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goods, &c., can be equally well used in the inferior grades of manu- 

 facture. Manufacturers vary their mixtures according to the price 

 of the different grades, their effort always being— and at the present 

 prices this is more than ever the case — to produce the cheapest 

 possible mixture consistent with their standard of manufacture. 

 While it is true that a high class rubber can be used for almost any- 

 thing, the reverse is not the case, and the inferior grades of rubber 

 can only be used in inferior work, such as, for instance, garden hose, 

 door mats, rubber flooring, &c., where elasticity is not requiried. 



The produce of the Amazon is divided approximately into three 

 grades, which find totally different uses, these being: — Fine Para, 

 about 24,000 tons; negroheads of various descriptions, about 8,000 

 tons ; and Peruvian ball about 8,000 tons. 



MOTOR TIRES. 



Fine Para is the standard grade for the whole market. It is 

 bought and sold on name only, without samples, being shown, and is 

 the one grade of rubber which, generally speaking, can be used for ihe 

 manufacture of any and every description of rubber goods. As its 

 price to-day, however, is about IDs. per lb., it stands to reason that 

 manufacturers economize in the use of this grade as much as they 

 can, particularly as in its crude state it contains about 15 per cent, of 

 impurities — mostly water — so that by the time the manufacturer has 

 washed and dried it, he has to work with raw material costing him near- 

 ly I2s. per lb. However, for the manufacture of really high-class 

 goods, such as the inner tubes of motoritires, the manufacturer has no 

 alternative but to use hard cure fine Para. No other rubber has the 

 necessary strength and resiliency to stand the strain. 



A small quantity of the very best plantation rubber — namely, the 

 fine smoked sheet—produced by the Highlands and Vallambrosa 

 companies, and to a smaller extent by a few other companies, will 

 give the same test for strength, but the total arrivals per annum of 

 this smoked sheet are only a little over 100 tons, so that as yet they 

 hardly relieve the situation at all. 



For the outer cover manufacturers are able to use, in conjunction 

 with fine Para, a certain proportion of the other Amazon rubbers — 

 negroheads and ball — as well as fine plantation rubber, and some of 

 the very best medium rubbers. It is estimated ithat the present 

 annual consumption of rubber for the manufacture ot motor tires 

 amounts to not less than 30,000 tons per annum, so that it will be 

 seen that, apart altogether from the question of cost, it is impossible 

 for manufacturers to use nothing but fine Para in their construction. 



GOLOSHES. 



It will be seen from the above that motor tires alone account for 

 a large part of the total output of the Amazon, and it will astonish 

 many people to know that the article next in importance from the 

 rubber consumption point of view, absorbing approximately 

 15,000 tons per annum, in rubber shoes, known in America simply as 



