568 



AMAZON'S RUBBER VERSUS PLANTATION 

 RUBBER. 



In the Journal d' Agriculture Tropicale (September, 1009) M. 

 G. Lamy Torillhon discusses the causes of the difference in value 

 between hard cure Para of the Amazons and plantation Rubber. He 

 says that a manufacturer of fine para, if offered hard cure, knows right 

 away that the product is fine, older collected, and dryer than Island 

 Para, which is wetter and valued a little lower. With plantation 

 rubber it is necessary for him to see and even analyse the samples 

 before fixing the price. The Brazil rubber contains 15 to 20 per cent, 

 of foreign matter, and water, while plantation rubber is quite pure 

 and only gives ^ to I per cent, of moisture, yet the price of the 

 former is higher. He gives an explanation of the difference between 

 the texture of the two rubbers in the following way : Pure raw 

 caoutchouc is considered as composed of globules agglutinated by a 

 physical or chemical method when they were in suspension in the 

 latex. It is by a kind of coalescence that they are joined together, 

 they then present themselves under two conditions of matter very 

 distinct and complementary. One of these states corresponds to a 

 fibrous, elastic, nervous matter, the other may be compared to a plas- 

 tic matter always ready to unite with the former. The molecular 

 arrangement is so well done that one might compare it to threads of 

 chain joined by a weft, if the comparsion of the rubber to a 

 tissue is not too hazardous. It is just in " fine Para " that one finds 

 the highest degree of perfection in this combination of the two 

 substances. 



He attributes this greater strength and nerve possessed by the 

 Amazon's rubber to the practice of smoking. Unfortunately, says 

 he, smoking does not exist or is at least very little employed in the 

 Federated Malay States. We have only seen some attempts which 

 should be followed up, for we are persuaded that rubber prepared by 

 smoking should produce a notable increase in value high enough to 

 induce the collector to persevere on these lines. It appears to us 

 indispensable that the collectors of plantation rubber should make 

 smoking general. They would by this means give to their rubber a 

 quality which manufacturers would welcome. 



He points out the important factor of the age of the trees, a fifty 

 year old tree giving more elastic and nervous a rubber than a ten 

 year old one, but this with respect to the difference between planta- 

 tion and Amazons rubber, as he says, time will cure. 



As to form, he prefers block, condemning crepe on the ground 

 of its liability to collect dust and damp, and to favour oxydation and 

 tackiness. Biscuits are better, but even they expose too much sur- 

 face to the air. 



