October i, 1903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



MR. COOKS REPORT ON RUBBER. 



Published on the 1st of each Month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



8UB8OKIPTIONS : $3.00 per year, $1.76 for six months, postpaid, for the United 

 States and Canada. Foreign countries, same price. Special Kates for 

 Clubs of five, ten or more subscribers. 



Advertising: Kates will be made known on application. 



Remittances: Should always be made by bank draft, Post Office Order' or 

 Express Money orders on New York, payable to The India Kubbek 

 Publishing Company. Remittances for foreign subscriptions should 

 be sent by International Post order, payable as above. 



Discontinuances : Yearly orders for subscriptions and advertising are 

 regarded as permanent, and after the first twelve months they will 

 be discontinued only at the request of the subscriber or advertiser. 

 Bills are rendered promptly at the beginning of each period, and 

 thereby our patrons have due notice of continuance. 



COPYRIGHT, 1903, B Y 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



Entered at New York Post Office as mail matter of the second-class. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



p 



Editorial: 



Mr. Cook's Report on Rubber 



Foreign Enterprise In Brazil 



Some Conclusions Regarding Rubber Culture ... Orator F. 1 



The Economy of Rubber Colors 



The Rubber Supply and Demand 



Rubber Prospects in the Amazon Country Uudolph Y.ulz 



A Comparison of Rubber Prices [ With Chart] 



Rubber Planting Interests 



[With Illustration of a' New Rubber Tapping Tool ] 



Rubber Hose and Compressed Air Work 9 



[With Six Illustrations.] 



" Nomenclature of Rubber" Carl Otto Weber, rh.D. 11 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain 



Our Regular Correspondint 13 



[Fires in Rubber Factories. Dr. Lewkowitsch. Rubber Balloons. 

 India-rubber Solution. Waste Rubber. India-rubber Bellows. Mac- 

 intosh Trade. Lawn Tennis Balls ] 



" Field Day " of the Apsley Rubber Co 15 



[With Four Illustrations.] 



Recent Rubber Patents [American, British, German] ... 17 



How "The Para Rubber Plantation Co." Works 19 



The Inaccessible Casiquiare Luonel Gamier 20 



[With Map.] 



New Goods and Specialties in Rubber (iilus'rafed) 22 



Rubber Factory Appliances (Illustrated) 23 



The Obituary Record 24 



[With Portrait of Christopher Roberts.] 

 Miscellaneous : 



A Rubber Factory Hospital (Illustrated) 4 



Rubber Notes from Europe 4 



Root Rubber from Nigeria It 



"Rubber from Corn Oil" ,,.. 12 



So-called "Maujak" from Trinidad [ 12 



Rubber Cement In Sboemaklng .....'. 12 



India-Rubber Goods in Commerce !..".. 16 



Some Facts Regarding Litnopone ....!...".!!. 32 



News of the American Rubber Trade 25 



The Trade in Akron Our Correspondent 28 



Tires at the Boston Carriage Show Our Correspondent 30 



The Textile Goods Market 31 



Review of the Crude Rubber Market 32 



A S the result of a preliminary study of rubber culture 

 **■ in Guatemala and southern Mexico, Mr. O. F. Cook, 

 of the botanical staff of the department of agriculture at 

 Washington, has written a report* that merits careful study 

 by all who are interested in the cultural production of 

 rubber. These studies, which are not yet concluded — for 

 Mr. Cook is already on a second visit to the southern 

 country — are directed primarily to the question whether 

 rubber planting is advisable for Porto Rico and the Philip- 

 pines, in the economic development of which islands the 

 Washington authorities now have a concern. It is recog- 

 nized, however, in the preparation of this report, that it 

 will have a more immediate and popular interest in con- 

 nection with the subject of investments in rubber culture 

 in nearer regions, by citizens of the United States, in re- 

 gard to which the agricultural office has been in receipt of 

 many inquiries. 



While the author does not presume to offer final conclu- 

 sions, as a rule, his report does not thereby lack in interest 

 and value, by reason of the many questions to which he 

 gives consideration — problems of a practical nature that 

 require solution before rubber culture can be regarded as 

 having a fixed basis. Briefly, the report can be summa- 

 rized as asserting that the practicability of the agricultural 

 production of rubber has been demonstrated, but that it 

 bids fair to become very profitable only under favorable 

 natural conditions, and these conditions are as yet imper- 

 fectly understood. 



The report is consistently conservative throughout, the 

 author avowing that it is not his intention to discourage 

 the rubber planter, or investors in planting companies, but 

 merely to set forth the difficulties and uncertainties that 

 beset rubber culture, from the desire that unnecessary 

 mistakes be avoided. But from the remark that " many 

 cultural mistakes are still made with plants that have been 

 in domestication for thousands of years," it may be in- 

 ferred that the starting of rubber plantations need not 

 necessarily be deferred until the definite solution of all the 

 problems bearing upon this subject which may occur to 

 the scientific investigator. Indeed, the truth is to be ar- 

 rived at only by persistent experimenting on a broader 

 scale than has been afforded in botanical gardens, where 

 the results obtained, according to Mr. Cook, " have at most 

 but a local value and cannot be accepted as final." 



Rubber culture is not a new proposition, since its be- 

 ginnings date back thirty years or more. With an an- 

 nual plant, thirty years of experience should teach us much, 

 but for dealing with long lived trees that period is short, 

 and it need not be a matter of surprise that rubber cul- 

 ture, in many respects, is still in an experimental stage. 

 Most of the earlier attempts resulted in failure, which 

 might have been predicted simply on the grounds of prob- 

 ability, and many people concluded that the production 



*The Culture of the Central American Rubber Tree. By O. F. Cook, botan- 

 ist in charge of investigation in tropical agriculture. (United States Department 

 of Agricultnre Bureau of Plant Industry— Bulletin No, 49). Washington: Gov- 

 ernment Printing Office. 1903. [8vo. Pp. 86 + iS plates.] 



