May 1, 1914.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



401 



The Rubber Crisis In Brazil — II. 



By the Editor of The India Rubber World. 



Till-: M<JJU Kl Ul!i:u PLANTATION. PAKA. 



FKVV .Americans are better known on the .Amazon than 

 (.'oniniodore E. C. Benedict. Forty years ago he visited 

 I'ara, and at eighty he still takes midwinter cruises np 

 this great river. These visits are not alone for rela.\ation: 

 he almost always fathers some new and large enterprise. 

 For example, he installed wireless telegraph stations at Para. 

 Santareni and Manans. The lir-t inst;ill'iti'in did not wur 



steamers of considerable draught. During his last visit to 

 South .America Commodore Bcncd-ct took the "Oneida" with 

 its passengers and certain leading business men in Para right 

 H]) lo the i)laM(ati(>n. The Moju Plantation Cn.'s lands are 



Bi).\T L.\NniNG, Moju Pi..\xt.\ti(jX. 



whereat he pulled it out and put in another. Tliis was so 

 successful that the Brazilian Government was more than 

 willing to purchase it. Among other enterprises, Cominodore 

 Benedict and his associates — among whom is the Hon. Wm. 

 M. Ivins — are owners of a big tract of land near Para, a part 

 of which has been turned into a rubber plantation. 



To go back a little: The State of Para offered premiums 

 for planting, which were in the form of special exemptions 

 and cash bonuses. .A great number of i)rivate planters 

 registered at the Department of .Agriculture, and it was said 

 that in December. 1911. there were 340.000 trees planted 

 W'liile the registrants were largely individuals, the planting 



rut in two by the river, giving them several miles of water- 

 Irnnt. This company owns .several hundred thousand acres, 

 most nf it still heavily forested, the important clearings being 

 in the immediate vicinity of the little settlement, consisting 

 of the superintendent's and laborers' homes, etc., etc. When 

 the work was begun, some four years ago, it was in charge 

 of a Para merchant, who took hold with much enthusiasm. 

 He did a big l)usiness as an aviador, ran a store for the labor- 

 ers and had much forest cut and burned. He also put in 

 some 500 acres of rice. 10,000 bananas, several thousand 

 cacao trees and 40,000 llcii-a trees. In the belief that a bct- 



HoME OF THE SUPERINTENDENT. MuJ U Pl..\NT.\TlllN. 



The largest of tliese was 



the 



was done by companies. 

 Moju Plantation Co. 



The location is soine 70 luiles from the city of I'ara. on the 

 Moju river. This is a broad, deep waterway, navigable for 



l-'iKLiJ fi.KAKHi) FOR Pl.\.n ] 1 i\G, -Moj i: Pl..\niatjun. 



tcr tree grew in the .Acre district, he sent there to get the 

 seed, instead of depending upon trees in the vicinity. 



Some 150 laliorers, mostly West Indian negroes, were em- 

 ployed on the plantation. Whether or not the government 

 paid the company bonuses for the plantings of rice and rub- 

 ber does not transpire. .According to the scale of premiums 

 that the state promised, the company should have received 

 about $6,000 for rice and $10,000 for rubber planting. 



For soine time .Andre Goeldi worked there to produce a 

 cover crop that should enable the company to do away with 

 the constant cleaning of the rubber. His successful work 



