180 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



He points out the important factor of the age 

 oE the trees, a fifty-year old tree giving more 

 elastic and nervous a rubber than a ten-year old 

 one, but this with respect to the difference be- 

 tween plantation and Amazon rubber, as he 

 says, time will cure. 



As to form, he prefers block, condemning crepe 

 on the ground of its liability to collect dust 

 and damp, and to favour oxydation and tacki- 

 ness. Biscuits are better, but even they expose 

 too much surface to the air. 



The question of smoking rubber is decidedly 

 coming more to the front now-a-days. In the 

 very early days of rubber cultivation, smoking 

 was not uncommon. The first lots of Biscuits 

 sent from the Botanic Gardens to manufacturers 

 were regularly smoked, but this form was rather 

 darker in colour than unsmoked rubber. Am- 

 ber biscuits took the fancy of the home market. 

 They were very attractive in appearance and so 

 transparent that the buyers could see that they 

 were pure and free from dirt. Then came a re- 

 action, and darker colouring was not considered 

 a defect. In fact, lately smoked rubbers have 

 fetched the highest price in the market. The 

 smoking hitherto however, has only been on the 

 outside of made-up biscuits and sheet, its ad- 

 vantage being the more rapid drying and the 

 prevention of external mouldiness especially in 

 wet weather. However, for a year, experiments 

 in smoking the latex itself have been in progress 

 in the Botanic Gardens, and we hope very 

 shortly to lay the results of these before our 

 readers. A number of blocks of rubber thus pro- 

 pared have been submitted to some of the best 

 manufacturing firms in Europe, and their reports 

 will be published when they are completed. Wo 

 may say, however, that the rubber thus pro- 

 duced is very different in firmness and nerve 

 from the ordinary plantation rubbers, and more 

 resembles the best hard cure rubber from the 

 Amazon. — Ed. — Straits Agricultural Bulletin, 

 for December. 



A WONDERFUL RSjBBEfi. 



" Palo Amarillo " 

 (Euphorbia fulva, Stapf ; syn. E. elastica, Alta- 

 mirana and Kose, not of Jumolle). — Some parti- 

 culars regarding this plant as a new source 

 of rubber appeared in the Kew Bulletin, No. 7, 

 1907, p. 294. The following supplementary 

 information upon the subject is gathered from 

 an illustrated article on " The Rubber Plants 

 of Mexico " by Ur, H H Rusby in " Torreya" 

 Vol. 9, No. 9, September 1909; From this 

 paper it appears that the " Palo Amarillo ' 

 will not grow upon the alluvial plains of 

 Mexico but only on the rocky hill-sides where 

 the drainage is good. The bark is described 

 as being thick and succulent at first, smooth, 

 and of a light yellowish-green colour. That 

 of the trunk and large branches soon exco- 

 riates in large, very thin, papery, translucent 

 sheets of an orange-yellow or orange-red, colour, 

 which impart to the tree a shaggy appea- 

 rance, and a colour that has given the trunk 

 its vernacular name " palo amarillo" or yellow 

 trunk. The flowers appear in January or 

 thereabout, before the appearance of the new 



leaves, and the fruits mature in June and July. 

 As soon as the bark is wounded, a milky 

 juice exudes, which is very irritant and cap- 

 able of producing violent inflammation of the 

 eyes if it enters them, as it is quite liable to 

 do in spattering, when the tree is cut. The 

 groat value of tiiis tree as a rubber producer 

 lies in its abundance over large areas and the 

 proximity of the trees to one another facili- 

 tating collection of the milk, as well as the 

 ease with which it can bo propagated and the 

 rapidity of its growth. All that is necessary 

 for propagation is to thrust the newly-cut 

 branches into the soil, where they practically 

 all grow. From them the tree reaches its full 

 size in from 5 to 7 years. These considerations 

 appear to incline Dr. Rusby to the opinion that 



IF ALL OTHER SOURCES OF RUBBER WERE TO 

 FAIL, THIS ONE COULI) PROBABLY SUPPLY 

 THE WORLD'S ENTIRE REQUIREMENTS. 



The properties ot the " palo amarillo " rubber 

 are peculiar. Taken by itself it is of only 

 medium quality, but mixed in suitable pro- 

 portion with other varieties, especially with para 

 rubber it markedly improves them.— J. M. H. 

 —Kew Bulletin, No. 9, 1909. 



RUBBER PLANTING AMD EXPLOI- 

 T ATS ON IN BAHlAj BRAZIL. 



Mr. L. T. Boustead, the ex-Ceylon planter, 

 has had varied fortune as a Company diractor 

 — holding this position on the Attapadi Tea 

 and Rubber, and Batu Tiga (Selangor), Im- 

 perial Ethiopian, Kepitigalla and Shelford 

 Rubber Companies. The Abyssinian concern, 

 over which ho was able to obtain a fair 

 hearing in the London Tunes, was the most dis- 

 appointing. In one of his latest connections, 

 however, the Jequie Rubber Syndicate, of 

 which the annual report appears in our 

 daily and T.A., he appears to have veritably 

 " struck oil !" We have noticed the boom in 

 these shares on the Stock Exchange; the reason 

 is now evident, if all the statements made are 

 destined to be fulfilled. Mr. Boustead says 

 they depend almost entirely on the statements 

 of Mr. Frank, their manager with many years' 

 experience of the country, and it was only on 

 the general soundness of the concern, of its 

 agents, &c, that Mr. Bosanquet consented to 

 become chairman. The company owns 80,000 

 acres, 540 of them being plantation (planted from 

 from seed of trees giving 22 lb. rubber in one year 

 and containing 325,000 trees, 3 to o years old.) 

 The forests average 300 trees to the acre in 236 

 acres cleared — against 25 per acre in best Af- 

 rican forests. The clearing of these cost under 

 £1 per acr6 ; and, reckoning only 50 lb. rubber 

 per acre, at a profit of Is Gd per lb., they would 

 have £3-15s return on £1 outlay As cost of 

 production is estimated at Is Gd per lb., this 

 means the gross price is estimated at only 3s 

 per lb.— while with additional machinery sent 

 an average not far short of Eastern plantation 

 was hoped for Allowing for all contingencies 

 it was reckoned by the manager that he could 

 plant and bring the land into bearing at £7 

 an acre ! What have Eastern planters to say 

 to that ? 



