and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— August, 1912. 177 



SMOKE CURING FOR PLANTATION 

 RUBBER. 



In directing attention to the following infor- 

 mation about Mr. Wickham's " Mocha " appa- 

 ratus we would remind rubber growers that his 

 object has beeii to approximate the preparation 

 of plantation rubber as nearly as possible to the 

 lines so long followed with success in the ori- 

 ginal home of rubber— the Amazon forests. It is 

 interesting to learn from Mr. Wiokham that the 

 different nuts used in South America in pro- 

 ducing the smoke in which " Para " is cured, all 

 belong to the tame species as the Coconut, 

 which was utilised at Peradeniya last week. It 

 is thought that the preservative properties of the 

 essential oils, which are communicated to the 

 rubber, are the main elements in obtaining the 

 fine keeping qualities of hard Pa>'a, and as the 

 "Mocha" machine follows this idea out, growers 

 of plantation rubber ought certainly to give ita 

 full tiial. We understand that the cost will not 

 besogreat as the present coagulating and drying 

 methods, and if there is greater keeping quality 

 in the rubber produced by the smoke m tbod it 

 certainly ought to be striven for. The chemists 

 haYe not yet decided whether the other proper- 

 ties of rubber such as elasticity and ten>ile 

 strength are intensified, or at any rate fixed, by 

 smoke curing ; but there is every reason to be- 

 lieve this is so, in addition to giving it the means 

 of capacity for keeping for a longer period than 

 ordinarily prepared " plantation." 



Mr- fl. A. Wickham's Mocha Rubber Smoking 

 Apparatus. 

 We learn from Mr H A Wickham, the "father 

 of the Rubber induttry," that the model of his 

 Mocha rubber-smoking apparatus, intended to 

 produce the equivalent of fine hard Para by 

 means of its "smoke cure," is being brought 

 down to Colombo and overhauled by the Colombo 

 Commercial Company, agents for the manufac- 

 turers, Messrs, David Bridge & Co., and that 

 a demonstration with it at their works will be 

 held before long. 



It is interesting to add that although no use 

 appears to have been made of the small working 

 Model B. of this apparatus, since its arrival in 

 the island some mouths ago, a demonstration 

 was held under Mr. Wickham's supervision at 

 the end of laat week at Peradeniya Gardens, 

 where it has remained sinco its arrival, and was 

 witnessed with great interest by the Director, 

 Mr. Lyne, and the Peradeniya officials. It 

 worked very satlsfaxjtorily, and will no doubt 

 28 



become popular as soon as the machines are 

 placed on the market locally. 



Mr. Wickham also experimented with his now 

 well-known tapping knife and found this an- 

 swered, too, to expectations in every resp> ct, ex- 

 cept that possibly with older trm s and hardein d 

 bai k, the spring of the knife would be more use- 

 ful if it were of a stronger make It appears 

 that part of the essential woikingis that there 

 should be a rapid withdrawal after thei incision, 

 and that the speed of the withdrawal will de- 

 pend on the t-tren^th of the spring, hence the 

 rued for this slight improvement in the imple- 

 ment. Both the inventions are the outcome of 

 half-a century of experience and unrivalled 

 early acquaintance with the practices if the 

 rubber-gatherers in the home par excellence of 

 Hevea rubber, Brazil. 



INDIGO FROM CEYLON. 



Among July's exports figured 14 chests of 

 Indigo, manufactured at Lagos estate, Kalu- 

 tara— the first fruit of the introduction vi a 

 new industry into Ceylon. The Indigo plant 

 at Lagos is ready for another cutting, and 

 manufacture will be resumed there in a few 

 days. The Clyde Tea and Rubber estate will 

 shortly put 1U0 acres of a new clearing into 

 Indigo. Dr. Cuutze's new place, Penihtla estate, 

 near Veyangoda, has also been planted out in 

 Indigo, and the factory erected there by Messrs. 

 Macdonald & Co. is finished, and manutacture 

 at Peuihela will be started in a couple of 

 weeks or so. 



RUBBEH AND INDIGO. 



Baron Schrottky on tha Coming Crisis in the 

 Rubber Industry. 



And Protective Measures, 

 (To the Editor, " Straits Times.") 

 Sir, — The rubber planting industry has, for 

 many years past now, been trying to find a catch 

 or c >ver-crop, which would give some return 

 during the time the rubber grows Uf , while not 

 exhausting the soil and thus retarding the 

 growth of the main crop. 



Ni ne of the citch-orops so far grown have 

 come up to this standard. Will you allow me, 

 there ore, to draw attention through the me- 

 dium of your paper to a crop which has baen 

 grown lately most successfully between youug 

 rubber in Ceylon and seems to have solved the 

 question of what crop can most profitably be 

 grown with rubber. 



