May 1, 1911.]- 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



281 



Another matter of perhaps still greater interest brought to the 

 attention of rubber planters in Mexico by Mr. Smith was that of 

 his invention of a centrifugal machine for the treatment of 

 Castilloa latex — designed not only to separate but also to dry 

 the latex at the same time. Various plantations are now 

 anxiously awaiting the advent of this machine upon the market, 

 anticipating by its means a complete revolution in present 

 methods, judging by the samples shown by Mr. Smith. 



A careful record kept at La Zacualpa of the yield during the 

 past year of 1,230 planted rubber trees, twenty years old 

 (presumably Castilloa lactiflua, to which, according to Mr. Henry 

 Pittier's recently published monograph on the genus "Castilla" 

 (sic), specific rank has now been given), shows that they 

 average 2'4 lb. per tree of dry rubber — and tliis despite the severe 

 maltreatment which they formerly suffered by machete tapping. 



A new estate, called Los 1 bcayos, situated near the several 

 La Zacualpa properties, was opened up last year by the Soconusco 

 Development Company, of San Francisco, California, and the 

 planting made is reported to have been very successful. This 

 season's work on the same estate is to embrace 300 acres. Some 

 1,6(X) acres are to be planted on El Rosario estate, near Mapa- 

 stepec, by the St. Paul Tropica! Development Company. <if St. 

 Paul, Minnesota, while another concern, located in the district, 

 proposes to put out 650 acres this year on Santa Clara estate. 



Advice comes from London on tlic hearing of a petition in the 

 High Court of Justice for the winding up of the .\mistad Rubber 

 Plantations & Estates, Limited, which event may be regarded as 

 the sequel to the difficulty mentioned in connection with this 

 promotion in Thi; Indi.a Rubber World for January. 1911, 

 page 123 



CASTILLOA IN MEXICO. 



IX a report to the beard of Agriculture, Trinidad, \V. I., Harry 

 S. Smith describes his observations on a visit to Mexico 

 and Central America, made at the instance of that body 

 10 investigate the conditions of the Castilloa rubber industry in 

 those countries. 



From Vera Cruz he proceeded by rail and steam launch to 

 Tuxtepec, which he describes as a "rubber village," with Cas- 

 tilloa trees growing in every yard, some very old and of great 

 size. Native rubber gatherers pay for the privilege of tapping 

 them. He noted that the trees were of the same variety as 

 those planted in Tobago and records his conviction that the tree 

 cultivated in Mexico is identical with the one grown there. 



He visited, in turn, the San Cristobal de Vega, the San 

 Saviaro, the El Palmar, Tezonapa, La Buena Ventura, where 

 he tapped a few 8-year-old trees to obtain a sample for 

 comparison with Tobago rubber ; Rubio, with upwards of 

 2,000,000 trees, the planting of which was started in 1902, 

 en a clearing of over 1,500 acres and several plantations in 

 Chiapas, containing many millions of trees, which, owing to 

 the well-distributed rainfall and suitaljle soil are described as 

 doing well. He referred also to the thousands of acres of 

 rubber which have been planted on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec 

 under unsuitable conditions and subsequently abandoned. 



Visits to the El Rosario estate, a young property, which, at 

 the end of 1911 will have 5,000 acres under rubber, all planted 

 in three years and the planting system of which he fully de- 

 scribes ; the Doha Maria, estate at Soconusco, where tapping, 

 which he describes in detail, was in full swing. The coagulation 

 of the latex, accomplished with the aid of the juice of the moon 

 vine, the drying, etc.. he also explains. 



The last estate he visited was the La Zacualpa group of 

 properties, four in number, with 20,(KX) acres under cultiva- 

 tion and 6,(XX).000 trees, the largest block of Castilloa in the 

 world. The output of this property, for 1910, exceeded 100.000 

 pounds and is expected, within three years, to reach 500,000 

 pounds. 



