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THE PREPARATION OP PLANTATION PARA RUBBER 



WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO FUTURE 



CONSIDERATIONS. 



By B. J. Eaton, f.i.c, f.c.s. 

 (Agricultural Chemist, F.M.8.) 



TT is proposed in this paper to submit very briefly the results of 

 the researches on raw rubber manufacture which have been con- 

 ducted for the past 2| years at the Agricultural Department by the 

 writer and his assistants and to consider in what way these results 

 are likely to affect the future methods of preparation of the raw 

 product, having in view both the highest quality of rubber which 

 can be prepared and the manufacturers' requii'ements, as far as we 

 have been able to obtain information in this respect. 



As a starting point two axioms are propounded, with which I 

 think eveiy planter and manufacturer is now in entire agreement. 



They are (1) The highest grade of wild rubber, viz., Fine 

 Hard Para, which is the premier raw rubber among wild rubbers, so 

 called, on the market, is very uniform. (2) Plantation Para rubber 

 from the cultivated Hevea is very variable. Arising out of both of 

 these axioms we have now to consider : {a) In what respect is 

 plantation Para rubber variable and how can this variability be 

 remedied ? (&) What are the causes of the variability in the case of 

 the plantation product and what the reason of the uniformity of the 

 product from the uncultivated tree ? 



I do not propose to enter into any details as to the researches 

 which have enabled us to elucidate to a considerable extent these 

 important problems, since much has already been published by the 

 writer and his collaborators and since confirmed by other indepen- 

 dent workers and in a month or two a special illustrated bulletin 

 will be published giving the details of these researches to date. It 

 is only necessary here to summarize the results obtained and, if 

 further information is required on any special point, this may be 

 probably obtained during the discussion of the paper. 



Speaking historically, the remarks expressed by Mr. Williams, 

 Works Superintendent of the North British Eubber Company, one 

 of the leading and most advanced of our British rubber manufactur- 

 ing firms, especially in the organization of scientific research, will 

 form a suitable text on which to hang this discourse. These remarks 

 which were made at the 4th International Rubber and Allied Trades 

 Congress held in London in July, 1914, were as follows : 



