184 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December 1. 1919. 



other villages were in the same situation, it meant famine in 

 every district in which this system obtained. Besides this, the 

 life in the forests, while pleasant enough to selected groups of 

 vigorous yinnig ukmi lor a ctrtaiii U-ngih (if time, is dangerous 



Rubber Made into Cakes After Boiling. 



and unhealthy in the rainy season, and is unsuited to permanent 

 residence at any time. 



Peremptory orders of this sort were also resented by many 

 of the powerful chieftains, and led to wars in which the savage 

 soldiers would be employed against rebellious natives with all 

 the horrors of that sort of warfare, and with many instances 

 of actual cannibalism. 



Such measures were totally unnecessary in order that white 

 men engaged in business in the Congo might make handsome 

 profits. The natives are able to live very cheaply because of 

 the fertility of the soil and the tropical climate, so that only a 

 small percentage of their time is necessary to raise food and 

 other supplies that thev need. A wise system which would set 



aside definitely a certain lime every year for the raising of 

 crops and always maintaining a wise balance between the labor 

 devoted to self-support and lo obtaining rubber would avoid 

 all of the evils of ttie old regime, and cause the country to enjoy 

 an immense prosperity. 



I'or example, one might take the case of a town of 5,000 peo- 

 ple living at the head waters of the Kassai river at Wissman 

 falls, with which the writer is personally acquainted. This vil- 

 lage is situated on an elevated plateau within ten miles of a 

 forest fifteen miles wide and several hundred miles in length, 

 rich in rubber. This village could raise food supplies enough 

 for the whole population with the labor of one-third of the 

 population, while another third would be available for rubber 

 gathering in the dry season and for such general industrial 

 purposes as might be developed under white stimulus and direc- 

 tion during the rainy season. The town might produce under' 

 such an arrangement at least 100 tons of rubber per year, worth 

 $200,000. The imported cloth, steel, iron and other articles which 

 the natives would obtain with this rubber would increase the 

 wealth and comfort of the town, meanwhile the remaining third 

 of the population might still be engaged in agriculture, and, 

 under white superintendents, in building roads, constructing, 

 better houses, operating saw mills, etc. 



If the entire French and Belgian Congo were organized upon 

 some such basis as this, at least $75,000,000 worth of rubber 

 could be produced per annum. 



STANDARDIZING PLANTATION METHODS. 



From the fact that there has been very little change in methods 

 of cultivation, tapping and preparation of rubber in the last few 

 years. "The India-Rubber Journal" thinks that plantation opera- 

 tions have become standardized. 



Even tapping operations have become more uniform ; on most 

 estates the quarter or third section system is used, one cut per 

 tree. Frequency of tapping still varies in different countries 

 and districts, but is usually either once a day or on alternate 

 days. Many of the older systems have practically disappeared; 

 "we used to hear of the half-spiral, full spiral, half herring bone, 

 full herring bone, V, inverted V, basal and ladder tapping." 

 The whole tendency is now towards economical bark consump- 

 tion, and one cut per tree, instead of three or more, is the usual 

 practice. As the trees grow bigger, to a girth of 50 inches or 

 more, two cuts per tree will probably be the fashion. 



The question of the number of trees to the acre is also being 

 settled, a maximum of 80 trees with a minimum of 40 trees per 

 acre being the ideal striven for, instead of 100 trees or more an 

 acre. 



In the factories, acetic acid is practically the only coagulating 

 agent used, and hundreds of estates are using the same types 

 of machinery and methods of curing for their smoked sheets 

 and crepe. 



ALDENS' SUCCESSORS, LIMITED, IN THE FAR EAST. 



Aldens' Successors (Eastern), Limited, Penang and Singa- 

 pore, as of October 1, 1919, took over the business established in 

 1917 by R. F. Bradford as eastern representative of Aldens' Suc- 

 cessors, Limited, of London, and incorporated with the follow- 

 ing board of directors : A. G. Gumpert, London ; Willy Friling, 

 Antwerp; William H. Hildreth, London; E. Stevenson, London, 

 and R. F. Bradford, Singapore, managing director. The busi- 

 ness will be mainly in rubber and produce and an office has 

 been opened at No. 4 Collyer Quay, Singapore, under the direc- 

 tion of Mr. Bradford. The Penang office will be in charge of 

 F. D. Thompson. 



PROPERTY OF THE SOCIETE FINANCIERE DIVIDED. 



A partition of property has been made between the two cor- 

 porations into which the Societe Financiere des Caoutchoucs 

 has split ; the French group, which retains the old name, will 

 control the two plantations in Java, the eight in Sumatra and 

 two in the Malay peninsula, while the Belgian group, the new 

 S. I. P. E. F. (Societe de Plantations et de Finances) will keep 

 five plantations in the Federated Malay States. 



