September i, 1910.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



421 



Cutting Rudber From Paddles. Bolivia. 



Fire Branding of Rubber, Bolivia. 



affords access, ignoring the still much too prevalent belief that 

 Hevea delights in wet and swampy locations, to a tract of well 

 drained and healthful territory, immune to the caprices of an- 

 nual floods, which is capable of producing a grade of rubber 

 comparable to any now coming from the Amazon valley. This 

 territory was personally inspected by the writer with the express 

 purpose of investigating its suitability for rubber culture. 



This section, speaking of the more accessible portion south of 

 the river, forms part of the great forest system of the lower 

 Amazon and extends in an unbroken stretch, practically without 

 variation, eastward to the sea and southward to the mountains. 

 The formation is a typical tropical rain forest ; the large trees, 

 among which are some veritable giants, stand comparatively 

 far apart and represent almost innumerable species; the under- 

 growth is somewhat more compact, the small trees are straight 

 and slender, while the whole is intertwined with lianas and made 

 practically impenetrable without the help of a machete or axe. 

 Extremely hard and durable woods are plentiful, some defying 

 both the axe and the agencies of decay, but the trees of any one 

 given species are so isolated and difficult to find and reach that 

 remunerative lumbering is out of the question. The small trees 

 and lianas, or cipos, serve many useful purposes in the construc- 

 tion of houses, fences, and tools. 



In this forest the rubber tree is no exception to the general 

 rule, as it is scattered and found in isolated locations like the 

 other native species. The large size of the specimens found, 



however, even when in competition with other and often times 

 more vigorous denizens of the forest, testifies to its adaptability 

 to its surroundings. In some localities it is, of course, more 

 plentiful than in others, as those who remember recent news- 

 paper accounts of discoveries made near the borders of Maranhao 

 will know. There are also in the city and along the Braganga 

 railroad, Para rubber trees of a foot or more in diameter, 

 which were planted and are now producing rubber of the finest 

 grade. These are large, strong and productive, even in exhausted 

 soil or when much crowded and neglected. 



Labor does not present any unusual difficulties near Para, 

 nor are the forests difficult to remove. Raw labor is available 

 in almost unlimited quantities near the city. It is easy also to 

 import men from southern Europe and the Madeiras, a class 

 which rapidly accustoms itself to the climate, which is not at 

 all unhealthful, especially in the higher districts away from the 

 vicinity of the rivers. 



The native custom of clearing the land of forests is to fell 

 the small trees and ring or kill by fire such of the large trees 

 as have not yet been removed for their valuable timber, and then 

 to set fire to the whole when somewhat dry. This practice 

 destroys the most valuable elements of the soil for the time 

 being, making it useless for more than one or possibly two crops 

 of corn or cassava, but the supply of potash made available by 

 the combustion of the timber serves as a stimulant for plant 

 growth, which can be improved upon later by mulching or by 

 a system of green manuring. 



In what is known as capoeira land—/, e., abandoned clearings 

 which have been covered by second growth — the cost of clearing 

 is, of course, much less; the humus has been restored to the 

 soil, oftentimes in greater quantities than ever before, and a 

 clearing can be made simply by felling the young growth of 

 trees, which can be left to decay. This does away almost en- 

 tirely with the extra expense of burning and cleaning up after 

 felling; besides it preserves the humus in the soil and adds an 

 additional amount with a mulch by its own decay. 



[TO BE CONTINUED.] 



Indian Sling Shot (with Rurrer). 



An Edinburgh correspondent states: An interesting phase is 

 provided to the present rubber boom in interviews with a number 

 of Scottish money lenders. The men in an extensive way in this 

 class of business all stated they had advanced large sums during 

 recent weeks, for periods of three and four months, to borrowers 

 who secured the money for the express purpose of buying new 

 rubber shares in the expectation of selling at an enhanced price 

 and repaying on the special settlement. The interest charged 

 by these money lenders varies from 40 to 100 per cent.— The 

 Financial News (London). 



