15. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[hF.BRUARY 1, 1911. 



One day I had a call from the Government Inspector of 

 bananas, who is not only an enthusiastic planter of Hevea rub- 

 ber, but, being the father of the Government Forester, knows 

 much about the wild Hevea, the Guyancnsis, that is quite plen- 

 tiful in the hinterland. He had many samples of rubber col- 

 lected from this tree, and also much information concerning it. 



The presence of the Heira Oiiyaiiensis has long been known, 

 for it was identified as far back as 1762, by Aublct. Very little 

 attention was paid to it until in 1906, when the man who was my 

 visitor found twenty or more large trees in the gold fields near 

 Hoolhoven placer. He at once had them tapped and the rubber 

 examined. It was found to be short of fiber and rather sticky, 

 although the caoutchouc content was large, 88 to 94 per cent. 



To the casual observer the tree would appear to be the same 

 as the Brasilieiisis. The leaves, however, are much smaller, 

 and the leaf ends more rounded with a short point, the nuts 

 are smaller also. .^n examination of the blossom, however, 

 will absolutely identify the tree. The tree is called by the Carib 

 Indian "mapalapa," and the women use the dried seeds for orna- 

 ments. The trees begin to bud in September and flower up to 



December. As far as has been observed the tree grows slower 

 than the Braiiliensis. It is not very plentiful, as a rule, and is 

 oftentimes found in swampy places. 



The Government Forester started men out to "cruise" for 

 trees, and in one section located 1,120 of them. The year fol- 

 lowing, 1910, he discovered something like 1,000 more. The 

 cost of locating the trees was something like 26 cents per 

 tree. Under government supervision, he started tapping them 

 after the most approved methods. The herring-bone system was 

 generally employed — and coagulation effected by the use of acetic 

 acid. The trees were tapped every two or three days, one man 

 tapping from 60 to 80 of them. The average production per 

 tree was from 10 to 15 grams, or .35 to .53 ounce. The latex 

 varied considerably, containing 27 to 54 per cent, of rubber. Of 

 500 trees tapped the yield was 80 kilos or 176.4 pounds of dry 

 fine, or 160 grams, equal to 5.64 ounces per tree. 



Of three analyses of this rubber made in Holland, one chemist 

 found nearly 9 per cent of resin, another a little over 3 per cent, 

 and the third something over 2 per cent. Opinions as to its 

 value varied. One firm of European rubber importers called it 

 very poor; another declared that it was 

 the equal of Para rubber, except that 

 it was not quite as strong. Rubber 

 manufacturers in Holland reported 

 favorably on it, while German manu- 

 facturers did not think so much of it. 

 Carefully analyzing all the reports the 

 Government Forester came to the con- 

 clusion that the market value was about 

 the same as Ceylon plantation rubber. 

 Later experiments developed difficulties 

 in coagulating. One attempt to over- 

 come this was by adding vinegar to the 

 latext and then boiling it. The result 

 was a very spongy rubber mass. 



Whether the trees show wound re- 

 sponse in the same degree as do the 

 llcvea Brasilieiisis has not yet been es- 

 tablished. They certainly do show 

 wound response, but after a time the 

 riow seems to diminish. Smoking the 

 rubber was also attempted, "'maripa" and 

 "paramaka" nuts being used to produce 

 tlie smoke. Rubber thus coagulated 

 showed little nerve. Treating the latex 

 with smoke from green wood produced 

 a better result. 



Tlie forest was cut away in many 

 places around the mature trees, and a 

 sreat many seedlings sprang up, which 

 appeared to be growing very nicely, 

 although not very rapidly. The govern- 

 ment has also cleared strips two meters 

 wide in various parts of the forest, and 

 sowed seeds of the Guyanensis in these 

 partial openings, the idea being to keep 

 the rankest growtli down, and give the 

 young trees a chance. 



[TO BE CONTINUED.) 



TAPPING A Wn.l) lIEVhA CrVANENSlS. 



The new Madeira— Mamore Railway, 

 in Brazil, has arrived at the stage of 

 maintaining a regulation time table, 

 which is printed in the local newspaper 

 \cry much in the style of such infor- 

 mation in newspapers elsewhere. The 

 latest issue of this time table relates to 

 running the trains from Porto Velho, 

 [lie starting point, up to 152 kilometers. 



