i37 



Three samples of Para rubber were analysed. 



Moisture. Resin. 



Rubber. 



Residue . 



Para Hard Gure 



Ceylon 



Gold Coast 



4'30 



o*53 

 0*27 



273 

 3*93 

 2-31 



71-09 



90-38 

 93-92 



171 



5-o3 

 3'30 



The resins from Para Hard Cure and from the Gold Coast were 

 soft and oily, those from Ceylon hard and glue like. The residues 

 of the Ceylon and South American rubbers consisted of ''insoluble" 

 rubber; that from the Gold Coast sample largely fibrous material 

 and very little insoluble rubber. The American rubber is as will be 

 noticed very wet and contains more than twice as much insoluble 

 rubber than either of the other two. It was far the wettest of any 

 of the rubbers analyzed. Only one sample of Ficus elastica. was 

 analyzed, from Rangoon. It gave moisture 0-58, Resin 6*8 1, Rub-' 

 ber 84*63. Residue bark with a small quantity of insoluble rubber, 

 8* 1 6, Resins hard but not amorphous. Four samples of Funtumia 

 elastica, and two probably from that tree vary a good deal in pro- 

 portions of rubber from 67 to 80 per cent but the lowest sample was 

 wet, 10*90 per cent. One sample of the root rubber Landolphia 

 Tholloni, comes out well with 7*02, Resin 83*00 Rubber, 7-74 residue 

 chiefly fibre. Possibly there is more to be done with this plant than 

 one naturally expects. 



One of the other Landolphias, Ficus Vogelii and Mangabeira, 

 Hancornia speciosa, finish the analyses. The latter is very poor 

 with only 5875 per cent of rubber. 



Perhaps the most interesting point is the difference in the quality 

 of the resins in Ceylon and Gold Coast Para. Those of the latter 

 resembling the resins of the American rubber. 



In the same journal there is an article on the effect of various 

 atmospheric conditions on the resin content of rubber by Messrs. 

 Drabble and SPENCE. The resins seem to increase with tempera- 

 ture and moisture. The article is only a preliminary one, and inves- 

 tigations are being pursued. The subject has a great importance in 

 the matter of methods of preparing and drying the rubber. 



RUBBER NOTES FROM CONSULAR REPORTS. 



French West Africa. — The chief rubber supply in Senegal and 

 French Guinea is derived from species of Landolphia, and in 1904 

 the exported rubber known as Sudan niggers fell in price owing 

 chiefly to adulteration. In 1905 however, the Inspector of Agricul- 

 ture who had spent two years in visiting the European rubber markets, 

 got an ordinance passed, to suppress adulteration, preserve existing 

 rubber plants create new plantations and also found schools for 

 instruction in methods of cultivating and gathering rubber. The 

 first result of this was to produce a rise in price of rubber, of nearly 



H. N. R. 



