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The question of smoking rubber is decidedly coming more to the 

 front now-a-days. In the very early days of rubber cultivation, smok- 

 ing was not uncommon. The first lots of Biscuits sent from the 

 Botanic Gardens to manufacturers were regularly smoked, but this 

 form was rather darker in colour than unsmoked rubber. Amber bis- 

 cuits took the fancy of the home market. They were very attractive 

 in appearance and so transparent that the buyers could see that they 

 were pure and free from dirt. Then came a reaction, and darker 

 colouring was not considered a defect. In fact, lately smoked rubbers 

 have fetched the highest price in the market. The smoking hitherto 

 however, has only been on the outside of made-up biscuits and sheet, 

 its advantage being the more rapid drying and the prevention of 

 external mouldiness especially in wet weather. 



However, for a year, experiments in smoking the latex itself 

 have been in progress in the Botanic Gardens, and we hope very 

 shortly to lay the results of these before our readers. A number of 

 blocks of rubber thus prepared have been submitted to some of the 

 best manufacturing firms in Europe, and their reports will be published 

 when they are completed. We may say, however, that the rubber 

 thus produced is very different in firmness and nerve from the 

 ordinary plantation rubbers, and more resembles the best hard cure 

 rubber of the Amazons. — Ed. 



THE ZAPUPE, A NEW FIBRE. 



The Botanic Gardens, Singapore, have lately received a few 

 plants of a new fibre plant discovered in 1905 between Vera Cruz and 

 Tampico. This plant is one of the Agaves, and is known to the 

 natives of Mexico as Zapupe. It seems to have been long known to 

 the natives as a source of a very superior fibre, but has only come 

 into cultivation within the last few years. At present, 5,000 acres 

 near Vera Cruz are under this plant, and larger areas are being 

 cleared for its cultivation. It is said that it produces a fine white 

 brilliant strong fibre flexible and easy to weave. It is superior to 

 other Agaves from this region in its more rapid growth, giving a 

 good return in three years against the usual delay of six or seven 

 years in other species. There are seven known varieties of it. The 

 best one at three years old produces 125 to 1 50 leaves per year, after 

 which the number gradually diminishes till its seventh or eighth year, 

 giving an average during the whole time of 100 to 120 leaves a year, 

 till it dies in about ten or fifteen years. It prefers a light sandy soil. 

 About 1,000 to 1,400 plants are planted to the acre. They are planted 

 from lateral buds as in the case of Henequen, or Sisal hemp, 

 and produces six or seven buds on the roots each year, and when it 

 poles, it produces 1,000 to 2,500 hulbils, which can be used for 

 planting. The leaves are cut at any time during the year and care 

 has to be taken to cut them at the level of the stalk, for the plant is 



