, and the pack-mules, carrymg 



250 pounds each, take five days on the journey, at the regular 

 rate of 12 milreis — $3.80 — per mule, which works out at about 

 X'/i cents per pound. The rubber is packed in sacks which 

 represent a small item. There are town dues amounting to 16 



Shoui.ng tuk Two Distinctive Growths, xl — Hepiaphylla, 

 x2 — Piauhyensis. 



cents per 30 pounds, and a rail freight to the port of Bahia of 

 about 38 cents per 30 pounds, whilst the sea freight is rather 

 under $19 per ton weight to New York or Liverpool." 



As in Para the export tax on rubber at Bahia (1154 Pc cent, 

 ad valorem) is assessed through the "Pauta" or valuation taken 

 every two weeks, and based upon the market price at the time 

 of the last valuation. It amounts to about 5 cents per pound. 

 In Minas, at 3^2 per cent., it amounts to 1 to 2 cents a pound. 



In this connection it will be interesting to note the figures 

 given by Dr. L. Zehntner on the production of the Manigobas of 

 Bahia. These observations were made at the Villa Nova Plan- 

 tations, Bomfim, Bahia, and are as follows: 



Dry rubber Dry rubber Dry rubber 



on tree. on tree, 700 trees, 



Age. one day. 60 days. 60 days. 



2 yrs 2 Grs. 120 Grs. 185 lbs. 



3 •■ 3 " 180 " 277 " 



4 •■ 4 " 240 " 370 " 



5 •■ 5 " 300 " 463 " 



The Mauilwls cover an immense area of the healthy uplands 

 of Southern Brazil, a territory running 1,000 miles north and 

 ^outh and as much east and west. 



There are, of course, sections where it does not appear at all, 

 ind others where it is inaccessible. In eleven of the great 

 lirazilian states it is found wild, but its gathering is chiefly in the 

 states of Bahia, Ceara, Piauhy and Maranhao. So far the plant- 

 ing of Maiiiliots in Brazil has been in the states of Bahia, Minas 

 and Piauhy. There are also several in Rio. and even as far 

 south as Sao Paulo. It is estimated that there are at least three 

 million trees in the Brazilian plantations at the present time. 



Of the Ceara plantations so far installed a few are owned by 

 .\mericans, Germans and French. The Michelins, for example, 

 are said to be back of one that ij distinctly French. 



It is an interesting fact, however, that most of the planta- 

 tions are owned by Brazilians, particularly as the salvation of 

 the rubber industry, as far as Brazil is concerned, seems to lie 

 in rubber planting. 



(To be Continued.) 



Bauia' T.vi'i'tu Manihot Diiii,jionia. 



The accepted authority on South American rubber — "The Rub- 

 ber Country of the .'\mazon." by Henry C. Pearson. 



