TMtl AOntCV LftJ UAL JOURNAL. 



brown paper, and expose the green bark. 

 This inner bark is then scored across with 

 a kniire at an angle, and the milky juice 

 or sap then exudes and dries on in an 

 hour or two, and can be peeled off and 

 wo ind up in balls, but the process is so 

 slow with the Coolie women employed at 

 6d. a day, that I found it would costabout 

 5g. per lb. for the labour of collecting, 

 and the product vould be worth only 

 about 2s. per lb. 



Now it strikes me very forcibly that if 

 a cheaper way of extracting the rubber 

 were adopted it would pay well The 

 rubber ia there of good quality, but the 

 question is how to get it out. My idea is 

 this : To plant the trees in rows, 12 or 

 more feet apart, like large hedges, and at 

 two or three years old, when large enough, 

 in the spring or early summer, when the 

 sap was rising, to slash off the small 

 branches and leaves, and crush them in a 

 small steam sugar mill and let the juice 

 run into a tank of water. The residue 

 of branches and leaves would then be put 

 into a hydraulic press, with steam out- 

 side, and pressed as long as the sap would 

 flow. The rubber juice would coagulate 

 in the water, and could be raked out and 

 squeezed by hand into balls and dried. 



By this method the trees would be pol- 

 lared and dwarfed, and could be trimmed 

 and cut once or twice a year, as found 

 advisable. It would be necessary to keep 

 the land well ploughed and scari- 

 fied between the rows, for all would 

 depend on the cultivation received, The 



rows, if in hilly land, would re(|uireto be 

 run on the level, so as to cultivate cheaply 

 with horses or mules. 



There are several other plants which 

 would give good rubber if treated in this 

 ma;-iner and well cultivated. 



The Beaumantia, a white flowering 

 creeper of the order " Apacynaceoe," the 

 Borneo rubber creeper, grows well here in 

 Natal, and I have no doubt many native 

 plants would be found to produce good 

 rubber. 



If this plan of extracting rubber from 

 the plant were found to answer, it would 

 revolutionize the rubber trade in a few 

 years, and rubber could be grown to any 

 extent, like sugar. 



Moreover, the supply of rubber, owing 

 to the destruction of the trees, is de- 

 creasing, whilst the demand for the 

 article, which is now being applied to so 

 many different purposes, is steadily in- 

 creasing, and therefore there is no fear of 

 the market being over-stocked. India 

 rubber being so valuable an article, worth 

 £200 to £300 a ton, there is a large margin 

 for profit. For an energetic young man 

 wanting something to do and to try a new 

 industry, I would recommend it, but re- 

 member the old American sage's saying : 

 " Be sure you are right ; then go ahead." 

 I feel pretty sure there is money in it. 



If further information is required on 

 the article " India Rubber," see Spon's 

 Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia Britan- 

 nica, where it is more extensively treated. 



The Basuio Pony^ 



MR. J. W. BOWKER, Mohali Hoek, 

 wiiting concerning the origin of the 

 Basutopony, says : — From personal know- 

 ledge of Basutoland extending over a 

 period of upwards of thirty years, and 

 from facts in my possession, I am pre- 

 pared to assert that in the early p;irt of 

 the 19th century horses were entirely un- 

 known among the native tribes inhabiting 

 the eastern portion of South Africa. It is 

 an historical fact that the first horse seen 

 in Zululand was taken there bj the Chief 



Dingiswayo returning thither from the 

 Cape Colony in the early days of the 

 afterwards renowned Chief Chaka. This 

 I think disposes of the theory of there 

 having been a native race of horses in 

 that region introduced from the north by 

 Arabs. It is also an historical fact that 

 the country now called Basutoland was at 

 that period only occupied by roving 

 bands of Bushmen, and that the tribes 

 afterwards known as Basuto were driven 

 by Chaka from the east of the Drakens- 



