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very difficult to remove from the gum, become charred or carbon- 

 ized during the process of vulcanization at a temperature of 280 

 Pah., and then simply drop from the article as so much soot. These 

 foregoing remarks refer to what one may regard as accidental 

 impurities due to want of cleanliness or absence of sufficient care, 

 but which, nevertheless, depreciate the value of the article from 

 2d. to 6d. per lb. There is, however, another form of adulteration 

 which will in time destroy the reputation of any brand, and effec- 

 tually "boycott " from the markets the estate sending it. This is 

 the designed admixture of inferior gums, such as Euphorbia gum 

 and many others of the resin class to reduce the price and illegiti- 

 mately to increase the meantime profit, but to court disaster, and 

 discredit the mark in the future. For example, some six years ago, 

 Borneo produced a fair rubber promising with increasing care and 

 experience better things. The producers, in their hasteTo be rich 

 introduced " potatoe gum " into the milk ; and down to the present 

 time this class of rubber is hopelessly discredited and contemp- 

 tuously spoken of as " dead borned Many other brands have 

 met the same fate from the same cause. On the other hand, where 

 resolute and continuous attempts have been made to improve the 

 method of collection, such efforts have been ampiv rewarded. 

 Four years ago, the poor gum of Accra, Cape Coast and Saltpond 

 sold with difficulty at lod. to lid, per lb. ; and now, by a process 

 of clean collection and careful curing, the price has advanced to 

 2s. to 2s. 6d. per lb., at which it finds willing buyers. Perhaps the 

 most striking illustration of this appreciation ot quality is that 

 shown by the Congo rubbers, the preparation of which is yearly 

 steadily improving with a proportionate increase in price, moving 

 from is. 3d. to 3s. 6d. per lb. The process of curing to produce 

 the first grade rubbers also necessitates an experienced headman, 

 so that the smoking or curing may be through and complete, that 

 all the immature sap may be duly coagulated into caoutchouc. 

 Here discrimination is necessary, secured by experience in order to 

 smoke the milk thoroughly, yet not excessively. Great care in this 

 process is necessitated by two considerations — in the first place, to 

 be certain that all the sap is coagulated, failing which the immature 

 juice will be lost in washing, causing perhaps the loss of 15 to 20 

 per cent, in weight, instead of 5 per cent., as in the case of a well- 

 cured, clean rubber, and in the second place to secure its freedom 

 from rubber resins. To the presence of these saps have been 

 traced the cause of the rotting or hardening of vulcanized rubber, 

 and this knowledge has led to the issue, by Sir A. M. Rendel, of a 

 rigid specification on behalf of the Government, refusing to pass 

 any rubber article found to contain more than 5 per cent, of rub- 

 ber resins. This official specification is being rapidly adopted by 

 the Indian Government, and by the principal engineers, and will, 

 in a few months, become the recognized standard for a good rubber 

 If Ceylon rubber is to command a good place in the market, it 

 must meet this requirement ; otherwise the product will be rele- 

 gated to a third-class group, looked upon with suspicion and priced 

 at ''rubbish heap'' rates. Recently some experiments have been 



