40 



THE INDIA RUBBER ^VORLD 



[November i, 1901. 



and they also have greater resistance to heat." He found on 

 an average from 40 to 60 of the creepers to an acre, of which 

 from 16 to 25 would be larger than a man's arm. A creeper 10 

 years of age yields as many gallons of latex per year, contain- 

 ing 28 to 30 per cent, of Caoutchouc. 



M. Hamet reports* some details in regard to coagulation 

 which may prove of interest as leading in time to the treatment 

 of African rubbers which will develop their best possible qual- 

 ities. The latex of the "gohine " creeper, he says, " consists 

 of two parts : 



"(i) The liquid containing the rubber proper, with albumi- 

 noid matter and a vegetable wax. 



" (2) The serum, which contains the constituent water, min- 

 eral matters, and azotized [nitrogenous] matters, which the 

 rapid fermentation of the latex carries oflf before any coagula- 

 tion takes place. On the other hand, these matters imprisoned 

 in the bitter waters tend to deteriorate the rubber. It is these 

 fermentable agents that it is absolutely necessary to destroy 

 either before or during the coagulation. 



" These two operations are effected by one stroke by using 

 fluoride of sodium — antiseptic and very strong — in the propor- 

 tion of 2 per cent, of the weight of the latex." 



There are, it seems, other antiseptics, including ammoniacal 

 acid, which do not coagulate, but coagulation may be effected 

 by various means: (i) Mechanical or centrifugal; (2) heat; 

 (3) smoking ; (4) chemical agents— as sulphuric or oxalic acids ; 

 and (5) decoctions of native plants. Such decoctions have 

 been left to stand over night and filtered through a cloth the 

 next day, and then warmed to the boiling point before being 

 added to latex previously aseptized. The result is said to have 

 been the coagulation of a rubber of the very first quality. 



Without regard to the output of rubber from other portions 

 of the colony of Senegal, M. Hamet gives the following state- 

 ment of the value of exports from southern French Soudan : 



In 1895 2,217 francs. 



1111898 322,586 " 



In 1 8qq (partly estimated) 1,600,000 " 



In the latter year the production was estimated at 400,000 

 kilograms (=880,000 pounds). No doubt it has since become 

 much larger. During several months past the arrivals of Sou- 

 dan rubber at Bordeaux alone have been at the rate of 835,000 

 pounds a year, and Soudan rubber is received also at the 

 French ports of Havre and Marseilles. The above estimates 

 of values are on a basis of 4 francs per kilogram (=35 cents 

 per pound.) Such rubber, however, brings a much higher price 

 in the consuming markets, as indicated by the prices obtained 

 at Bordeaux, reported in the last India Rubber World. 

 equivalents in American money being supplied for the French 

 prices: 



Francs (Kilo.) Cents (Pound. \ 



Soudan twists, fine 6.80(017 59.6(0614 



Soudan twists, ordinary 6. 52.7 



Soudan niggers, fine 6.50@6.75 57- (^59-2 



Soudan niggers, ordinary 5. @6. 43-9 @52. 7 



Respecting the Caoutchouc market at Bordeaux, a corre- 

 spondent there writes to The India Rubber World : " The 

 market here is all the time extending, and lately the Ameri- 

 cans have — by the intermediary of Liverpool houses — bought 

 almost all of the Soudan lots that were for sale. Why don't 

 the Americans come directly to Bordeaux and buy? " 



Small lots of Soudan rubber have been arriving in the New 

 York market for several months past. The quality has been 

 satisfactory, and good prices have been realized. A member 

 of the importing trade informs The India Rubber World 



• Mtmoirti de la SocidU des Ingdnieurt Civttsdt France, Paris, 1900, page 287, 



that the quality is equal to that of the best " red Massai " rub- 

 ber received from Sierra Leone, and predicts a steady demand 

 for the new grade if the present quality is maintained. The 

 best grades have sold in New York at 63 cents per pound — a 

 trifle higher than the latest quotations reported from the Liver- 

 pool market. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 



A NEW RUBBER FROM PERU. 



INTEREST is being manifested in Peru, since the decline in 

 the production of Caucho in that country, in a new pro- 

 duct, which locally has been termed Gutta-percha, though its 

 nature is that of India-rubber. It is, in fact, as represented to 

 The India Rubber World, the product of a tree apparently 

 of the Hevea family, which embraces also the Para and Bo- 

 livian rubber trees. This tree, which has been found only of 

 late to yield rubber, is mentioned as being very abundant, ex- 

 isting in the forests nearest to Iquitos, and being found up the 

 Marafion, and up the Ucayali as far as the Pichis river. These 

 locations indicate that the tree is found at higher altitudes than 

 the Para rubber of commerce. The trees are worked in estra- 

 das and the latex is smoked. Little is known to have been 

 done in the way of exploiting this new rubber, but samples sent 

 to Liverpool are reported to have been valued at about 10 per 

 cent, less than fine Para. Iquitos merchants are advising the 

 collection of this rubber on a large scale, and the chamber of 

 commerce of that city has issued a circular to rubber collectors 

 to the same effect. 



The works in England of the ill fated Gutta-percha Corpo- 

 ration, Limited — formed in 1897, with /20o,ooo capital, to ex- 

 tract Gutta-percha from the leaves of trees — have fallen into the 

 hands of Campbell P. Ogilvie. According to the South Amer- 

 ican Journal (London) Mr. Ogilvie is a man of scientific attain- 

 ments who is familiar with South America, and he believes that 

 he has discovered in the Amazon river country a Gutta percha 

 producing tree of value, the leaves of which he purposes treat- 

 ing at the works referred to above. No details regarding this 

 tree have been made public. 



A NEW RUBBER FROM HONDURAS. 



A SAMPLE of rubber from Honduras, submitted to the Ed- 

 itor of The India Rubber World by Messrs. Eggers & Hein- 

 lein, importers, of New York, is apparently very similar to any 

 of the good grades of Central rubbers. It is quite tough and 

 dry, and was undoubtedly coagulated in a shallow hole in the 

 ground, as it has a very strong earthy smell and the outside 

 has clinging to it both earth and vegetation. The same firm 

 send sections of the growth from which this grade of rubber is 

 produced, but they are not sufficient to indicate the botanical 

 species. It recalls, however, the publication in The India 

 Rubber World of May i, 1901 [page 234], of a report that 

 there had bee.n discovered in the department of Yoro a vine or 

 creeper, supposed to be similar to the Landolphia creepers of 

 Africa, and said to produce rubber of a good quality. The 

 samples submitted by Messrs. Eggers & Heinlein evidently are 

 from this source. 



The W. D. Allen Manufacturing Co. (Chicago) recently 

 offered a prize of $25, to be awarded in the high school of 

 Evanston, Illinois, for the best essay on the " Life and Inven- 

 tions of Charles Goodyear." The prize was won by Gordon 

 Scott Fulcher, whose essay, which has been printed in full in 

 the Chicago 5^o<r Trade Journal, e.vmze.% painstaking investi- 

 gation of his subject and intelligence in the handling of the 

 facts. 



