72 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December i, 1901. 



results, since the saving by this method would be enormous. 

 Four nurseries have been made this year, and nearly three tons 

 of rubber seed planted. Four kinds of nurseries were made. 

 One of 1 5 acres, on the top of a hill, was cleared and the fallen 

 timber burned ; all creepers were cleared off and burned ; a 

 stump puller was used to remove all the stumps that could 

 be raised without digging around the roots; the stumps were 

 burned, and then the ground was leveled and rows about an inch 

 deep opened with rakes, in which the seeds were placed about 

 one inch apart. Fully 90 per cent, ^(erminated. Forthesecond 

 nursery, of 5 acres, the timber was burned ofT, but the other 

 work of clearing mentioned above was omitted, though the 

 method of planting the seeds was the same. The appearance 

 of the nursery is less neat, but the expense has been only one- 

 third as much per acre. The plants, however, look just as well. 

 Ground for the third nursery was prepared by deep plowing 

 and spading, raking off the roots, and pulverizing the soil. It 

 was then laid out in beds, leaving walks between to permit 

 weeding and watering the young plants without walking over 

 them. Rows 12 inches apart and an inch deep were opened 

 with a rake, and the seeds planted as above. The ground being 

 dug more deeply in this case, it is expected that the tap roots 

 will be longer, and the result will be compared of setting out 

 nursery plants with tap roots of different lengths. No details 

 are given in regard to nursery No. 4. The planting of 330,000 

 rubber seedlings occupied 28 days. Mr. Maunder is an experi- 

 enced tropical planter, having had charge of a coffee estate in 

 Ceylon. 



THE TEHUANTEPEC RUBBER CULTURE CO. 



[Plantation " Rubio," Coatzacoalcos, state of Vera Cruz, Mexico. Offices: No. 

 35 Nassau Street, New Yorlc.l 



The company's second quarterly report to investors, dated 

 November 15, 1901, is devoted to the continued success in the 

 sale of the company's bonds, which is now almost concluded. 

 Meanwhile the work of clearing and planting has gone forward 

 at a satisfactory rate. The circular says: "Our next report 

 will dwell chiefly on progress at the plantation, covering full 

 details of the work there, and will be issued from Plantacion 

 Rubio by Mr. Bennett [the president] personally." The report 

 is accompanied by a copy of a letter from Alfred N. Litch, 

 secretary of the Leominster Worsted Co. (Leominster, Mass.) 

 who, in connection with the president of that company, has 

 $10,000 invested in the Tehuantepec enterprise. Mr. Litch 

 spent the month of August on the isthmus of Tehuantepec, 

 and writes encouragingly of what he observed there with regard 

 to rubber planting and kindred interests, 



UBERO PLANTATION CO. OF BOSTON. 



[plantation near Ubero, state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Offices: No. 89 State street, 

 Boston, Massachusetts.] 



At a meeting of the directors on October 29, it was voted 

 that a dividend of lo per cent, be declared, payable as follows : 

 6 per cent, on December 31, 1901, and 4 per cent, on April 30, 

 1902. In computing dividends, all instalments on regular 

 monthly payments paid previous to the 15th of each month, to 

 be considered as having been paid on the first of the month. 

 ==.The directors are: Arthur W. Stedman, Frederick C. 

 Hood, E. H. Nebeker, Thomas Moran, William D. Owen, W, 

 I. Overstreet, Victor E. Seiter. 



MEXICAN GULF AGRICULTURAL CO. (KANSAS CITY. J 

 While this company was formed for the purpose of planting 

 cofTee and has devoted its energies mainly to this industry, it 

 deserves a place in any record of rubber planting in Mexico 

 for the recson that its experiments with rubber have been the 

 means of largely attracting attention to the cultivation of the 



latter. The success of the Mexican Gulf company is indicated 

 to some extent by the fact that a gold medal was awarded at 

 the Pan American Exposition for the coffee grown on its " Dos 

 Rios " plantation. 



OAXACA COFFEE CULTURE CO. (ST. LOUIS.) 

 This company's "San Luis" plantation, on the isthmus of 

 Tehuantepec, is reported to have under cultivation 450,000 

 coffee and 200,000 India-rubber trees, beside various fruits. 

 The coffee trees are three years old, and some of them have 

 yielded a crop this season. 



CHIAPAS RUBBER PLANTATION AND INVESTMENT CO. 

 Mr. L. H. Bonestell, of San Francisco, California, and 

 president of this company, was a recent visitor to the offices of 

 The India Rubber World. He reported that the managing 

 director of the company, the Rev. J. W. Ellsworth, continued 

 to send favorable progress reports from the plantation in 

 Mexico. Mr Bonestell thought that about 8000 acres had 

 been cleared for rubber — only enough for the forest growth 

 being removed to make room for the rubber. About 3000 

 acres had been planted in rubber, aad planting was in constant 

 progress, so that it was expected that the remaining 5000 acres 

 would be planted by the end of this year. These figures would 

 indicate a marked degree of activity on the part of the Rev. 

 J. W. Ellsworth since the appearance of the last previous 

 reports. 



INDIA-RUBBER IN CUBA. 



Fredrico M. Castro writes from Havana to The India 

 Rubber World that some rubber trees are still standing 

 which were planted about 1830 by Ram6n de la Sagra in the 

 botanical gardens which stood where the railway station at 

 ViUanueva is now situated. Jose Antonio del Castillo, agrand- 

 son of Sagra, has on his plantation " El Algibe " rubber trees 

 planted by his grandfather. Senor Castro asserts that these 

 trees, and also others within his knowledge on Cuban planta- 

 tions, are the Castilloa elastica, with which species he became 

 familiar while manager on " El Brinco " estate of Ramos 

 Brothers, in Chicoaloque, canton of Paplanta, state of Vera 

 Cruz, Mexico. Some of these trees in Cuba, Seiior Castro 

 writes, are of a size and vigor he has never seen equalled " in 

 the hot zones of Mexico." In October last he sent samples of 

 rubber from planted trees growing in Cuba to Flint, Eddy and 

 American Trading Co. (New York), from whom he received a 

 favorable report as to quality. Senor Castro strongly advises 

 the planting of rubber in Cuba, as a certain source of profit, 

 and has contributed his views on this subject to the Revisiade 

 Agriculttira, of Havana. He states, by the way, that many 

 young seedlings of Castilloa elastica can be obtained from the 

 vicinity of the large trees above referred to. His address is 

 Apodaca 5 (altos), Havana. 



RUBBER PLANTING IN BURMA. 



The first private enterprise in rubber planting in Burma was 

 commenced in 1899 by W. S. Todd, of Amherst, who has now 

 60 acres under cultivation, chiefly of Hevea Brasiliensis, but 

 has also some Castilloa elastica, Manikot Glaziovii, and Fun- 

 tumia elastica. His conclusions, communicated to The India 

 Rubber World, are that the growth of the Hevea is equal 

 to the Ceylon records, but not so good as the Straits Settle- 

 ments. 



RUBBLR PLANTING COMPANY PUBLICATIONS. 



Tabasco Plantation Co., Minneapolis, Minnesota-=(i) San Miguel 

 Plantation Views, Bulletin No. i. 3' pp. (2) A Fortune in Rubber. 

 40 pp. -\- map. 



Mexican Mutual Planters' Co., Chicago. = The La Junta Planter, 

 Nos. 5, 6. (February and April, 1901.) 28 pp. each. 



