WE VISIT A RAW-RUBBER FACTORY 83 



others stamp their sheets top and bottom with a deep 

 diamond pattern, to provide for ventilation when they 

 are packed. Here we see the sheets, after they leave 

 the smooth rollers, passed through a machine that has 

 a diamond pattern deeply indented on its rollers. 



All the rubber we see leaving the machine is white. 

 We go now to the drying-room, and there we find 

 sheets and crepe in all shades of yellow, hanging over 

 the wooden rails that stretch from end to end and side 

 to side of the apartment. The material turns yellow 

 as it dries ; sometimes it takes on a pale lemon tint, 

 somtimes a rich, deep amber, or golden hue. The 

 quality of rubber does not depend on the shade of the 

 material, but if any dirt has been allowed to get into 

 the milk, the light-hued strips tell tales more plainly 

 than the dark ones. The rubber which is finished off 

 in the drying-room is uncured. 



We are very anxious to see the smoking-room, for 

 wo know that every planter's great ambition is to turn 

 out of his factory rubber which is so thoroughly well 

 cured that it can compete with the exceptionally well 

 cured Brazilian Para. We are even more anxious to 

 get out of that room. After a very few minutes we 

 feel that not for another moment shall we be able to 

 breathe in such an atmosphere. On the ground floor 

 beneath us a big fire is consuming cocoanut shells, and 

 belching forth clouds of smoke. We cannot actually 

 see the smoke, but, like all the rubber around us, we 

 are getting the full " benefit " of it as it finds its way 

 through a double ceiling of perforated zinc. The 

 smoke is turning most of the rubber in this room brown ; 

 some thin crepe, which has been here nearly three 

 weeks, and some thick crepe, called " blanket," which 



