CH. XIII] 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 . 



Until a few years ago the price of rubber, owing to varying, 

 but increasing, demand, and uncertain supply, underwent many 

 and often violent changes, but with the enormous increase due 

 to the opening of so many plantations, the price has fallen very 

 considerably in recent years, and at the moment of writing 

 (1921) is in the neighbourhood of lOd. a pound, a figure which 

 allows of no profit to the cultivators. Unless therefore the 

 demand increases, many estates may be forced to go out of 

 cultivation. The first essential for a permanent and steady 

 prosperity of the industry, however, is that there shall be a 

 steady market value with but slight variation, as in the case of 

 other world-staples like tea, coffee, cotton, sugar, etc., and there 

 can be no doubt that like them, rubber will adjust itself to the 

 market, though the process will be accompanied by hardship to 

 many. A low price will also have the effect of discouraging 

 attempts to find a cheap substitute. The industry of collection 

 of wild rubbers will also fall to a very low figure, unless perhaps 

 in Brazil, whose rubber is still the best, and is now tending to 



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. 



* 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. 



