Jl NE 1. 191S 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 





RUBBER IN GERMAN EAST AFRICA. 



EXPORTS of wild rubber from German East Africa, which 

 '—' in 1910 reached a total of 725,584 pounds, with a value ol 

 £145,147, fell off to about half that quantity in the following 

 and in 1912 am u 37 c ', <| 38 pounds, valued at £59,298. 



I In- chief rubber-yielding plants native to German Easl Africa 

 are the Landolphia Stolsii and the Landolphia dondeensis — the 

 former a vine occurring commonly in thi New Langenburg dis- 

 trict, north of Lake Xyasa, and the latter a shrubby plant oc- 

 curring in the southern parts of the Protectorate, Other wild 

 rubber plant-, an thi Woscarenhasia elastica, Landolphia Kirkii, 

 Landolphia lu* a andra kilimand rid Holarrhena 



microterantha. The wild rubber exported has been colli 

 chiefly in the forest reserves of Kimboza, Mouha, Uluguru 

 i Morogoro) and CJnguru (Bagamoyo). Dai i Salaam and 

 Kilwa are both reported as producing good wild rubber in con- 

 siderable quantities, 



1 lie planting industry, on the other band, has made rapid 

 progress during the last few years, the value of exports of 

 plantation rubber, including gutta percha, rising from £20,798 

 m 1908, to £362,01.' in 1912. Mie Ceara rubber tree (Manihot 

 Glasiovii) has been most extensively planted, although some at- 

 tention has been devoted to Funtumia elastica, He; - - liensis 

 and Ficus elastica, the area under these three varieties amount- 

 ing in 1910-11 to 355 acres, in 1911-12 to 698 acres, and in 1912-13 

 t<i 1,035 acres. A small Landolphia plantation was also estab- 

 lished some years ago at Langenburg. During 1910-11, when the 

 area planted in Ceara rubber had reached a total of 63,222 : 

 divided between 248 plantations, the high price of rubber led to 

 severe tapping of the trees, which, with wind storms of some 

 violence, resulted in extensi\< . and this induced hasty 



( ^tension of the plantations with consequent less thorough culti- 

 vation and rise of wages through scarcity of labor. The area 

 under Ceara cultivation had risen in 1911-12 to 81,705 acres, and 

 in 1912-13 to 112,258 acres. 



The following table shows the quantity and value of the 

 rubber exports for the years 1911 and 1912: 



, 1911. « 



Tons. Value. 

 Plantation rubber and guttapercha 



i destination Germany and the 



United Kingdom) . .'. 671 £180, -ISO 



Wild rubber and gutta percha 



(destination Germany) 168 58,568 181 59,298 



Attempts have been made to improve the economic condition 

 of the industry in this Protectorate, mainly by means of less 

 expensive methods of tapping and by the utilization of catch 

 crops or of secondary culture-, such as beans and maize. 



, 1912. . 



Tons. Value. 



998 £362,012* 



RUBBER ON THE GOLD COAST. 



During the past six years 250.000 Para rubber plants and 

 1.500,000 seeds have been distributed by the government of the 

 British Gold Coast Colony, and many trees have reached the 

 tapping stage. The government is instructing and encouraging 

 the natives in improved methods of tapping and preparation of 

 latex, through its agricultural stations. Attempts have also been 

 made to cultivate Funtumia Elastica, but the plants have suffered 

 greatly from violent winds and tornadoes. 



FIRESTONE TIRES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



Walter C. Airey & Co., of Cape Town. South Africa, have con- 

 tracted for the distribution of Firestone tires in Cape Town. 



RUBBER IN THE FRENCH COLONIES. 



French colonial possessions exported 100,000 nds of 



rubber and 363,999 poum I balata gum during 1914. Of 

 rude rubber Cochin China exported at least 300.000 pounds, 

 and the French Ivory .vhile 



the balata gum was all exported by French Guiana. Of the 

 Cochin China rubber, 292,761 pounds went to France, tin balance 

 to Singapore; less than 80 pounds ,,i th< total was forest ru 

 the n all of the plantatii 



i 



A French colonial inspector reports that a gr 



iensis tree- planted in 1898 189 Novo, i rench 



Dahot lony, is now producing exceptionally well. Prior 



to 1914 tin gular attention, but in Au 



last year a real attempt at tapping w.- and the trees 



yielded from 2 :■ I i unds of dry rubber each. Those trees 

 that yielded only 2 p I dry rubber were plants that had 



iieeii mistreated ill the course of former tappings and had not 

 altogether recovered from the abusi tl -uttered. The 



swampy soil of the Dahomey colon\ tally 



well suited to Hevea Brasiliensis. 



"I , WIN e" Rl bber. 



The French Colonial Department has recently made experi- 

 ments with samples of rubber prepared from the latex of a 

 vine known as the "Gohine" (Landolphia Hold I, obtained 



from the Upper Senegal and Niger districts of French 

 Africa. Part of this latex came From Konakry, where it was- 

 - agulated with lemon juice, part from Koury, where it was 

 produced by spontaneous coagulation. Vulcanized fine Para 

 hard cure was used as a standard in comparing the vulcanized 

 products of these different samples of "Cohine" latex, and the 

 experiments showed that the difference in the manner of coagu- 

 lation had hut very litth effect on the vulcanized product. Sam- 

 ples of "Gohine" l.:ti ■-, obtained from Portugui tries, where 

 it was coagulated with such vegetable acid- as lemon juice, 

 Guiana sorrel juice, "manina" and the like, show, when vul- 

 canized, hut slight technical differences. "Cob;;- r can 

 be classed among good vine rubbers, suitable for industrial pur- 

 pi .-i - 



Should be on every rubber man's desk — Crude Rubber and 

 Compounding Ingredients ; Rubber Country of the Amazon ; 

 Rubber Trade Directorv of the World. 



RUBBER IN INDIA. 



The latest number of the Bulletin issued by the Imperial 

 Institute, London, contains a report on two sample- of Castilloa 

 rubber from India, received for examination in July last. The 

 plants were grown experimentally at the Bassein Botanical 

 Gardens, Bombay, from seeds planted in 1907 and transplanted 

 in June. 1908, the trees being watered at long intervals up to 

 1913. Sample No. 1. the physical properties of which are re- 

 torted as fairly good, was from male trees Rubber of the 

 quality represented bj ibis sample would probably be worth 

 about Is. 6d. [36.49 cents] per pound in London with fine hard 

 Para .it 2s. 6d. [60.81 cents] per pound, and tine plantation Para 

 at 2s. ill [56.76 cents] per pound. Sample Xo. 2. from female 

 trees, was similar in appearance to Xo. 1. hut softer and weaker, 

 being worth about 3d [6.08 cents] per pound less. Analysis of 

 the -ample- showed the following results: 



N T o. !. No. :. 



moisture and impurities) per cent. 7.5 5.3 



in- S1.6 60.9 



Resin 12.4 34.3 



4.7 }.7 



Ash 1.3 1.1 



Both samples were in the form of small, irregular balls of 



dark colored scrap rubber containing some vegetabh impui 



The report states that if the rubber could be prepared in the 



form of sheet it would he more valuable than balls of scrappy 



rubber. The possibility of making sheet rubber depends upon 



a sufficient flow of latex to allow of its collection in bulk for 



subsequent coagulation. In the case of these samples it was 



stated that the latex was thick, coagulating quickly on the tree 



and being ready for collection the day after tapping. 



