June 1, 1914.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



505 



Interesting Letters From Our Readers. 



AMERICAN IDEAS ON STANDARDIZING PLANTA- 

 TION RUBBER. 



TO THE EuiTOR OF The India Rubber World, Dear Sir: 

 Is it not time for a "Plantation Rubber Consumers' Asso- 

 ciation'' to be organized in the United States to vigor- 

 ously impress upon our British and Dutch planting friends 

 the need of reforms in the East such as American manufac- 

 turers want (not as the planters think) ? 



Thus far the Rubber Growers' Association of London has 

 been doing all the talking and acting, but this progressive 

 organization makes no distinction between cultivated Hevea 

 rubber from a five-year-old tree and that from a 

 twenty-five-year-old tree. However, as the rate of growth 

 in the East is very rapid in the sun, it is safe to as- 

 sume that a ten-year-old tree having plenty of room is as 

 large as a twenty-year-old tree in the dark forest of the 

 Amazon Valley; hence the len-ycar cultivated tree is mature, 

 or reasonably so. 



Various managers, superintendents and chemists are al- 

 ready lined up with my views, namely : separating the latex 

 into three grades of maturity in the East, and smoke-curing, 

 omitting the preliminary acetic acid coagulation. These 

 same practical rubber men also express grave doubts as to 

 the possibility of the proposed London Testing Station giv- 

 ing accurate tests, on account of the huge tonnage and also 

 because each half ton would not be sufficient. It might be 

 wiser to test a limited amount from every case for specifica- 

 tion purposes when competing with Upriver fine Para, but 

 to attempt to properly test thirty thousand tons per annum 

 would be very difficult indeed. 



The wise rubber man is always ready to learn. In fact, 

 one can never get through learning about rubber generally. 

 Consequently a "Plantation Rubber Consumers' Association" 

 would appeal to the wide-awake manufacturers who wish to 

 take active steps to prevent tampering with cultivated rub- 

 ber, excessive handling (every time the case is opened it 

 means another sliower of splinters), and to open negotia 

 tions with equally progressive plantation companies which 

 are willing and an.xious to please the manufacturers by fol- 

 lowing out their ideas in an honest manner. The manufac- 

 turers who desire relief should be adequately represented at 

 the forthcoming London Exhibition in June. 



I have been studying the preparation and production of 

 wild and cultivated Hcvea for the last 10 years in various 

 producing countries, also in London, especially for manufac- 

 turers. Mr. H. C. Pearson during his trip to Malaya in 1904 

 found that the Hevcas were then not tapped until they had a 

 girth of 30 inches (3 feet from the ground). 



The first lots of plantation rubber were good, but the com- 

 parative high prices in 1905-6-7 tempted the planters to try 

 tapping trees only 18 inches in circumference. In 1907 a 

 complaint appeared in The India Rubber World from a Canadian 

 factory concerning the unreliable character of "Ceylon" rub- 

 ber. There is no question that young or immature plantation 

 rubber has wide variations. 



As to minor variations, due to differences in soil and rain- 

 fall, also overlapping, compulsory branding on smoked 

 sheets (without acid) would in time educate the manufac- 

 turers as to the behavior of definite lots in their works. 

 Moisture is not necessary in plantation rubber. My opinion 

 is that in the .Amazon country smoked sheet as cured or 

 coagulated on a revolving drum will not equal in quality the 



pelles, as the natives carelessly leave the rubber exposed to the 

 sun lor weeks, causing the oxidizing of the outer layers of 

 the balls or hams, and greatly weakening the new style 

 sheets — which I have already seen. By the way, smoked 

 sheet without acid when dry is practically black, but when 

 rolled into a ball, even with a small amount of moisture, is 

 brown or similar to Upriver fine Para when cut open. 



The smoked sheet of to-day, of a dark amber color, which 

 is first coagulated with acetic acid, has given quite good results 

 as prepared by some of the older estates. This is another argu- 

 ment for smoked sheet free from acid and guaranteed from 

 reasonably mature trees, say 10 years old. As half the area 

 of cultivated Hevea in the East is still less than 5 years old, 

 it is quite evident the Rubber Growers' Association does not 

 want immature rubber to be classed as inferior to mature. The 

 only way out is for the consumers to bring pressure on the 

 Colonial Governments for legislation making branding compul- 

 sory, and keeping separate on the estates immature latex, and 

 not mixing same in with the milk from older trees. Limiting 

 the huge number of styles of plantation rubber would be an- 

 other blessing to the manufacturer. 



Yours truly, 



QuiNCY Tucker. 



43 Tremont street, Boston. 



WATERING OF GOLD COAST LUMPS. 



TO THE Editor of The India Rubber World, Dear Sib: 

 The allegations made on the above subject in your anony- 

 mous correspondent's letter in the current issue of your valuable 

 paper, must be viewed with the greatest concern. It is sincerely 

 to be hoped that those implicated will take the opportunity of 

 replying to the accusations. 



At this moment it would probably be of great interest to a num- 

 ber of American manufacturers who use this grade of rubber to 

 know the terms on which it is dealt in on the Liverpool Market, 

 and the methods adopted when receiving the particular grade in 

 question. 



"Prime Selected Quality Contracts" between importers and 

 dealers are made with the proviso of "Soft, soft-spongj', dead and 

 loaded pieces to be rejected, but only doubtful pieces to he cut" 

 and "Rejection Contracts" with the clause "excluding pasty or 

 chalky pieces." 



Now Gold Coast Lump always arrives in Liverpool in an un- 

 selected condition, the selection for the various qualities being 

 made by the dealers themselves in the presence of a representative 

 of the importers. If the goods are properly received, the following 

 procedure should be observed. In order to obtain a parcel of 

 Selected quality, it is obviously necessary for every piece to be 

 handled and tested. There should be at least two representatives 

 of the purchasing dealer present at the selection, men of many 

 years' experience and unquestioned ability. 



In the first place let it at once be said that the whole contents 

 of each cask should be, according to Liverpool Rules, turned out 

 upon the floor; any loose moisture which has sweated out of the 

 rubber, or has been in the cask, consequently running away. 



The lumps are then selected for First Quality, and doubtful 

 pieces cut. Should any of these cut pieces turn out up to First 

 Standard they must of course be accepted ; and as Gold Coast 

 Lump is naturally a wet and spongj' rubber, it is only likely that 

 a certain amount of water will oo^e out of these cut pieces, when 

 the cask becomes full, and pressure is exerted in order to replace 

 the head. But this is not anv loss to a manufacturer, since as no 



