8 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October i, 1903. 



RUBBER PLANTING INTERESTS. 



PLANTING "PARA RUBBER" IN MEXICO. 



TO the Editor of The India Rubber World: You 

 will find from the enclosure that we are executing an 

 order of 100.000 Hevea Brasiliensis seeds for Mexico. 

 Our seeds are guaranteed 75 percent, to germinate. 

 Besides this, we are executing a large number of orders from 

 Sumatra, Guatemala, Cuba, Java, Fiji, and other parts of the 

 world for both seeds and plants of Hevea. The highest award 

 was given to Para rubber prepared by a native from our Kola 

 estate last week, at the Agri- Horticultural show held at the 

 government tropical garden at Heneratgoda. Out of many va- 

 rieties of rubber yielding trees and creepers cultivated in Cey- 

 lon up to the present time Para rubber turned out as the most 

 profitable and the best adapted variety in all respects, answer- 

 ing to soil, climate, etc., from the sea level up to elevations of 

 3000 feet and over and cultivation extending yearly. Yours 

 faithfully, J. p. william & brothers. 



Heneratgoda, Ceylon, July 13, 1903. 



[Enclosed in the above communication is a copy of a letter 

 signed W. P. Pinkham, manager of the Plantacion Ubero, in 

 the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, stating that this company had de- 

 cided to plant 100 acres in Hevea Brasiliensis during this year. 

 The letter mentioned that from planting 52 seeds of this spe- 

 cies, somewhat old, six weeks prior to writing, the writer had 

 fifteen good seedlings about 6 inches high. The letter was fol- 

 lowed by a telegram to Messrs. William, dated July 8, ordering 

 100,000 seeds.] 



* * • 



The Singapore Agricultural Bulletin (July, 1903) contains the 

 following : " As Para rubber seeds have the reputation of very 

 quickly losing their vitality, the following extracts from a letter 

 from Mr. J. C. Harvey of Vera Cruz, Mexico, will, no doubt, 

 be read with interest : 



You will perhaps be interested to know, that of the twenty seeds of 

 Hevea Brasiliensis you so kindly sent me, I have now fourteen thrifty 

 plants a foot high. I feel very proud of them. The matter is worthy 

 of record, as undoubtedly they are the first plants ever raised in Mexico. 



" These seeds were from the Para rubber trees growing in the 

 economic section of the botanic gardens. They left Singapore 

 on February 12, 1903, and arrived in Mexico on May 3." 



EXPORTS OF CULTIVATED RUBBER FROM CEYLON. 

 Our record has now been brought up to August 17 last, to 

 which date, since the beginning of the year, the official state- 

 ment of exports of the product of Ceylon rubber plantations 

 amounted to 26,413 pounds. The total output in 1902 was 21,- 

 168 pounds, and in 1901 only 7392 pounds. At the London 

 auction on September 4, several packages of " Para rubber" 

 from Ceylon sold at 4s. 6%d. to 4s. %%d., being equal to $1.10 

 and %\.\y/i respectively. On the same date fine upriver Para 

 two years old sold only at 41. 4<i. [=$1.05]. the highest quota- 

 tion for any grade of rubber from the Amazon. 



BUENA VISTA PLANTATION CO. 



[Plantation " Buena Vista," San Juan Evingelista, canton of Acayucan, Vera 

 Cruz, Mexico. Office: Elkhart, Indiana — See The India Rubdkr World, 

 March i, 1903, page 19J.] 



At the first annual meeting (Elkhart, August 20) Edgar J. 

 Hahn, plantation manager, personally presented his report on 

 the operations from October 20, 1902, when the company took 

 charge of a partially developed estate, to July 1, 1903. During 

 this time 2125 acres of new land had been cleared; 825 acres 



planted to rubber, 300 acres to sugar cane, and 500 acres made 

 into pasture ; additional accommodations erected for labor, the 

 force since January 1 averaging over 500: carpenter and black- 

 smith shops, saw mill, and brick kiln erected; water supply, 

 electric lights, and telephone service installed ; and other im- 

 provements made. The 150 acres in sugar cane planted by the 

 former owners yielded 7000 tons, which was ground on the 

 plantation. The financial statement shows net profits (in Mex- 

 ican currency) — 



From operation of sawmill $ 3,519.08 



From operation of plantation store 3.339-37 



From proceeds of sugar cane crop 55>7°3 45 



Total $62,561.90 



Total, United States currency 27,703.83 



A dividend was declared, payable September 1, equal to 14% 

 per cent, on the outstanding stock of the company. The num- 

 ber of $100 shares sold had been 3392, amounting to $339,200, 

 but only so much of the capital ranks for dividend as has been 

 paid in. R. P. Probasco retired as director, E. J. Hahn being 

 elected instead. Milo D. Campbell, mayor of Coldwater, Mich- 

 igan, was elected by the stockholders to inspect the plantation 

 as their representative. 



A NEW RUBBER TAPPING TOOL. 



The machete, or cutlass, unless in the hands of one very skil- 

 ful in its use, is not an ideal tool with which to tap a rubber 

 tree. All of the planters appreciate this, and many attempts 

 have been made to invent something that shall be cheap, strong, 

 simple, and practical. The illustration shows a tool of English 



make that is now being tested on the rubber plantations in 

 Mexico and in the East. The knife, which has its socket with- 

 in the handle, can by a screw arrangement be quickly set to 

 project beyond the guard any distance up to an inch and a half. 

 The blade is of a good quality of steel, and the handle of gray 

 cast iron strongly riveted. [Thomas Christy & Co., 25 Lime 

 street, London.] 



MEXICAN PLANTATION NOTES. 



The Vera Cruz Development Co. (Canton, Ohio), develop- 

 ing " La Esmeralda " plantation, in Vera Cruz, report the pay- 

 ment of a 4 per cent, dividend for the first six months of this 

 year, in addition to 7 per cent, paid December 1, 1902, which 

 was from the first year's production of " short crops." 



= H. M. Moritz, administrador of the " Obispo " rubber plan- 

 tation at Tuxtepec, under Maxwell Riddle, treasurer of the 

 Obispo company, is a Scotchman by birth and ancestry, who, 

 after an experience with fruit growing and cattle ranching in 

 California, settled in Mexico, where he acquired a practical 

 knowledge of Spanish and much facility in handling native la- 

 bor before joining the " Obispo " forces. 



= Mr. E. H. Switzer, secretary of the United Tropical Plant- 

 ers' Association of Mexico, is in the United States for a brief 

 visit. 



= The Tehuantepec Rubber Culture Co. have planted this 

 season 630 acres to rubber seed, at stake, in addition to their 

 large planting last year. 



