6 
of  Jack  fruit  {Artocarpus  inte^rrifolia)  how  to  ship  me  the  seeds. 
“ He  followed  instructions  and  1 raised  8o  % of  the  seeds  sent.” 
A BIG  PARA  RUBBER  CROP. 
According  to  the  United  States  Consul  at  Para,  it  is  believed  that 
an  exceptionally  good  crop  of  rubber  will  be  harvested  in  that  pro- 
vince this  season.  The  rubber  fields  of  the  lower  river,  and  es- 
pecially in  the  islands,  are  slowly  but  surely  failing,  both  in  quantity 
and  quality,  but  the  decrease  is  more  than  made  up  by  the  develop- 
ment of  new  fields  and  the  expansion  of  the  old  fields  on  the  Upper 
Amazon.  While  all  the  more  important  tributaries  of  the  Amazon 
are  supplying  their  full  quota  of  rubber,  and  even  making  a pro- 
mising increase,  interest,  he  says  will  be  centred  in  the  now  famous 
Acre  territory  and  in  South  Eastern  Ecuador.  In  the  regions 
reached  by  the  Purus  (of  which  the  Acre  is  a tributary)  Jurua,  Beni, 
Madre  de  Dios,  Jawari,  Ucayali,  Japura  and  other  great  affluents  of 
the  Upper  Amazon  which  penetrate  Peru,  Bolivia  and  Ecuador, 
there  are  illimitable  rubber  forests  as  yet  unexplored,  which  will 
now  be  gradually  developed.  Many  seringueiros,  or  rubber 
gatherers,  are  making  their  way  to  these  regions,  and  it  is  reported 
that  several  syndicates  are  about  to  begin  operations  in  new  fields 
in  Bolivia  and  Peru.  Home  Paper. 
EXTRACTION  OP  RUBBER  PROM  BARK. 
The  question  of  extracting  rubber  from  the  bark  of  certain  rub- 
ber trees  has  repeatedly  been  suggested  and  experimented  upon. 
So  far,  little  success  appears  to  have  been  achieved. 
It  certainly  does  not  strike  one  as  a very  difficult  matter  to  de- 
vise a process  for  the  extraction  of  the  rubber  from  a bark  which 
really  contains  a fair  amount  of  it.  But  it  is  certainly  impossible 
to  devise  such  a process  without  any  direct  reference  to  be  operated 
upon.  In  other  words,  a thorough  chemical  examination  of  the 
bark  in  question  is  the  first  step  to  be  taken.  Further,  there  may 
be  a large  quantity  of  rubber  in  the  bark,  but  it  is  most  likely  ac- 
companied by  a considerable  proportion  of  resinous  matter,  the 
separation  of  which  from  the  rubber  would  be  quite  as  important 
as  the  elimination  of  the  bark.  Otherwise  it  might  be  found  that 
the  rubber  extracted  is  of  such  inferior  quality  as  to  be  almost 
valueless  commercially.  This,  to  a large  extent,  is  what  has  been 
found  in  the  various  attempts  of  extracting  gutta  percha  from  the 
leaves  of  the  gutta  trees. 
The  resin  accompanying  the  rubber  in  the  different  rubber  trees 
varies  very  considerably  in  properties,  and  unless  these  are  known 
it  is  quite  impossible  to  give  any  directions  as  to  their  separation 
from  the  rubber.  If  the  amount  of  resionous  matter  present  should 
turn  to  be  so  small  that  its  presence  in  the  rubber  could  be  tolerated 
there  would  still  be  the  question  of  the  nature  of  the  tissues  of  the 
bark  which  has  to  be  separated  from  the  rubber.  Under  favour- 
