and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society— Jan., 1910, 77 



No. 2. Vahea rubber obtained by tapping." 

 Weight, ] oz. A email biscuit of clean brown 

 rubber, the physical properties of which were 

 very satisfactory. The composition of the rubber 

 was as follows : — 



Percentage Rubber as Composition 



of received, of dry rubber 



Moisture 



3 - i 





Caoutchouc 



S8'0 



90'9 



Resin 



77 



79 



Proteids 



0-8 



0-8 



Insoluble matter 



0-3 



0-4 



""Ash" T 



0-3 



0-3 



The specimen was valued at 



about 4s to 4s 3d 



per lb. in London, with fine hard Para quoted at 

 4s 7d per lb. The rubber prepared in this form 

 is of much better quality than No, 1, owing to 

 the absence of vegetable impurities, and would 

 realise a higher price. The results of the analysis 

 are very satisfactory, but it is noteworthy that 

 the percentage of resin is considerably higher 

 than in No. 1. — Bulletin of the Imperial Insti- 

 tute, No. 3, 1909. 



BRAZIL GOVERNMENT AND THE 

 RUBBER INDUSTRY. 



The Brazilian Government is waking up to the 

 fact that the rubber industry of the State needs 

 stimulating. In an article on "The Rubber 

 Problem in Brazil,'* the " Economist " says that 

 with the tapping on a larger scale and increased 

 consumption it is feared the normal supplies 

 will soon not be sufficient to meet requirements. 

 After pointing out the wasteful way collection 

 is made in the forests and the excessive cost 

 owing to the remoteness and difficulties of 

 transport, our contemporary says that the Gov- 

 ernor of Para has sent a message to the State 

 Assembly, urging merchants to take more care 

 in the extraction and curing of the latex, but 

 especially bids them to cultivate trees in more 

 accessible districts and thus compete with the 

 plantation companies. The "Economist" fur- 

 ther adds that to combat the various existing 

 abuses the State Government is proposing to re- 

 gulate the tappiug of trees, fixing the time when 

 the first incision may be made and its height 

 above ground. Whilst recognising that these 

 regulations will be difficult to enforce, our con- 

 temporary thinks it imperative that this Govern- 

 ment inspection should be started without delay, 

 and concludes that " everything goes to show 

 that the Brazilian rubber industry in approa- 

 ching a critical point in its career; for unless 

 it is placed in a position to compote with the 

 more modern and scientific methods of culture 

 adopted in other parts of the world it must in- 

 evitably lose its present predominant position.'' 

 To which may be added that, seeing that rubber 

 is the greatest revenue producer Brazil possesses, 

 with the exception of coffee, it appears suicidal 

 not to prevent the industry going to the dogs. — 

 H. & C. Mail, Nov. 26. 



RUBBER IN BRITISH "GUIANA. 



It is reported from. British Guiana that rubber 

 planting is being conducted with enthusiasm. The 

 supply of hevea (rubber) seedlings at the Botanic 

 Gardens is already nearly exhausted, but a largo 

 quantity is expected to arrive from the Straits 

 Settlements next month.— H, <fe C'.Mail, Nov. 12. 



A NEW AUSTRIAN RUBBER PLANT. 



Planters who have been asking for some plant 

 which would give them an annual crop of rubber 

 in the interval between planting and tapping 

 their Para rubber trees, will read the account 

 of a recent discovery in Austria with interest. It 

 appears that Lactuca viminea, a biennial plant 

 of the order Composite, found in Austria, 

 yields a latex which contains an amount of rub- 

 ber corresponding to about 5 per cent of pure 

 caoutchouc on the weight of the dry substance 

 of the plant. It thus yields, says an enthusiastic 

 correspondent, more rubber than Hevea brasi- 

 liensis, from which — according to Alexander and 

 Bing — only about - 3 per cent is obtainable. The 

 writer, however, does not point out, as he should 

 if unbiased, that Para rubber trees are not felled 

 and macerated, but are tapped every alternate 

 day throughout the greater part of the year 

 and allowed to livo for twenty or more years 

 uuder such treatment, tor the determination 

 of the caoutchouc content of L. viminea, the 

 plant, at the period of its maximum growth, was 

 dried, extracted with petroleum ether, the ex- 

 tract treated with 10 per cent alcoholic caustic 

 potash to remove saponifiable matter, and then 

 extracted with carbon bisulphide. Frcm the 

 evaporation residue of the carbon bisulphide 

 extract, the resin is removed by means of 

 acetone, and then the pure caoutchouc deter- 

 mined by Harries and Weber's method, and 

 Pendler and Kuhn's modification of Budde's 

 method. -I.E. Journal, Nov. 15. 



RUBBER IN CEYLON. 



A Sooth Indian Visitor's Impressions. 

 At the Peradeniya Experimental Station, I 

 saw the Dichotoma rubber growing. Some of 

 this had been brought under tapping and if the 

 result (details of it are in the current Tropical 

 Agriculturist) is disappointing, it must be re- 

 membered that they are very young. Ceara 

 there is being tapped like Para and the results 

 from those trees that will yield is considered 

 satisfactory. Although this is so, I gather from 

 what I heard (I am not an eye-witness) that Mr 

 Westland's method is the better. It would be 

 advisable for those who have Ceara trees to 

 cherish them ; they are worth more standing, 

 than as fence posts or firewood. No doubt in 

 time seed will be available from a strain of well- 

 known latex givers. — Madras Times, Dec. 9. 



GASTILLOA" RUBBER BY THE 

 CENTRIFUGAL PROCESS. 



The rubber delivered by the Lesher centri- 

 fugal machine, now in use on La Zacualpa planta- 

 tion, in Mexico, is in the form of biscuits, which 

 would readily be taken for typical line para bis 

 cuits. When one of them is cut in two, it shows a 

 very densely coagulated light-coloured surface 

 with a suggestion of thin layers, such as are pro- 

 duced by the smoking process. The rubber is very 

 clean and tough, and the outside surface, where 

 it is exposed to the air, has a mahogany colour 

 instead of the black that CastiUoa so often 

 acquires.— India Rubber World, Oct. 1. 



