L3 3 
Amazon Valley have always taken pains in the curing of rubber. 
While climatic oe in that country may hav e had their 
African sorts are so full of bark and stones as to make them almost 
unfit for use. At one time “ Assams " were almost unmarketable 
in New York, the price sinking as low as 10 cents per pound, and 
not wanted at that. One firm, after long experimenting, discovered 
a chemieal solution in which the rubber was washed, the process 
being that the bark and other impurities wu the chemicals, 
making them so epoi that they separated from the gum and fell 
to the bottom and away. This company i a fortune in a 
Para rubber is more largely kae in the United States than 
any bite It may be noted, also, that the larger share of the 
rubber exported from Para comes to this country. 
three grades—fine, medium, and coarse. Fine Para is the standard 
by which all other grades are measured ; it brings the best price, 
and probably is more used than any other ould it become 
irregular in quality in the operation of curing over the smoke of 
palm nuts—as when little strips of virgin gum occur in the grain 
—it is called “medium,” and its price is lessened by a cent or two 
per pound. 
The “coarse” is imperfect, being composed of the scrapings and 
refuse of the fine sorts, and sells for about two-thirds of the price 
of the better grade. It shrinks considerably, having much water 
in it, and the importer generally is in a hurry to turn it over to 
e manufacturer. There are again many variations in Para 
rubber coming from different localities on the Amazon. 
subject is involved in some obscurity; but the best rubber is 
e Rive tary of the 
Amazon, having its source in the Andes. Braz ilians, however, 
are apt to believe that the locality of the best sorts is unknown to 
Americans, and possibly the Purus may not be the locality. 
T omes from Peru, at the sources of the Amazon and its 
tributaries, a rubber resembling the Nicaragua sheet, and called 
Caucho. This rubber is very E and consequently shrinks very 
much, which is a serious draw back. It is considered a good 
strong rubber, and it is utilised to a considerable extent by the 
boot and shoe manufacturers. 
Of Ceara r 
three respectively. It is called a * mule gum," the significance 
. g L . 
t 
rubber. It is a very dry rubber, its gathering being peculiar. 
x = is incised at the beginning of the dry season, and as the- 
es from the wound it forms on the outside of the orden to 
e cabot off at the end of the season. The gathering f this 
25781 A2 
