October i, 1907.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



have varied greatly. The highest values realized for any 

 rubber in the London auctions now is paid for plantation 

 ■"Ceara" from Ceylon. Some other results attained with 

 supposed Ceara rubber have been wholly disappointing. 

 What will come from the planting of millions of other 

 "Ceara," "manicoha." or "Manihot Glaciozii" not yet old 

 enough to yield rubber only time can tell. The point is 

 that not all trees known to South American natives as 

 "mani(;oba"' are equally valuable rubber producers. The 

 question for the planters is : Who has got the right tree 

 planted ? Now here is where the botanists ought to have 

 been of service. And here is where the botanists will be 

 blamed in case some of the planted Manihot does not turn 

 out as expected. But blaming the botanists will not prove 

 their science wholly without value — only that too much 

 of their work has not been done on truly scientific lines. 

 If a Mexican names a rubber tree Euphorbia clastica, 

 and it is found later that somebody in Madagascar has 

 already given that name to a rublxT plant, and one of 

 the staff at Kew comes out and calls the Mexican tree 

 Euphorbia fulva — how in the name of sense is anybody 

 going to keep up with the record? There is needed, in 

 the first place, an international central station or central 

 body to which the naming of ])Iant s])ecies should be re- 

 ferred, with a view to the avoidance of such confusion. 

 The indi\-idual botanist browsing about in .Vfrica should 

 not attempt to name every plant that is new to him, with- 

 out regard to what another botanist elsewhere in Africa 

 niav be doing. It is not necessary that every plant dis- 

 covered to-dav should be named in Latin before morning. 

 The world can wait for an international agreement on a 

 designation, the use of which can be defended. 



Here is intended no reflection ujion the ability of the 

 men who have been naming rubber species. Did not the 

 elder Hooker, the celebrated director at Kew, commit an 

 error in naming the first gutta-percha species brought to 

 him, which his son, later in charge at Kew, attempted to 

 rectify, but only after Blume, on the continent, had given 

 the tree another name by way of correction, so that we 

 are confused to-day by finding in the books three names 

 for the same tree ? The trouble was that the species was 

 named in the first place without sufficient investigation, 

 and that the renaming of it was done without consulta- 

 tion or co-operation of authorities. 



There are certain well defined grades of commercial 

 rubber clearly recognized by the factory superintendent. 

 Take, for example, "Para." Botanists to-day have agreed 

 to call the tree yielding this Hcvca. but they enumerate 

 manv species of Hez'ca, inclining to the idea that the best 

 rubber comes from Hevca BrasiUcnsis. while some other 

 Hc7'cas yield no rubber. There would be a distinct ad- 

 vantage to the world in settling the question of what tree 

 vields the rubber that ranks highest in the market, of how 

 to distinguish this tree, and of how to avoid any worthless 

 species of Hc7-ca, either in exploiting forest concessions 

 or in forming plantations. But this is not to be accom- 

 plished b\' the individual botanist working- alrne. at his 



own expense, in the dark as to what others are doing. 

 We need co-operation of the botanists, with the aid of 

 liberal funds, and with the assistance of commercial ex- 

 perts, chemists, and manufacturing experts, in order that 

 not only plant species shall be distinguished, but the qual- 

 ity of their product— for this last item is all that counts 

 in the end. 



The activity cf the tire ixvextcrs was never so great as 

 now, but not one in a hundred new tire ideas patented seems to 

 make any impression on the trade or the public. Now- that ths 

 more notable patents in this field are nearing expiration it may 

 be worth while to consider that most of them have survived only 

 at a heavy cost for defending their validity. In another year 

 or two the "clincher" type will become public property in 

 .America as it is already abroad, and unless something decidedly 

 better should be invented no tire inventor need hope for any 

 such harvest in royalties as has been reaped in some quarters in 

 the past. But what a small share of these royalties has gone to 

 the tire inventors of record? 



When will ,\i.l the rubber tr.^de be h.\ppv? With Para rub- 

 ber so near the $1 level again certain shareholders in English 

 factories have looked for larger dividends than have been 

 forthcoming lately. But Africans show no such tendency to 

 decline, and the companies are still obliged to offer the explana- 

 tion that the cost of raw material remains inordinately high as 

 compared with the selling prices realizable. 



The dividends of a certain rubber planting company, not to 

 speak of its name, must suggest to its shareholders "falling 

 leaves in Vallambrosa." 



With Lapori rubber higher than Para it is hard to see how 

 the royal philanthropist of the Congo can avoid making some 

 profit, whatever his olijection to becoming rich in his old age. 



The governors of the two Amazon states who took occasion 

 in their last annual messages to advise their people to plant 

 rubber have not yet made any suggestion toward the exemption 

 of plantation products from the heavy duties now imposed on 

 all rubber exports. We doubt whether much rubber would be 

 grown anywhere if the prospect of paying 23 per cent, of the 

 selling price to the state faced the planters. 



The growth of the world's interest in rubber can be meas- 

 ured by the growth of the literature of this subject. Whereas, 

 ten years ago, the number of practical books relating to rubber 

 in any way could be counted on one's fingers, it would be an 

 exceptional man who could, by devoting his whole time to the 

 subject, read all that is being printed to-day about rubber and 

 its applications. 



Thomas A. Edison, in an interview- in the New York Electri- 

 cal Review, is quoted as predicting the ultimate supremacy for 

 the electric motor car in view of the success that is being at- 

 tained in perfecting the storage battery. A writer in the New- 

 York Suit says the greatest obstacle in the path of the electric 

 vehicle is either the cost or the difficulty of obtaining current 

 with which to charge the batteries. 



G. GuERiN recommends the application of tw-o coats of a 

 syrupy solution of Para rubber in benzine for the preservation of 

 india-rubber tubes. It is said that the tubes receiving this treat- 

 ment preserve their softness for a long time and do not absorb 

 any liquid passed through them.— Ctteinist and Druggist. 



