346 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April 1, 1014. 



ample evidence that a good fight will be put up to save the 

 situation. 



The Amazon Valley produces little of the food consumed. It 

 is imported at an extremely high cost, and it is this food ques- 

 tion that is receiving the earnest attention of thinking Brazilians. 



JvLBBKK 1'aiKKII i\E.\DV 1-OK SHU'.\tHNT, r.\H.\. 



In the "Folha do Norte," of Para, March 4. 1914. the following 

 notice appears: 



"The Mayor of Itaituba, Brazil, gives notice to those whom 

 it may interest that from January 20 to May 20 free passage 

 will be granted to those persons who may wish to devote them- 

 selves to the cultivation of cereals and to planting cof?ee, cotton 

 and tobacco. Premiums will be awarded to those who show 

 the best results six months after settlement, the prizes including 

 free grants of land in the locality, with medicines and medical 

 treatment gratis. Signed liy R;i\miin(lo Pereira Brazil, Mayor 

 of Itaituba, 46 Rua da Industria." 



Avilino Chaves, a prominent rubber merchant of Guanabara, 

 district of Acre, is distributing seeds and encouraging the plant- 

 ing of beans, corn and rice. The captains of the river boats 

 say that never in the history of Amazon rubber has there been 

 so much planting and cultivation along the rivers. 



The scriitguciro has never been a planter in any sense of the 

 word heretofore, but now he has risen to the occasion and 

 has a little patch of corn, beans and mandioca growing near his 

 barracao. 



The aviadors of Para and Manaos have sent word to their 

 various agents that they are only allowed to give credit for 

 supplies to the scringueiro of good standing, and that he must 

 return with the rubber at the end of IS days. Thus the rubber 

 gatherer can continue in his livelihood as before, but must work 

 harder. More responsibility will be demanded of him under 

 the changed conditions— which will surely produce better re- 

 sults. This will put an end to the business of the piratical 

 irreg:itao, a traveling trader who seduces the scringueiro into 

 selling him the rubber that should go to the aviado to pay for 

 credited supplies. 



TlIK I'Kun.ABLE RITBI'.ER .SHORT.VGE. 

 There will be a shortage this year no doubt. There is a short- 

 age of 3.000 tons now, and when the season closes this will 

 probably have increased to 4,000 tons, but that is only 10 per 

 cent, of the total — a mere nothing, in fact, when one thinks 

 of the disturbances going on which tend to curtail production. 

 It is really marvelous that the production is so large. Next 

 year the indications are that the product will fall short of this 

 year. Ten thousand Cearense have gone down the river to 

 their homes. Ceara has a bumper cotton crop, and there will 

 be a shortage of hands to harvest it; consequently there will 



be no necessity for the Cearense to look for wtirk away from 

 home. 



It is admirable to see a stricken people face adversity with 

 cahnness and willingness to accept the changed conditions. The 

 state and federal governments are in serious financial diffi- 

 cidties. Employes have not received their pay for eighteen 

 months. There is open denunciation of the unscrupulous pol- 

 iticians, whose greed and selfishness have brought their country, 

 state and people to the present bankrupt condition. There are 

 some, of course, who talk of uprisings to rid the government 

 of politicians. But that does not stop the rubber gatherer from 

 doing his daily task. In the meantime, many practical reforms 

 are quietly being instituted, and Para is getting ready to ship 

 1 letter rubber, and hoping to grow it in competition vvitli the 

 rest of the world. 



THE MENDES M.ACIIINE. 

 All of the spectacular and expensive suggestions brought for- 

 ward by the Dcfcsa da Borracha for maintaining the supremacy 

 of Para rubber have dropped out of sight. These had finally 

 crystallized into extensive washing factories, none of which were 

 installed in Para. The only system that has taken root is the 

 J. .\. Mendcs process for smoking rubber, which is already used 

 in many seringacs. The apparatus used is very simple. It 

 consists of a cylinder, mounted upon legs over the usual smok- 



The Mende.s M.\chine for S.moking RunnER .\nd Its Product. 



ing cone. .\s the latex is slowly poured over the cylinder it 

 is revolved .so that the smoke rising from the cone coagulates 

 the latex into a thin film of rubber. When a sufficient nnmlier 

 of films — one above the other — have been coagulated by this 

 method, the mass is cut ofT and is in the form of a thin slab 

 of clear, clean, perfectly cured fine Para rubber. The illustra- 

 tion shows the machine in the foreground, liut without the 

 smoking cone. In the background is piled the finished product. 



CATTLE R.MSING .\ND RUBBER PL.WTING. 



One of the economic problems confronting northern Brazil 

 is the food supply. Now everything, with the exception of 

 farina, is imported. Xarque, or dried meat, imported from 

 Argentina, costs 60 cents a pound, while fi^esh beef can be 

 bought for 45 cents. 



Cattle raising is an industry that is comparatively unknown 

 and for which the ."Kmazon Valley offers many natural advan- 

 tages, tho there are some difficulties to contend with. In the 

 first place, pasture must be made. This involves clearing of 

 the land and fencing. The selection of the proper grass for 

 planting is more complicated than it would seem at first thought. 

 To the layman all grasses are alike, but that is not so. When 

 a definite object is to be obtained an intimate knowledge of 