On this estate, the manager, Mr. Fisher, has decided that 

 trees as young as six years old can be tapped to advantage 

 and without injury, provided they have a girth of 15 inches. 

 Such trees are tapped only to a height of six feet, with four 

 or five V cuts each year; as the trees expand, the cuts are car- 

 ried higher up the trunk, so that at ten years there may be 

 about 20 to 25 cuts, reaching 30 feet up the trees. On this es- 

 tate, the manager has introduced a system of controlling the 

 collections, which has nearly doubled the amount brought in 

 by the same number of tappers. The method, which may be of 

 interest to some of our readers is described in the report as 

 follows: Each man has a number in the "Mill Book"; his 

 collecting bucket and coagulating tanks have a similar number. 

 .\t present there are 240 wooden tanks, in groitps of six; each 

 man's number corresponds to three of these, so that the latex 

 brought in on Monday goes into one, Tuesday's into a second, 

 and Wednesday's into a third. Monday's latex being coagulated 

 on Wednesday, leaves the first tank ready for Thursday's rub- 

 ber, each tank is fitted with a tap to draw off the water from 

 the bottom and a glass-covered slit to show when enough water 

 has been drawn off, ai;d each group of six has a jet above for 

 filling the tanks with fresh water. When the rubber is coagu- 

 lated on the third day, it is lifted inn i.f the tank, and a 

 munber tag stuck into it ; it is taken to the crepeing machine, 

 the rubber passes through the rolls, and with its tag goes on 

 to the weighing machine where the amoimt is noted against the 

 man's number in the "Mill Book." 



Under this system, tapping in a 7 to 8-year field, with wild 

 rubber scattered through, 77 men tapped 4,015 trees on one of 

 the days that Mr. Smith was at La Zacualpa, bringing in 

 enough latex to make 528 pounds of dry rubber = 52 trees per 

 man, with an average amount of 6.9 pounds per man. The 

 greatest amount brought in by one man was 9'A pounds. 

 A man who takes a small boy with him brought in 12 pounds. 

 Tapping 12 days during two weeks, these two brought enough 

 latex to make 189 pounds of dry rubber. On the day that he 

 took his notes 506 pounds passed thrnugh the crepeing rolls, 

 18 pounds through the centrifugal, and 4 pounds of scrap from 

 the tins, buckets, tanks, etc., making in all 528 pounds, from 

 4,015 trees = 2.2 ounces per tree. The men have to bring in 

 5 pounds per day and are paid 3d. for every extra pound. If 

 after a short trial they cannot do this they are put to other 

 employment. 



The methods of centrifugalization, of drying, pressing and 

 packing practised on this estate, arc also described. 



In Guatemala, both wild and cidtivated Castilloa were ob- 

 served in traveling from San Jose to Guatemala City, but it was 

 noted that on reaching an altitude of 1,200 feet, the natural rub- 

 ber zone was passed. 



In Panama, the Castilloa trees under cultivation were noted 

 to be ditiferent to the variety grown in Mexico. Trinidad and 

 'I obago. The latex does not flow freely in tapping, but oozes 

 out and thickens, necessitating scraping it olT. or leaving it to 

 coagulate as scrap. It was learned from a native tapper that 

 the wild trees give a more fluid latex, but that even these do not 

 flow freely. 



The report states that when Mr. Smith reached Panama, the 

 Castilloa were in blossom, but that of about 30 trees examined 

 by him only two were found to bear female flowers, a condi- 

 tion that excited his surprise, as in Tobago both male and 

 female flowers appear on the same tree .and he had never before 

 seen a Castilloa bearing only male blossoms. 



The Castilloa trees seen in Mexico are described as notably 

 free from diseases, not a single case of collar rot, which at- 

 tacks them in the West Indies, having been observed, while 

 "die back," where not due to the eflfects of poverty of soil 

 or strong drying winds, proves amenable to treatment. 



The yield he describes as about the same in Mexico as in 

 the West Indies. 



