402 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Septemrer I, igo8. 



results with this kind of knife and can only recommend it to all 

 who have not yet adopted and became used to another instru- 



ELMAR A. SCHMIDT. 

 Manager of the Rio Michel Rubber Plantation. 

 Salto de Agua, Estado Chiapas, Mexico, July 30, 190S. 



[The use of alum in coagulation of Castilloa latex is not new 

 and. of course, our friends do not suggest that it is. Indeed, it 

 is so prompt and effective that any one wishing to show how 

 quickly latex can be coagulated — for example, any lecturer on 

 india-rubber — is quite apt to use that as the demonstration. 

 There is just one danger in connection with that type of coagu- 

 lation, and that is using the alum in excess, which shortens the 

 fiber of the rubber appreciably and as a consequence makes it 

 of less value. 



The preceding communication was accompanied by a large 

 sample of alum-cured rubber in strip form, which looks remark- 

 ably well. It is clear and dry, is possessed of remarkable tensile 

 strength, and appears to be perfectly neutral — /. c. without ex- 

 hibiting any presence of alum. Rubber of this quality would find 

 a read\ market, and bring a good price. — The Editor.] 



YIELD OF PLANTATION RUBBER. 



The latest report from a leading rubber planting company in 

 the Far East mentions with satisfaction the prospect of obtain- 

 ing this year 200 pounds of rubber daily from 10.000 trees. This 

 means the tapping of 50 trees once to get i pound of rubber, or 

 50 tappings of the same tree to get l pound. Two hundred 

 tappings in a year would be necessary, therefore, for 4 pounds of 

 rubber per tree. It is the continuous aggregation of these small 

 quantities that makes up the immense volume of rubber con- 

 sumed every year. It may be added that the particular company 

 referred to, working last year on such a scale as is here indi- 

 cated, produced 43,000 pounds of rubber and paid a dividend of 

 421-2 per cent. 



The Ceylon Observer quotes Air. Herbert Wright, formerly in 

 the government service in Ceylon and the author of "Para Rub- 

 ber." as thus summing up his impressions of a recent visit to 

 Ceylon after having been absent for a year or two in England : 

 "I have lieen perfectly satisfied with nearly everything I have 

 seen. 1 am as confident as any planter that the future success of 

 the rubber industry is assured, at any rate from the planting 

 side. Trees tc/// grow, and will give large quantities of rubber; 

 and there is an enormous acreage of land for cultivation pur- 

 poses. In the future. I think, we shall probably be able to work 

 on a basis of 250 pounds to 300 pounds per acre per annum 

 from well planted estates, which should result in very handsome 

 dividends, even with Para plantation rubber at is. 6rf. [=136.5 

 cents, gold! per pound." 



A rubber tree on a Ceylon plantation, now 14 years old, is re- 

 ported by the Ceylon Observer to have yielded 14J/2 pounds of 

 rubber under constant tapping for 12 months; it was allowed 

 to rest for 15 months, and again tapped for a year, yielding 14 

 pounds of rubber. At the date of the report the tree had been 

 resting again for two months, and the owner said that the latex 

 cells were filling again. 



RUBBER CULTURE IN CEYLON. 



The amount expended on rnl)1)cr culture in Ceylon to date is 

 estimated by an authority quoted by the American consul at 

 Colombo at about 89.000,000. The interest now requires the 

 attention and labor of say 250 Europeans and 75.000 to loo.oco 

 Tamil coolies. 



The Ceylon Observer reports the return to Ceylon of George 

 S. Brown, of Brown & Davidson, Limited (Colombo), after sev- 

 eral months of absence in the Federated Malay States engaged 

 in the installation of machinery for rubber plantations, which 

 would indicate that this line of machinery is becoming very im- 

 portant. It is mentioned that most of the machines in question 

 are of Mr. Brown's invention. 



Ceylon papers mention the sale in Kalutara district of 122 acres 

 planted to rubber. 2,'/2 years old, for "close on 50,000 rupees." 

 This would work out at $16,221.66 (gold), or $132.96 per acre. 



Regarding Lagos rubber (Fuiilumia elasticci) the report of the 

 Ceylon royal botanic gardens for 1907 says : "Continued cultiva- 

 tion of this confirms the unsuitability of the tree to Ceylon, 

 owing to the regular and severe attacks of a plague of an indi- 

 genous caterpillar, which not only completely defoliates the trees, 

 but even attacks the tender shoots." 



NOTES ON CEARA ("MANIHOT") RUBBER. 



The annual report of the Ceylon royal botanic gardens for 

 1907 says that 5 acres of Ceara rubber (Maiuhot Glaciovii), at 

 the Maha-Iluppalama experiment station, planted 10 X 10 feet, 

 have done exceedingly well and made a rapid growth. At an 

 early stage they will be tapped in a special manner by the de- 

 partment chemist. Air. Kelway Bamber. It is proposed to in- 

 crease the planting of this species. 



The Philif'pine AgricuUural Review (Manila, .\pril, 1908) 

 contains a report on "La Granja Modelo" (a model farm), estab- 

 lished on Xegros island by the Spanish government, and now in 

 charge of the Philippine department of agriculture. "There is a 

 small grove of Ceara rubber trees on the place at the present 

 time which is producing an abundance of seed used for distri- 

 bution by this bureau," says the Rcvieiv, which contains an illus- 

 tration showing the rubber to he in fine condition. 



PLANTING IN SOUTH INDIA. 



A WELL known planter, Mr. H. Drumniond Deane, after 22 

 years of experience in Ceylon, is now living in South India, 

 where he is interested in and very enthusiastic over the future of 

 rubber planting. He reports over 7,000 acres of planted rubber 

 in the Mundekayan district alone, and probably 6,000 acres in 

 other parts of Travancore. 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



It is very doubtful if rubber can be profitably grown in the 

 British states of Rhodesia, Transvaal, and Natal, in South Africa, 

 in the opinion of a correspondent of London Finaneial A'eivs. 

 He argues that the preliminary expens-.; would be an insuperable 

 objection, considering the higher wige scale than prevails in 

 Ceylon and Malaya. 



The Ctistilloa rubber plants at the Porto Rico agricultural 

 experiment station, according to the annual report for 1907, 

 have begam to seed, and the seeds have been distributed for 

 planting. It is intended to begin exprimental planting this year, 

 though the trees are only 6 years old. 



The horticultural establishment of A. (jodefroy-Lebeuf (Paris) 

 send us a catalogue of seeds of rubber producing species, which 

 it is in position to supply in small or large quantities, ranging 

 from Hevea Brasiliensis (the largest rubber tree, perhaps) to 

 Landolphia Thollonii, one of the plants of the class caoiilehouc 

 des lierbes. 



PLANTING "CASTILLOA" IN COLOMBIA. 



I N an article on rubber planting in Colombia in The India 

 A RrnDER World December i, 1905 (page 75) the Choco region 

 was described, with a map showing the location of the principal 

 rubber plantations then existing there. Two of the planters 

 mentioned in that article, Sei'ior Ciceron Angel and Senor Carlos 

 Nicolas Ferrer, whose plantations adjoined on the river Tangui, 

 a tributary to the Atrato from the west soine 24 miles below, 

 or to the north of Quibdo, have consolidated, making a partner- 

 ship under the name of Campoalegre ("joyous field"). 



Campoalegre, which is well equipped with administration and 

 other buildings, and a serviceable boat landing, is devoted 

 primarily to the growth of plantains, but the satisfactorj- progress 

 made by the young rubber upon the estate encourages the pro- 

 prietors to go in more extensively for this crop. The two illus- 

 trations herewith have been made from photographs taken for 



