416 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



lAUGUST 1, 1911. 



The Editor's Book Table. 



RUBBER, by Philip Schidrowiu, Ph.D., F. C. S. Mcthucn & Co.. Ltd., 

 London. (Ooth, 8vo., 290 pp. with 83 illustrations and diagrams. 

 Price, 10s. 6d. net.) 



FEW men are better equipped than Dr. Schidrowitz to write 

 on the topic that he has chosen. He is chemist, botanist, 

 physicist and tropical expert. He is in touch with rubber 

 in the field, having studied the plantations in the Middle East 

 and dipped into the jungles of Java and Borneo. He is familiar 

 with German, English, French and .-Xmerican mill practice, not 

 from hearsay but from personal observation. Further than 

 this he writes clearly and voluminously. 



In this volume he presents, in a practical, critical and interest- 

 ing manner, the story of rubber, from the origin of its name 

 and the source of its supply, to its latest industrial application to 

 practical purposes. While the chapters devoted to the production 

 of rubber are exceedingly comprehensive and enriched with 

 numerous original illustrations, the portion devoted to the manu- 

 facture of rubber is exceptionally complete, the illustrations 

 including the principal up-to-date machines employed in the 

 various manufacturing departments. The chemical and physical 

 and mechanical properties of rubber have also received detailed 

 attention, as was to be expected from the author's experience as 

 a past member of the Council of the Society of Public Analysts, 

 a past member of the Committee of the Society of Chemical 

 Industry, and a member of the International Rubber Testing 

 Committee. Subjects involving comparatively recent develop- 

 ment or novel principle, have been treated at length and with 

 notable care, and the illustrations, which are numerous and 

 selected with excellent discrimination, complete a work which 

 is typographically excellent and a valuable contribution to the 

 literature of india rubber, its prodution and manufacture. 



THE AFRICAN RUBBER INDUSTRY AND FUNTUMIA ELASTICA 

 (Kickxia). By Cuthbert Christy, M. B.. CM. (Edin.) London. John 

 Bale. Sons & Danielson, Limited. [Cloth, 8vo., 252 pp. Price, I2s. 6d. 

 net.] 



In this interesting work, Mr. Christy has dealt with the 

 comprehensive subject of the "African Rubber Industry" under 

 its various aspects, with special reference to Fuiituniia Elastica 

 (or Kickxia). The two opening chapters treat of the geo- 

 graphical, commercial and statistical phases of the question 

 affecting the various countries of tropical Africa, while the fol- 

 lowing one deals with the botany, life-history and structure of 

 the genus Fuiituir.ia, so intimately allied with African rubber 

 culture. 



The next stage is the consideration in the fourth and fifth 

 chapters of the distribution of Funluinia and of the climate and 

 soils where it thrives. Cultivation, growth, forest and plantation 

 yields, tapping and coagulation are successively treated in 

 Chapters VI to XVI, while Chapter XVII describes the physical 

 and chemical properties of the rubber. In conclusion. 

 Chapter XVIII records the efforts made to introduce 

 Funttduia Elastica in the West Indies, British Guiana and the 

 Pacific islands. That success in this direction has been very 

 limited is mainly attributed by Mr. Christy to lack of knowledge 

 of the special planting requirements, the plants being set at wide 

 distances apart in the open without side shade, as if they were 

 Hevea. 



Mr. Christy's work is thus of an educational character, with the 

 object of diffusing information as to the conditions which lead 

 him to the conclusion that the indigenous tree is the most suit- 

 able for general plantation purposes in tropical Africa. Reference 

 is made to the fact being recognized in the Congo that the future 

 of the country as a rubber producing region probably depends 

 mainly upon the cultivation of tree-rubbers; the point now at 

 issue being whether Funtumia or Hevea is better suited to local 

 conditions. 



While estimating on tlie basis of published statistics the share 

 of .\frica in the world's rubber production as 30 per cent, against 

 60 per cent, for South .-Xmcrica and 10 per cent, for Asia, Mr. 

 Christy emphasizes the fact that the average loss of 50 per cent, in 

 washing African rubber, against a maximum loss of 15 per cent, 

 on the South American product, makes an essential difference in 

 the actual result, when applied to clean rubber. 



.■\s to future prospects, the opinion is expressed tnat very 

 shortly there will be scarcely any African wild rubber trees to 

 meet the ever-increasing demand, with the result that there is no 

 hope of recovery for the rubber industry of the West African 

 colonies, unless extensive planting be encouraged to replace the 

 destroyed rubber trees and vines. 



Mr. Christy's work, starting from the Western coast, takes 

 the reader through the rubber producing countries of tropical 

 Africa — Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, Southern Nigeria, Liberia, 

 French Ivory Coast, Togoland, Belgian Congo, Kameruns, Por- 

 tuguese Angola and Uganda. Each of these has its story told in 

 detail and illustrated by graphic statistical tables. 



The author is to be congratulated on having gathered so 

 many valuable facts and on having so efficiently grouped them. 

 Over 100 illustrations and ten full page plates embellish the work 

 and contribute to its practical value. 



THE PHYSIOLOGY AND DISEASES OF HEVEA BRASILIENSIS. 

 The Premier Plantation Rubber Tree. T. Fetch, K.Sc. B.A.. Nlycolo- 

 gist to the Government of Ceylon. London: Dulau & Co., Limited. 

 [Cloth, 8vo, 264 pp. with index and 18 plates. 7s. bd. net.] 



In this comprehensive and careful work, the author has em- 

 bodied the results of experience acquired during six years spent 

 in the investigation of Hevea diseases in Ceylon, and in examina- 

 tion into examples of Hcz-ca diseases from India, Burmah, Ma- 

 laya, West Africa, the West Indies and South America. It 

 describes for the first titne, several new diseases, while the 

 detailed account given of the normal structure of the tree is sc 

 plain and so complete that it should enable the planter to dis- 

 criminate immediately and infallibly between abnormal non- 

 pathological appearances and indications of disease. 



The various methods of treating and combating diseases likely 

 to occur among rubber trees, are very, clearly and fully described 

 and special chapters are devoted to the effects of various tapping 

 systems on the normal functions of the tree, and to a detailed 

 account of the processes that go on when latex is extracted. 



Handsomely printed, appropriately illustrated and filling a long 

 existent vacancy in the literature of the practical side of rubber 

 planting, the work will undoubtedly find many interested readers 

 who will profit by the mastery of its contents. 



RUBBER SHARE HANDIIOOK. DETAILS OF COMPANIES OWNING 

 rubber and other produce properties in Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, 

 British North Borneo, Sumatra, Java, .Vfrica and South America. 

 [Eigllth Edition.] London: The Financier and Bullionist, Limited, 

 1911. [Cloth— boards, 8vo. Pp. IV + 636. Price, 2s. 6d. net.] 



Embodying all the features that have won for this work pre- 

 eminence as a reference book for the use of those interested in 

 rubljcr planting and kindred investments, the current edition 

 supplies, in convenient form, complete information in regard to 

 the companies listed, their capital, officers and directors, prop- 

 erties, production, prospects, operating expenses, etc. A special 

 alphabetical list of directors is appended. The book is well 

 printed and practically arranged to facilitate ready reference and 

 will take its place with its predecessors as an authentic record of 

 an interest, the growth of which in financial and industral im- 

 portance is reflected in its orderly and closely printed pages. 



