CH. XIIl] INDIARUBBER, GUTTAPERCHA, AND CAMPHOR 127 



realised that a reliable source of supply of good and uniform 1 

 rubber is open to them, and have made the necessary alterations 

 in vulcanising machinery, formulas, etc., this rubber, which at 

 the moment of writing is realising much less than Brazilian, 

 will in all probability realise practically the same price, and 

 being present in such enormous quantity will largely determine 

 the market value of rubber. At present, however, it appears to 

 be true that the finest qualities of Brazilian rubber are finer, 

 stronger and more durable than the plantation rubber 2 . At 

 the same time, there is little doubt that the latter is strong and 

 durable enough for many practical purposes 3 . 



The price of rubber, which in the last seven years has 

 undergone many astonishing fluctuations, seems now to be 

 falling fairly steadily to some figure at which the increasing 

 demand will hold it steady. So long as it was liable to double 

 in price at short notice, so long could it not be used for any- 

 thing for which substitutes might be employed. Once let the 

 price come to a fixed figure with only slight variation as with 

 tea, cotton, or oil and rubber will be used in vast and growing 

 quantities, which will probably take up all the enormous in- 

 crease due to the great number of plantations made in recent 

 years. What this price will be is difficult to say, though there 

 appears a probability that it may for some time lie in the 

 neighbourhood of 2s. 6d. per pound ; but as this would allow 

 greater profit in rubber planting than in most tropical enter- 

 prises, it will probably go below this in time, perhaps reaching 

 Is. 9d. When it reaches this figure, it would appear probable 

 that the industry of collection of wild rubbers will fall to a 



1 At present, the most immediate desideratum in plantation rubber is this 

 quality of uniformity, -in which it is sadly lacking. 



2 The writer showed, at the Rubber Exhibition in Rio de Janeiro in October 

 1913, a borracha or bottle made in Brazil in 1817, or thirty years before 

 vulcanisation, which was still sound, though no longer elastic. 



3 Samples prepared in 1899 from plantation rubber made by Parkin's pro- 

 cess are still good. A good deal of plantation rubber, however, has been but 

 carelessly prepared, and has very poor keeping qualities. One of the crying 

 necessities for this rubber is for plantations to adopt standard methods of 

 preparation, and turn out the rubber in a few standard qualities that can be 

 relied on, as Brazilian rubber is relied on. 



