February, 1910.] 



101 



Saps and Exudations, 



dustry depended for years upon human 

 slavery in the Southern United States, 

 but it does not to-day, and cotton is 

 now being grown in many parts ot 

 Africa — the home of the former American 

 slaves — by willing and well-paid natives. 

 Ultimately, of course, the same will be 

 true of rubber, though the progress to- 

 ward the new conditions may be slow. 



The hope of the civilization of the 

 native rubber-producing regions, whether 

 in Africa or in equally remote portions 

 of South America, is in the develop- 

 ment of such scientific treatment of 

 rubber production as is now in progress 

 in Ceylon, for example, and which the 

 owners of capital ultimately will insist 

 upon being carried out whatever rubber 

 trees worth taking care of may be found. 



We congratulate Mr. Labouchere, of 

 London, upon his expose of the con- 

 ditions of rubber production in the re- 

 gion beyond Iquitos. In the first place, 

 it will open the way to the correction of 

 undoubted abuses in a specific region. 

 Secondly, it will aid in simplifying the 

 so-called Congo question, in showing 

 that the conditions of rubber production 

 in Central Africa are not, necessarily, 

 due to maladministration in any quarter, 

 but rather to the conditions under 

 which business between civilized and 

 uncivilized races must be done before 

 a mutual understanding is arrived at 

 as to what constitutes right or wrong. 

 Finally — and this point has been stated 

 before in this article— the disclosure of 

 conditions in Peru will help consumers 

 of rubber as a class to understand why 

 rubber constantly becomes more costly 

 rather than cheaper, as is the case of 

 commodities produced under more de- 

 sirable conditions, 



THE CULTIVATION AND PRODUC- 

 TION OF RUBBER IN THE GERMAN 

 COLONIES. 



By Dr. Paul Preuess. 



(From the India Rubber Journal, 

 Quarter Century Number, 1909.) 



The German Rubber-yielding Colonies 

 of Cameroon, Togo, German East Africa 

 and German New Guinea can look 

 back to-day upon twenty-five years 

 under German government. In the 

 near future, Samoa, which has belonged 

 for ten years to Germany, will join 

 the above-mentioned countries as a 

 rubber-producing colony, as within the 

 last few years rubber plantations have 

 been developing there. Unlike the 

 other German Colonies, Samoa has no 



native rubber plants. The climbing 



Klant — Paramenia— and Ficus species 

 ave been known in New Guinea for 

 some few years. The rubber obtained 

 therefrom, which is of good quality, 

 has only reached Germany in samples 

 of a few kilogrammes. Other rubber 

 sent to the market from New Guinea 

 is entirely from the plantations of the 

 New Guinea Company. Cameroon, Togo 

 and East Africa have, however, for some 

 years supplied considerable quantities 

 of wild rubber, which in the two first- 

 mentioned places is chiefly obtained 

 from Funtumia elastica, and to a small 

 6xtent from species of Landolphia. In 

 East Africa, on the other hand, vines 

 are the chief source. Cameroon ex- 

 ported in 1907 3,284,184 lbs. of wild rub- 

 ber to the value of £374,365 ; Togo, 

 360,347 lbs, to the value of £53,632, and 

 East Africa (including 92,400 lbs. of 

 cultivated rubber), 531,243 lbs. to the 

 value of £78,945. With the export of 

 6,320 lbs. from New Guinea, Germany 

 received from her Colonies in 1907 

 4,182,094 lbs. having a value of £508,400. 

 Germany's consumption in raw rubber 

 in the year 1907 amounted to 15,808 tons, 

 and the quantity imported to 16,568 

 tons. It will be seen, therefore, that 

 in 1907 Germany covered l-14th of her 

 requirements in rubber from her own 

 colonies, and up to the present this 

 proportion has not greatly changed. 



Only a round 45 tons of the quantity 

 mentioned came from the plantations 

 in East Africa and New Guinea. This 

 amount has risen in 1908 to about 87 

 tons, and should, with the addition of 

 Cameroon rubber, reach 160 tons. 

 Against this there is no doubt that the 

 export of wild rubber will considerably 

 decrease in the next few years. The 

 question is, whether the plantations 

 will be able to cover, not only the 

 gradual deficiency in wild rubber, but 

 also the continually increasing require- 

 ments. 



Rubber cultivation in the German 

 Colonies, compared with the age of the 

 Colonies, is still very young, Some 

 twelve years ago the first experiments 

 were made there with the laying-out of 

 plantations; there were then no lubber 

 plantations of any importance yielding 

 a profit in the whole" world. Neither 

 in the British nor Dutch Indies nor in 

 Central America had the experimental 

 stage been passed. At that time hardly 

 anyone had an idea of the tremendous 

 impetus the next ten years would 

 bring to rubber cultivation. 



At first all kinds of rubber plants 

 were introduced into the German 

 Colonies. In 1889, Ilevea brasiliensis, 



