356 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD. 



[SEPTEMnER I, 1 90 1. 



climate, and the geological conditions of the region that has 

 been selected for planting. Whether the best means of pro- 

 viding this adjustment is to be found in open pathways, is, per- 

 haps, not fully proved ; but at any rate they have given good 

 results at the plantations which are being developed under my 

 direction. 



AN OLD SWINDLE RECALLED. 



One of the first, and about the biggest, of the frauds which 

 have been evolved in the name of rubber planting — " India- 

 Rubber (Mexico), Limited " — is still mentioned now and then 

 in connection with meetings that are to take place, but never 

 do. London Financial Times says : " Only a little longer, and 

 there will be nothing to meet about." Adolpho Keul, former 

 manager of the company's estates, writes to the Mexican Her- 

 ald : " India-Rubber (Mexico), Limited, has not entirely given 

 up the Llano Juarez estate [as stated in the London paper]. 

 They only stopped work, and are now breaking up the land for 

 the purpose of leasing it out. The improvement of the Esmer- 

 alda estate continues without interrup- 

 tion." But this is small satisfaction for 

 the confiding English public, which 

 bought the company's shares four years 

 ago, on the promise that by this time 

 there would be marketed, from trees 

 then mature, rubber worth $3,497,495 — 

 and that mostly profit.= =A circular 

 had been issued to the stockholders of 

 India-Rubber (Mexico), Limited, invit- 

 ing them to a meeting on August 30, 

 to consider a voluntary winding up of 

 the company. Prior to that date, a 

 Mr. Peat had been appointed receiver 

 and manager of the company, on the 

 petition of the debenture holders. The 

 company had never paid a dividend' 

 and they were unable to pay the inter- 

 est on debentures for the first half of 

 the current year. Hence the motion 

 of the debenture holders, to protect 

 their interests. 



PARA RUBBER IN THE MALAY STATES. 

 The fourth annual report of the 

 United Planters' Association of the 

 Federated Malay States, for the year 

 1900, comes to The India Ruuber 

 World from Kuala Lampur, in Selan- 

 gor. It expresses encouragement with 



regard to the prospect for Para rubber {Hevea Brasiliensis), 

 the committee stating that they " feel that the large number of 

 trees, amounting now to several millions, planted in the Fed- 

 erated Malay States, must in the not very distant future, prove 

 a source of revenue which wiil very largely recoup the planters 

 for the losses which they have sustained through the decline 

 in value of Liberian coffee." The average circumference of 

 such trees, at three years at three feet from the ground, is 

 stated at about 16 inches. In two years a Para rubber tree 

 in the botanic garden at Penang, being fifteen years old at the 

 second tapping, yielded I2>^ pounds of rubber, " without any 

 apparent injurious result to the health of the tree." The size 

 of these trees, more than the age, is considered to indicate 

 their fitness for tapping, "and probably a circumference of 30 

 inches at 3 feet from the ground is the limit at which attempts 

 to extract the rubber should be commenced." 

 RUBBER FROM "LA ZACUALPA." 



The picture on this page is from a photograph of an exhibit 



made by La Zacualpa Rubber Plantation Co. at the Mechanics' 

 Pavilion, San Francisco, during the Epworth League conven- 

 tion, July 15-20. It embraced the shipment of cultivated rub- 

 ber from the company's plantation in Mexico, mentioned in 

 the last India Rubber World. There were shown bales of 

 crude rubber, washed rubber in rolls, samples of the rubber 

 vulcanized by the Bowers Rubber Co., sections of ten year old 

 planted rubber trees 18 inches in diameter, photographs of 

 scenes on the plantation, Mexican articles of dress worn on the 

 plantation, and curios. The exhibit was seen by thousands of 

 persons, and was examined with much interest. 



TEHUANTEPEC rubber culture CO. 

 [Plantation Rubio, canton of Manatitlan, state of Vera Cruz, Mexico. Offices; 

 No. 35 Nassau street. New York.] 



A report to the bond subscribers issued August 5, signed 

 by President H. W. Bennett, states that progress made in plac- 

 ing the company's first mortgage bonds, which provide the 

 funds required for the plantation development, has been most 



RUBBER FROM LA ZACUALPA PLANTATION. 



satisfactory. The bonds have been placed, for the most part, 

 with people accustomed to close scrutiny of investment securi- 

 ties. It is mentioned that among the subscribers are fourteen 

 large rubber manufacturers in the United States. Work on 

 the plantation has made good progress, under the plantation 

 superintendent, A. B. Luther. It is promised that further pro- 

 gress reports will be issued every three months. A tempera- 

 ture record is given for July, showing that the average of the 

 highest temperature on the plantation for each day was 84°, 

 and the average lowest temperature for each day, 72°. The 

 highest figure reached was 88°. The daily average rainfall was 

 ^'j inch, or a total for the month of 21.7 inches. 



» » ♦ 



C. B. Waite writes in Modern Mexico for May that while 

 crossing the state of Palenque he stopped at the estate of the 

 Chiapas Rubber Plantation and Development Co., on the river 

 Michol, where he found 3000 acres cleared for planting rubber, 

 250 acres planted, and 300,000 young trees in the nursery. 



