>14 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[ Maui n I, 1910. 



TWENTY-FIVE YEAR OLD CAST1LLOA. 

 Plantation "Lutnija." [Mexican Plantation Association.] 



The average temperature throughout the year was about ~i F. 



The Tulija river, which winds through half the length of the 

 estate, affords communication by canoe with points upstream, 

 but is not navigable in the direction of Salto de Agua, owing 

 to numerous falls and rapids, the difference in river level between 

 the two locations, distant only about 3 miles, being no less than 

 174 feet. Mule pack-trains have therefore to be employed for 

 bringing in supplies from Salto de Agua. 



Mr. Barrenquy has carried out some instructive experiments 

 in coagulating latex by means of alcohol, which he considers 

 the best agent, although for the present its cost prohibits its 

 general use on any scale. Acetic acid has proved detrimental 

 to the resilience of Castillo a rubber, and alum, it is 

 known, results in shortening the fiber of the rubber. 

 Alcohol, on the other hand, leaves no injurious effect, 

 nor does it change the physical qualities of the rubber; 

 it can, moreover, ]>e entirely eliminated by evaporation. 

 Its action is instantaneous, and the quantity necessary 

 to induce coagulation is dependent upon the proportion 

 of water contained in the latex. 



Two or three days' journey by canoe up the Tulija 

 river above "El Chival" brings one to the "Agua Calar" 

 plantation of the Graves & Graves Co., Incorporated, 

 of Boston, Massachusetts. There are here some 8,000 

 or more trees, seven to eight years old. on which tap- 

 ping operations are about to be commenced. The firm 

 also have a property of 18,000 acres, known as "Haci- 

 enda El Coco," on the Rio Trapiche, near Frontera, 

 state of Tabasco, where, up to the present, about 

 1. i'i.oco rubber trees have been planted. On this same 

 estate the cultivation of cocoanuts is being tried 



From "El Chival," northward, it is only a ride of 

 a couple of hours, by the paved road built by the Ger- 

 man-American Coffee Co., to Salto de Agua, between 

 which place and the town of San Juan Bautista there 

 is a regular service of sternwheel steamers, conveying 

 mails, passengers and freight. Near Salto de Agua, in 

 what is locally known as the valley of the Michol river, 

 are situated the plantations of "Lumija," "Philadelphia." 

 "Wisconsin" (with "La Florida"), "Iowa," "San Fran- 



cisco," "San Carlos," and "San Leandro." The Michol river is 

 a small but important stream, pursuing a tortuous course through 

 the lowlands eastward of Salto de Agua and draining a con- 

 siderable area. 



The "Lutnija" plantation, of the Mexican Plantation Associa- 

 te m, of Chicago, has an area of about 1,000 acres under rubber, 

 with an average of 600 trees to the acre. One of the original 

 ideas of the concern was the cultivation and canning of pine- 

 apples and oranges, and a large area was devoted to the grow- 

 ing of these fruits, while a well equipped factory was erected 

 and put into operation. The product seems to have been of fair 

 marketable quality, but it could not compete in cost with the 

 American article, and the enterprise was abandoned. Rubber 

 had also been planted, but apparently failed to receive proper 

 care at the time when it most needed it, and much was con- 

 sequently lost. 



The property was transferred to the stockholders at the begin- 

 ning of 1909, when Mr. H. H. Markley, who had been manager 

 for some time, removed to the neighboring "Philadelphia" estate, 

 owned by the Mexican Plantation Co., of Philadelphia, Pennsyl- 

 vania, to assume personal control of the same. The develop- 

 ment work on this, as well as on that of the adjoining property 

 of the Wisconsin Rubber Co., of Madison, Wisconsin, had pre- 

 viously been under his general direction, with a resident super- 

 intendent in charge in the person of Mr. Harry Dussell. 



Mr. .Markley has long been connected with tropical agriculture, 

 his first work in Chiapas having been the clearing and planting 

 to rubber, in 1900, of the "Iowa" estate, for the Palenque Devel- 

 opment Co., since acquired by the German-American Coffee Co., 

 already referred to, owning the extensive coffee plantations of 

 "El Triunfo" in the hill district of Tumbala, to the south of 

 Salto de Agua. At a spot near the river at Lumija may be 

 seen a row of four big rubber trees, known to be 25 years old, 

 which were planted by an Indian who formerly occupied land 

 there. The circumference of the largest (measured by Mr. 

 Markley and the writer in March, 1909, at 6 feet from the 

 ground) was 6 feet 7J4 inches. One tapping of these trees 

 gave 4 pounds and a fraction of dry rubber. 



The "Philadelphia" and "Wisconsin" plantations have on 

 them, respectively, 835,000 and 2,560,000 trees, all in very good 



[\ 



B. Gibson A. A. McDonald H. U. Markley 



PROPERTY OF THE WISCONSIN' RUBBER CO. 

 iew of 800 acres of rubber, 3 years and S months old from seed-1 



