January 1. 1917.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



209 



Interesting Letters from Our Readers. 



BELGIAN EXPERT DEVISES CASTILLOA KNIFE. 



To THE Editor of the India Rubber World: 

 "r\EAR SIR — I write to call your attention to a colossal 

 on page 45 some interesting particulars about rubber 

 growing in Mexico. The letter signed "Planter'' does not sur- 

 prise me. Perhaps you will remember I have always main- 

 tained that the two rubber trees most difficult to handle are the 

 Castilloa and Fiintumia. Still, when worked judiciously, good 

 results can be obtained. Perhaps yoii may recall that four to 

 five years before the war [ made some technical reports about 

 Castilloa for two of the most important American companies 

 growing rubber in Mexico. I have made a special study of the 

 knife required for Castilloa, also the method of tapping and 

 coagulating the latex. If I could be in Brussels I would send 

 you samples of Mexican Castilloa coagulated by myself which 

 compare favorably with the liest plantation Para in Middle East. 

 Kindly send my card to "Planter" and advise him that I am 

 prepared to make a full technical report dealing with the fol- 

 lowing items : 



1. How and when to commence tapping. 



2. My design for a suitable knife. 



3. Spout and cups to be used. 



4. How to coagulate and prevent sweating of Castilloa rublier. 



5. The best shape for the rubber. 



6. Methods of packing. 



G. \'ax den Kerckhove, 

 26 Stanhdpe Road, Highgate, London X., England, November 

 !1, 1916. 



THE BIGGEST OF ALL HEfEAS. 



To THE Editor of the India Rubber World: 

 ■p\EAR SIR — I write to call your attention to a colossal 

 *^ Hevea, probably the largest in the world. It is 127 feet in 

 circumference at the base, and has a record of yielding for 120 

 days an average of 22 pounds of rubber a day. .^s you have 

 of late been publishing notes on the world's largest rubber trees, 

 I am pleased to be able to supply the actual facts- regarding 

 this tree. 



It is situated at the Seringal Porvir on the River Acre in 

 Brazilian territory at a considerable distance from the Bolivian 

 frontier. This seringal is now the property of a friend of mine, 

 Colonel Antonio V'ieira de Souza. The tree is exploited by 

 a whole family, father, mothei, and several children, and its 

 yield is about as stated. This family divides its time between 

 cultivating the cereals necessary for food and the extraction of 

 tl". rublier latex. This is not the only giant Hcvca tree in that 

 region. There arc thousands of them, but this is the largest 

 under exploitation. Just at this point the country is consider- 

 ably higher than the whole surrounding lands, which leads to the 

 conclusion that it was from the seed of these denizens of the 

 forest that the Hcvca found its way both east and south of Brazil, 

 for native Hevea is found as far south as the seventeenth degree, 

 and as far east as the south of Maranhao. 



This tree must have been growing long before Columlnis dis- 

 covered .America. No such thing as a rubber plantation exists 

 ill the upper .Amazon, and the trees which have been planted 

 here and there in the whole north of Brazil cannot properly be 

 called plantations. The only practical attempt in this direction 

 was made by me in lecturing on the subject at the Engineers' 

 Club in Rio de Janeiro in 1912, by virtue of which the Brazilian 

 Government promulgated laws offering prizes for the planting 

 of rubber and establishing experimental stations throughout the 



rubber region, especially at F'iauhy, Maranhao. Bahia and Para; 

 but just when this was about to be put into practice, financial 

 difficulties arose, and since then the war has made impossible 

 any attempt in that direction. 



J. SiMAo DA Costa. 

 Para, December, 1916. 



COTTON CROPS THREATENED. 



To the Editor of The Indi.\ Rubber World: 

 FAEAR SIR — I am spending the month of December study- 

 '-^ ing the cotton situation in the southern States and I 

 have noticed a point which I believe will interest you and 

 the readers of The India Rubber World. The boll weevil 

 which entered Texas at Brownsville in 1892 has advanced at 

 the rate of about 65 miles per year and has now covered 

 half of Florida. The Sea Island cotton is threatened to- 

 day and entomologists believe that it will affect this cotton 

 even worse than it affected the uplands or short staple 

 cottons. 



The estimated loss caused thus far bj- the boll weevil is 

 one billion dollars. In Florida alone in 1915 the loss was 

 approximately one million dollars. Sea Island cotton matures 

 late and will therefore suft'er markedly from the attack of 

 the boll weevil. The supply of Sea Island will be cut short. 

 It is small enough under ordinary conditions. On November 

 20 it sold in New Bedford. ^lassachusetts. at 52 cents per 

 pound; if the yield per acre is cut down to one-third of the 

 present, the ])rice will become pndiiliitive. 



Tire duck manufacturers will have to abandon Sea Island 

 cotton. They will have to fall back on ordinary staple 

 cottons and the strength of the fabric will have to be secured 

 in some other way. Either the structure of the j'arns and 

 fabric must be changed, or the fabric. must be given a chem- 

 ical treatment to increase its strength. 



This whole subject is of such far reaching importance that 

 it cannot be given too much serious attention. It is, in my mind, 

 worthy of immediate consideration liy the tire manufacturers. 



Frederic Dannerth. 



Atlanta, Georgia. December 6. 1916. 



WATCHING THE ENEMY. 



■ I H.\T our esteemed contemporary, "l.e Caoutchouc & la 

 * Gutta-Percha," scans every line of The Ixdia Rubrkr 

 World, and with the keenest sort of analysis, may be gathered 

 from the following : 



"Patent Literature" is always very interesting to read and in 

 it one often meets interesting things. 



Thus, going through the September issue of The India Rub- 

 ber World, we see that Messrs. Max Theumann and Joseph 

 Koestchet have sold to the Societe Chimique des Usines du 

 Rhone their .Xmerican patent, No. 1,191,439, referring to the 

 preparation of ethers of cellulose. 



Would it be an indiscretion to inquire into the nationality of 

 Messrs. Max Tlicuinann and Joseph Koestchet, whose names 

 sound strongly German ? 



W'c further see in this same "literature" that the Societe 

 Generale des Caoutclioucs de Terebenthinc (General Turpentine 

 Rubber Co.) has taken out a Canadian patent. No. 168,727, the 

 object of which is to reclaim old rubber by means of tetra- 

 chlorethane. The process is, no doubt, the same as that patented 

 last vear liv Count Charles de Villers. 



C( PV OF IxiiKX TO "Rubber Machinery" will be sent free upon 

 request. 



