612 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Jl.lv 1, 1917. 



BRADFOBS ESTABLISHES OFFICE IN PENANG. 



R. F. Bradford has opened an office "in the F. M. S. Railway 

 building at Pcnang, as general representative in the East of 

 Aldens' Successors, Limited, of London. Liver|)Onl and New 

 York City. The business will be carried on under his own name. 

 Rubber will be the principal commodity dealt in, later other 

 lines of tropical production will probably be included. 



THE RUBBER INDUSTRY OF BOLIVIA. 



The June issue of the "I'an-.\merican Magazine'' is devoted 

 to several articles on Bolivia, a country whose alinement with 

 the L'nited States in the world war stimulates the interest which 

 her developing wealth has aroused during recent years. For 

 years the country has had a favorable trade balance which in 

 1915 amounted to almost $30,000,000, chiefly in minerals, al- 

 though rubber is the principal vegetable product, the 1915 exports 

 of which amounted to 5,081 tons, making Bolivia the second 

 rubber exporting country of South America. All came to the 

 United States except the 341 tons taken by Great Britain. 



Bolivian producers in every line are shown to be very pros- 

 perous and this is true of the rubber industry, which has 

 benefited greatly as a result of the Madeira-Mamore railroad, 

 completed in 1912. and the improved facilities at Porto Velho 

 on the Madeira river. Interesting facts arc included regarding 

 the colonization and development of the 132,(KIO acres, owned 

 by the Bolivia-Brazil Rubber and Timber Corporation, of which 

 a group of New Jersey men and one Bolivian are officials. Dr. 

 Samuel T. Busey bein^ managing director. 



PLANTATION RUBBER IN DUTCH GUIANA. 



I'LTURE PROSPECTS E.\XOUK.\C,I.\(i. 

 T TP to the present, apart from the leaf disease which has been 

 *^ epidemic for some time but now seems to be abating, 

 everything points to the fact that rubber growing as a commer- 

 cial undertaking should be a success. 



The rate of growth of the trees in this colony has been satis- 

 factory, and, so far as data can be obtained at this early period, 

 the yield per acre has been quite normal. In some instances 

 it has been above the average. The cost of collecting the latex 

 in some districts has been seven cents per pound of dry rubber. 

 This, possibly, may not be the case when tapping operations 

 have to be carried out on a large scale, and one has to utilize 

 what labor there may be available in the district. It is gen- 

 erally considered that an estate of 300 acres would require 

 about 100 tappers, or one laborer to three acres. This labor 

 force will be required for only about one-third of the day, the 

 remaining two-thirds being devoted to the usual routine of 

 estate w-ork. But it must not be forgotten that, as the trees 

 increase in size, so they increase in the spread of their branches 

 until they so shade the ground that little weeding is actually 

 required. The planter, therefore, will be face to face with the 

 difficulty of disposing of his labor force after tapping has been 

 finished. This is an important feature. If land is available 

 then there is the opportunity of giving out land for the laborers 

 to cultivate in ground provisions, bananas, etc., and, if suitable 

 areas are contiguous, rice planting can be included. The diffi- 

 culty is a very practical one, as the tapping gangs must be kept 

 on the spot. 



If there should be no land adjacent for the laborers to take 

 up, the difficulty of employing a large force can hardly be over- 

 come. It must be borne in mind that in the East it is usual to 

 count the cost of collecting the latex as one-half the total cost 

 of production. 



We have, therefore, cause for great hope of the rubber indus- 

 try, even if tile price of rubber should be only 48 cents per 

 pound. Mr. Bancroft, of British Guiana, suggested that the 

 cost of tapping and collecting might be IS cents per pound, and 



the yield that might be expected from trees in full bearing be 

 estimated at 300 pounds per acre, i. .•., with rubber at 48 cents 

 per pound, $144 per acre per annum. .'\s against this, the cost 

 of tapping at 15 cents per pound of dry rubber would amount 

 to $45 per acre. Taking the experience of the East, that the 

 cost of tapping is half the total expense, we should Iiave an 

 expenditure of $90, leaving $54 per acre as a profit. These 

 figures wouM apply, of course, to an estate in full bearing where 

 very little expenditure for weeding would be necessary. It 

 would seem, therefore, that with rubber at only 48 cents per 

 pound the future may be regariled with some degree of con- 

 fidence. 



MORE SPR.WING NEEDED, 



Spr.iying is a much neglected art in this colony. Even those 

 growers who practice it generally do so in the belief that it may 

 be so much money thrown away. Others practice this method 

 of control merely because they have been compelled to do so by 

 their proprietors, whom, they believe, are all wrong, being guided 

 by scientific men who know really nothing practical about trop- 

 ical agriculture. The position taken is not unlike that of old 

 sugar planters. When such men as Professor Harrison and Mr. 

 Jcr;man, both of British Guiana, proclaimed the possibilities 

 of seedling canes, the practical planters in that colony at first 

 would have nothing to do with them ; it was the absentee pro- 

 prietor who forced these canes upon them and who first ac- 

 knowledged the importance of the work done at the seedling 

 station in Georgetown. The old planters cursed the seedling, 

 but with much grumbling, and still more reluctance, obeyed 

 tlie instructions of their proprietors. The wisdom of the pro- 

 prietors to-day speaks for itself in no uncertain voice. 



So, too, with spraying. Strong prejudice exists against it, 

 and spraying outfit? are often entirely absent on even fairly 

 large estates. Because many planters know nothing about the 

 subject they get no results and jump to the conclusion that all 

 spraying is a fraud A case in point is the leaf disease of Hevea 

 BrcisHienjis. Mr. Bancroft has carefully worked out a treatment 

 for this disease and he tells, the planter how to spray, what to 

 spray with, and when and how often to apply the application. 

 The planter makes his mixture, possibly makes it incorrectly; 

 he applies it in the wrong way and at the wrong time, and he 

 gets no results, .^t once he concludes that spraying is useless, 

 that all these scientific instruments only cost money for no pur- 

 pose, and he condemns in no uncertain terms a system of which 

 he is really entirely ignorant. 



It will be seen, therefore, that the whole question of spraying 

 is intimately wrapped up with not only the intelligence of the 

 grower, but his knowledge of certain plant life, and special 

 knowledge sometimes is more than desirable — it is a necessity. 

 In the hands of an ignorant grower spraying may degenerate 

 into a useless and expensive method ; in the hands of the man 

 who knows what he is doing it is a most valuable aid to success- 

 ful rubber growing. 



RUBBER EXPORTS FROM ECUADOR. 



The exports of rubber for the year 1915 showed a consid- 

 erable increase over those for 1914, due chiefly to the higher 

 prices paid. 



The following figures give the amounts for both years and the 

 countries of destination : 



1914. 1915. 



Great Rritain foidtds 211 708 



Germany 40,311 



United States 283,413 563,050 



Totals 323,935 563.758 



Semi-official reports state that 132,000 pounds of crude rubber 

 were exported from the port of Guayaquil during 1916. 



