August 1, 1912.; 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



551 



RUBBER AND BALATA IN DUTCH GUIANA. 



/)'v ii licsidcnt Corrcsl^oiident. 

 ' I "HE first Balata of this year has arrived in Paramaribo from 

 ^ the nearest Balata concessions. From some other more re- 

 mote parts of this colony less energetic gangs of laborers 

 returned witliont reaching their grants, pretending the ''falls" 

 were too dangerous to pass over. 



It may be taken as a rule that the heavier these people are in 

 debt to their employer, the more pretentions they have and 

 the less energy they show in fulfilling their contracts. Rubber 

 i.s growing fine with this weather. The accompanying photo 

 ■ihows two-year-old rubber trees at Geyersvlijt Estate, a private 

 company of S. Haas Brothers. 



GOVERNMEXT HAL.VTA REPORT. 



A very elaborate and important report has just been issued 

 by order of the Government on "The Balata Problem in Suri- 

 nam." In the preface the authors say : "Neither here, nor in 

 Demerara nor Venezuela, have the governments thought it their 

 duty to make a thorough study of the Balata industry, and to 

 try to point out if. and in which direction, the situation ought to 

 be changed." The 

 situation of the 

 whole industry, its 

 history, past and 

 present, laws, la- 

 bor conditions, 

 forests, bark, tap- 

 ping, etc., are 

 fully and ably 

 described and 

 comparisons made 

 w i t h Demerara 

 and Venezuela. 



Besides interest- 

 ing statistical 

 tables w'bich will 

 be referred to on 

 a future occasion, 

 the work contains 

 studies on the tap- 

 pable bark of the 

 Balata tree, how 

 the bark grows, 

 and on the cells 

 containing the 



Balata milk, which are quite a revelation and very interesting. 

 The "cells" containing the balata are chiefly in the outer bark, 

 there is no wound response as with Hevea. If not tapped it 

 dries up and with a miscroscope you can easily find the dry balata 

 in the corky dry outer bark, which is last expelled from the 

 tree. And never, though tapped with the greatest care, will all 

 the balata contained in the long cells run out. 



Once tapped it is only possible to get balata again on the 

 same place, when the old bark is grown out and replaced by 

 totally new bark, ;'. e., after 8 to 10 years. 



Mr. Henry Benjamin, the head of our largest Balata Com- 

 pany, "Surinam," left by last mail for Europe, retiring from 

 business. Meanwhile we have read that Mr. Struycker has 

 resigned his Government situation and accepted the head man- 

 agement of the Balata Compan}-, "Surinam." 



ANOTHER NEW USE FOR RUBBER. 



Two-Ye.\r-Old Rubber Trees .\t Geyersvlijt, Dutch Gui..\n.\. 



MLXH interest has been manifested in Brazil in the proposed 

 use of rubber as a foundation of fur garments. Senhor 

 Armando Diniz, in the "Commercio do Amazonas." of Manaos, 

 writes as follows : 



"Besides the numerous present industrial applications of rub- 

 ber, the Americans (North — well understood) have just dis- 

 covered another, which seems to us of the greatest practical 

 utility, and consequently destined to considerably increase the 

 use of rubber. 



"It consists in its substitution for the skins of animals, which 

 serve for the warmth and adornment of the fair sex during the 

 winter in temperate climates. 



"Furs — as everyone knows — however well dressed, are con- 

 tinually a prey to numerous insects, to such an extent that they 

 can only be preserved during the hot season by being saturated 

 with camphor and its derivatives. But none of these precautions 

 are sufficient to aff6rd them immunity. 

 "The new process consists in transferring the animal fur upon 



an artificial skin 

 of rubber, scien- 

 tifically prepared 

 with a view to 

 preserving it. 



"It is said that 

 by this process the 

 fur will retain its 

 original luster for 

 many years, and 

 can be without ap- 

 prehension 

 exposed to the 

 « e a t h e r, being, 

 moreover, proof 

 against all vermin 

 and insects. There 

 is no need of spe- 

 cial care, nor of 

 violent antiseptic 

 agents for insur- 

 ing preservation. 



"Above all other 

 advantages 

 the new process 

 affords to animal fur, is that being united with a layer of rub- 

 ber, it can onl}' be removed by violence, and never through the 

 decomposition of the rubber." 



RUBBER BALLS IN EUROPEAN GAMBLING. 



The government statistics indicate a slight falling off in the 

 values of tires exported the past spring as compared with a year 

 ago. The figures show that during May, 1912, $272,317 worth of 

 tires were sent out of the United States as compared with $310,- 

 346 for May, 1911. 



Of course the lower price of tires last May as compared with 

 the year before must be borne in mind in this comparison. 



/^XE of the most popular and widely diffused European 

 ^■^ gambling games is the "Jeu de Boule" ; its favor being 

 partly due to the lowest stake being one franc <;or 20 cents). 

 Nevertheless, a continuance of bad luck may relieve the player 

 of a comfortable sum (or an uncomfortable sum) within an 

 hour or two. The game is played by means of a tray resembling 

 that used for roulette, into which a colored rubber ball drops. 

 After circulating, it falls into one of the nine holes in the bottom 

 of the tray, showing its capriciousness by first locating in one 

 hole and then changing to another. The balls are gray, two 

 inches in diameter, and painted like tennis balls in red, blue and 

 green. Some players are so superstitious that they will only 

 play when balls of a certain color are rotating. Gambling in 

 European resorts thus cannot do without rubber. 



The accepted authority on South .-\merican rubber — "The 

 Rubber Country of the Amazon," by Henry C. Pearson. 



