476 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September 1, 1911. 



The Editor's Book Table. 



RLBBER CUMI'ANIES IN THE NETHERLAND EAST INDIES. 

 Compiled by .\. G. N. Swarl, LL.D., President of the Nelherland Com- 

 mission, and issued by the Commission for the International Rubber 

 Exhibition, London, 1911. [Cloth, 8vo, 307 |>agcs, with colored maps. 

 Amsterdam: .1. H. De Bussy.) 



AM.-\XUAL of particulars, brought up to date, of tlie various 

 companies \vorl<ing rubber estates in the Netherland East 

 Indian Colonies, and including not only companies that 

 plans rubber exclusively, but those who make it their main object. 



Preceded by exhaustive papers on the "Suitability of the Neth- 

 erland East Indies Rubber Cultivation," by Prof. Dr. P. Van 

 Romburgh, of Utrecht University, and on "The Climate of the 

 Islands in the Netherlands Indian Archipelago," by Dr. J. P. 

 Van der Stok, director of the Royal Nethcrland Meterological 

 Institute, this work presents a complete list, in alphabetical se- 

 quence, of all the companies in the Netherland East Indies, in- 

 terested, either exclusively or largely in the cultivation of rub- 

 ber. The points of information covered in the case of each com- 

 pany are capital and plan of issue, purchase price of property, 

 directors, secretary and office address ; name and area of estates, 

 their location, altitude, tenure, proportion under cultivation and 

 to rubber; nature of catch crops, production and general 

 information as to financial management, etc. The data has been 

 obtained at first hands, and those for whom particulars did not 

 arrive in time, are collected in an appendix. 



An interesting addendum to the book consists of a classification 

 of the total of the capital of all the rubber companies in the 

 Netherlands East Indies, according to the country from which 

 the greater portion of the capital for each company has been 

 furnished. Under the caption, "American capital," appears but 

 one entry, the Karimon Rubber Maatschappy, for which an in- 

 vestment of 1,000,000 f\. ($402,000) is recorded. 



GUAYULE— A RUBBER-PLANT OF THE CHIHUAHUAN DESERT. 

 By Francis Ernest Lloyd, professor of plant physiology, Alabama 

 Polytechnic Institute. Published by the Carnegie Institution of Wash- 

 ington, Washington. D. C. 



In an exceedingly scholarly and complete monograph of more 

 than 200 pages, illustrated by nearly 50 full-page plates, Profes- 

 sor Lloyd tells the whole story of guayule from its beginnings up 

 to the present time. The preface speaks of Professor Lloyd's 

 employment by the Continental-Mexican Rubber Co. and the 

 Inter-Continental Rubber Co. to investigate the cultivation of 

 guayule. This engagement lasted about a year when it was 

 terminated. Later, while representing the United States Rub- 

 ber Co. in guayule investigation, he had this additional oppor- 

 tunity to gather much information concerning this most inter- 

 esting of the rubber-bearing shrubs. 



The book is divided into nine chapters which, beginning with an 

 historical account, treat the environment and all that that means 

 in the way of geographical distribution, climate, etc., a complete 

 botanical description of the plant, root systems, seeds, leaves, etc., 

 reproduction, anatomy and histology, the resin canals, the origin 

 and occurrence of the rubber, and of guayule cultivation. 



The book is by far the most complete and important contribu- 

 tion to the literature of guayule that has yet appeared. 



RUBBER TREE INSURANCE. BY FRED W. KNOCKER, F.Z.S.. 

 F.R.A.I. The Financial News, London. 8vo, 16 pp., paper. 



The author, who is not unknown in the field of rubber liter- 

 ature, has embodied in his pamphlet, several articles, on the insur- 

 ance of plantation rubber trees against destruction by fire or 

 tempest or injury by wild animals. This is a business lately 

 taken up by Lloyds, and the author's purpose is to show that if 

 the concern in question would send representatives out to the 

 rubber growing sections and look- personally into the business, 

 there is every prOsjiect of its increase. 



AN AMERICAN CONSUL IN AMAZONIA. BY M.\JOR J. ORTON 

 KERBV. New York, William E. Rudge, 1911. ICIoth, 8vo, pp. 370. 

 Price, $2.50.] 



Major Kerby is an old friend of the Indi.v Rubber World, and 

 for years sent valuable contributions from the land of Para rub- 

 ber. His book is written in an easy conversational mantier, and 

 deals with its various subjects with the utmost frankness. The 

 author in his foreword explains that the beginning of the book, 

 cabled t.o a press syndicate, was "prohibited by a cable dispatch 

 from the then Secretary of State." On his return friends advised 

 against its publication because of its criticism of the consular 

 service and "certain humorous personalities." Now, however, 

 with a consular service in the Brazils that we are proud of, with 

 the humor expunged (?), with the "late Assistant Secretary of 

 State" out of office, and under the friendly patronage of Andrew 

 Carnegie, the book appears. 



Printed in legible type, on good paper, with a profusion of illus- 

 trations that are appropriate and informing, as well as artistic, 

 the work leaves nothing to be desired typographically, the bind- 

 ing, dark green cloth, embossed with tropical scenery in silver 

 and black, completing the attractiveness of its appearance. 



PARA RUBBER CULTURE IN SURINAM. BY A. W. DROST, 

 assistant agronom to the Department of Agriculture, Surinam. Am- 

 sterdam: J. H. DeBussy. 1911. 



What Mr. Drost has written and had translated into Eng- 

 lish is very interesting. The volume is not large, but it is 

 very informing and has some exceedingly striking full-page 

 illustrations of Hcvca rubber in various stages of plantation 

 growth. There is also given a history of the planting of Hevca 

 BrasUiensis in the colony and a list of the important plantations, 

 the number of trees and their ages. There is a very clear de- 

 scription given of the climate, soil, of planting methods, tables 

 of comparative growth under various conditions, and of tapping 

 results from plantations which already have matured trees. 

 Mr. Drost will, undoubtedly, some time in the future, expand 

 the w'ork into one that will cover the whole subject upon which 

 he is so well posted. 



OTHEK BOOKS BECEIYED. 



SuR L.'i Deter.min.^tion du Caoutchouc comme Tetr.\bromure 

 (The Determination of Rubber as Tetra-bromide), by D. Spence 

 and J. C. Galletly. In this brief treatise the authors call atten- 

 tion to the loss of bromine, which takes place in the decomposi- 

 tion of bromic derivatives of rubber by nitric acid, as recom- 

 mended by Cuddc. They have been seeking to determine whether 

 such decomposition can be efTected without this loss, and claim 

 that simple heating with a mixture of carbonate of soda and 

 nitrate of potash gives satisfactory results. 



Details of the tests made arc quoted in six tables dealing with 

 nineteen separate experiments. In some cases it was sought to 

 determine whether carbonate of soda alone could effect the de- 

 composition in the conditions desired, the result justifying that 

 supposition. 



In conclusion, it is stated that the best method of supplying this 

 process of combustion to the determination of rubber w-ill be 

 considered later on. 



The Story of Rubber. The author, Lindley Vinton, of 

 Georgetown, British Guiana, has undertaken, in a thirty-page, 

 16mo, paper-covered pamphlet, to present a brief sketch of the 

 history of the development of rubber cultivation in the East, 

 and an examination of the present and future demand and 

 source of supply for the benefit of those of the public who are 

 interested in its production. The work is publithed by the Hollis- 

 wood Press, Forest Hills, Long Island. 



