TROPICAL EXPLOITATION 73 
companies are doing well. But the historic boom in 
rubber cultivation was that which sprang up in London 
in 1910, and during which many fortunes were made 
or lost. 
The plantation rubber of the East is now the chief 
rubber upon the market, for the export of the wild 
Brazilian rubber has stood practically steady at about 
40,000 tons, and that of the African and other wild 
rubbers is much less. What has perhaps most of all 
surprised the planters of rubber is that they have been 
unable to kill off the Brazilian trade. To close our con- 
sideration of tropical exploitation, it may be of interest 
to go into this question. 
It would be very unscientific to prophesy that the 
cultivated rubber will never kill out the wild, but the 
time is not yet. One great difficulty in the way is the 
fact that, though it is often denied, the Brazilian up- 
river hard cure, as the finest rubber is called, is superior 
in quality to any of the plantation rubber. No one who 
has seen them side by side in quantity could have much 
doubt on the subject. 
The cultivated rubber is all marketed in a form that 
contains practically no water at all, whilst the wild rubber 
has about 15 per cent. This fact is usually lost sight 
of in comparing the market prices. At to-day’s rates, 
for example, 85 Ib. of dry Brazilian rubber is worth 
3355. against 278s. for the same quantity of plantation. 
This fact struck Mr. Bamber and myself at the Ceylon 
Exhibition, and we made a rubber which contained 
water, and was of better quality; but by sending to 
market rubbers with different percentages of water, 
people soon spoiled any chance of success which this 
