Jink i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



295 



NO REASON YET TO BE DISCOURAGED. 



Published on the 1st of each Month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



No. 150 NASSAU ST., NEW YOKE. 



Subscriptions: $3.00 per year, $1.75 for six months, postpaid, for the Culled 

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

 Clubs of Ave, ten or more subscribers. 



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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. 

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 thereby our patrons have due notice of continuance. 



COPYRIGHT, 1904, B Y 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



Entered at New Y'ork Post Office as mail matter of the second-class. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Editorial : 



No Reason Yet to be Discouraged 295 



What Became of the Money ? 296 



Minor Editorial 296 



To President Porfirio Diaz 297 



Rubber Planting in Ceylon and the Malay States— III ... The Editor 299 

 [Tapping Rubber Trees at Peradeniya. The New Experiment Sta- 

 tion Kandy and the Temple of the Sacred Tooth. On the Way to 

 Kalatura. Mr. Harrison and Cull >den Estate.] 



The India-Rubher Trade in Great Britain 



Our Regular Correspondent 303 



[Rise in Prices of Goods. Insurance of Rubber Factories. Mining 

 Machinery. Electrical Matters. Cotton Belting. Waterproof Pack- 

 ing Paper. Batata in British Guiana. Cameta Rubber. Camphor 

 aDd Rubber.] 



The United States Rubber Co's Best Year 305 



[Twelfth Annual Meeting. Reports.] 



The Rubber Cultural Interest 308 



[With 1 Illustration.] 



Scientific Vulcanization Methods— I Charles J. Tagliabue 309 



Rubber Factory Appliances 310 



[With 2 Illustrations.] 



New Goods and Specialties in Rubber 311 



[Dupont's New Pneumatic Tire. "Everstick" Invisible Rubbers. 

 Cup End Safety Nipple. "Crown" Hard Rubber Cord Adjuster. 

 New Distributing Pad, for Bookbinders. Baumann Rubber Co.'s 

 Novellies Hard Rubber Catheter Scale. Tire Repair Plug With 

 Oblong Stem. Rubber Covers for Tuning Pins. Evans Vacuum 

 Cap for Falling Hair. Quick Vulcanizing Dental Gum.] 

 [With 13 Illustrations.] 



Recent Rubber Patents 313 



[Cnited States. Great Britain. Germany. France.] 



Rubber Goods in Mail Order Trade F. M. 11. 315 



The Demand for Rubber Hoof Pads 316 



Miscellaneous : 



Aualysis of Gutta-Percua Resins 297 



Report of a German Cable Works .. 197 



Views of an Amazon Merchant 298 



New Trade Publications 298 



Another Colorado Rubber Company 304 



Rubber Men on the Metric System 307 



Indla-RubberGoods in Commerce 310 



Para Rubber Plan 1 at ion Co 223 



Hidalgo— A New Planting Company.., 224 



News of the American Rubber Trade 317 



[With 2 Illustrations,] 



Review of the Crude Rubber Market . 324 



'T'HE recent success of the rubber planters of Ceylon 

 in marketing the product of their cultivated Hevea 

 trees, at the highest prices on record for crude rubber of 

 any kind, seems to have had a disquieting effect upon some 

 of the planters of Castilloa in Mexico. At least they are 

 wondering whether they have not made a mistake in plant- 

 ing Castilloa, when perhaps by cultivating another species 

 the same investment and the same amount of labor might 

 bring larger returns. Until the favorable results in the 

 Far East were reported, the rubber planters in Mexico 

 were not only satisfied with their progress and prospects, 

 but they were enthusiastic. It remains to be seen whether 

 they should become any less so. 



In the first place, it is not certain that the Hevea species, 

 the rubber of Para, are as well adopted to Mexico as to 

 Ceylon and the Malay States. They may yet prove to 

 be — but that is another matter. But Mexico is the home 

 of Castilloa, the source of the first rubber of which any 

 written record exists. And it yields a good rubber, a ma- 

 terial for which the industry affords a certain and perma- 

 nent demand. The product of Castilloa, as now marketed, 

 is worth less commercially than Hevea rubber. So is silver 

 worth less by weight than gold, but this fact neither dis- 

 courages silver mining nor limits the use of the cheaper 

 metal in the arts. The question is not whether the rubber 

 grown in Ceylon will sell for more than the Mexican pro- 

 duct, but whether the Mexican plantations now under way 

 will yield fair returns on the capital invested. 



Nobody knows what Mexican rubber, prepared under 

 intelligent supervision, is going to bring, as compared 

 with other rubbers. We know what manufacturers are pay- 

 ing for the stuff which the Mexican Indians carry in driblets 

 to Tuxtepec and Vera Cruz and Tampico, and which is 

 shipped thence ungraded to New York. But we do not 

 understand that any planters are contemplating the ship- 

 ment of rubber so prepared. What rubber really costs at 

 the factory is not the price paid to the importer, but it is 

 the cost of the rubber after it has been cleaned and dried. 



Thus Para rubber, imported at $1 a pound, with 15 per 

 cent, of shrinkage in cleaning, really costs the manufac- 

 turer $1.17^. At the same time Mexican rubber, imported 

 at only 75 cents, with 30 per cent, shrinkage, really costs 

 at the factory $1.07 a pound. The chief explanation of 

 the high prices obtained by the Ceylon planters is that 

 they don't ship dirt to market ; the percentage of shrink- 

 age in their product is almost nil. Hence when some Cey- 

 lon rubber sold recently in London at $1.29! per pound, 

 while Central American rubber brought only Si cents, 

 this difference alone formed no reason for discouraging 

 the planters of Castilloa, which yields the Central sorts. 

 The latter rubber might have brought $1 or more, if pre- 

 pared as carefully as the Ceylon rubber. 



It is not meant here that, under any method of treat- 

 ment now understood, rubber absolutely equal to " Para " 

 can be prepared from Castilloa j the rubbers are characteris- 

 tically unlike in important respects. But in comparing the 

 selling prices of rubber, consideration should be given to 



