Gums, Resins, 



292 



[APRIL, 1910. 



Let us glance at the possible future 

 supplies of wild rubber. Tropical Africa 

 in recent years has supplied a consider- 

 able quantity of low-grade rubber, 

 largely owing to the drastic measures 

 ruling iu the Congo State. The supplies 

 from this source appear to be on the 

 decliue. The ruthless destruction of the 

 Landolphia vines will preveut these 

 plants from furnishing much rubber for 

 some years to come. " Red " rubber ere 

 long will be a horror of the past, and the 

 incoming of the plantation variety 

 will hasten its extinction. The exploit- 

 ing of fresh areas of Funtumia, and 

 possibly of Landolphia, may make up 

 temporarily to some extent, but the 

 amount of African wild rubber is not 

 likely to increase but rather to diminish, 

 The only source of real importance is 

 the Amazon region. Statements have 

 been made to the effect that the supply 

 there is well-nigh inexhaustible. Doubt- 

 less untapped areas exist, and, further 

 the Hevea tree quickly regenerates 

 itself naturally from seed. Yet under 

 existing circumstances the output from 

 the Amazons does not seem capable of 

 much expansion. The Brazilian Govern- 

 ment, however, appears at last to be 

 arousing itself, now that it sees a 

 formidable rival iu the plantation rubber 

 of the East. A Congress is shortly to 

 be held at Manaos, the great rubber 

 port of the Upper Amazon, to debate 

 such questions as the extent of rubbei 

 lands in unexploited Brazilian territory, 

 and whether cultivation offers the best 

 means of maintaining the preponder- 

 ance of Amazon rubber iu the markets. 

 But Ceylon and Malaya have several 

 years ' start in the way of cultivation. 

 Caoutchouc cau there be turned out at 

 the cost of only Is. to Is. 6d. per lb,, 

 whereas it is calculated that a pound of 

 wild Para rubber costs 2s. 0d. to collect, 

 a sum more likely to increase than 

 decrease when less accessible regions are 

 approached. The lot of the native 

 rubber-collector is not an enviable one. 

 Unless he can exchange his hard-gotten 

 commodity to some considerable advant- 

 age to himself, he is not likely to be 

 induced to exploit less inviting districts. 

 Further, the supply of labour itself for 

 the industry is by no means large. 

 Still there is little doubt that Brazil 

 could considerably increase its pro= 

 duction by opening up its remoter 

 rubber lands, by granting increased 

 facilities to the collectors, and by 

 reducing the tax on this export, which 

 is one of the main productions of 

 the country at the present time. This 

 policy would undoubtedly pay with 

 price of rubber at anything like the 

 present figure. But as far as one can 



foresee, the more distant future ofBrazi 

 as a great rubber-producer must lie 

 largely in its adoption of cultivation. 



At present plantation rubber forms a 

 mere fraction of the world's supply- 

 perhaps 5 per cent. Since 1905, when 

 about 2°0 tons, of it were exported from 

 the East, the output has doubled year 

 by year. If this continues the yield in 

 four years' time will be equal to 

 the total annual output of wild rubber 

 at the present time, viz., 70,000 tons- 

 Such a quick rate of increase may not 

 be maintained. Half a million acres, 

 however, will be in bearing in 1914, and, 

 even allowing only a crop of 100 lb. per 

 acre, a low estimate, this would mean an 

 output of 22,000 tons— a considerable 

 part of the world's present supply. 

 In ten years' time the amount of 

 plantation rubber, on a conservative 

 basis, can hardly be less than 100,000 

 tons per annum. At this period prob- 

 ably supply may begin to overtake de- 

 maud, with an inevitable drop in prices. 

 Rubber might then descend to 3s. per 

 lb., a price, judging from present 

 conditions, quite remunerative to the 

 planters, but not to the collectors of the 

 wild product. Thus it seems that the 

 world's supply sooner or later will be 

 derived from plantation sources. The 

 possibility of a synthetic commercial 

 caoutchouc appears as far off as ever, 

 and no adequate substitute seems forth- 

 coming, Rubber, then, like the majority 

 of economic plant-products, will in all 

 probability in the near future be ob- 

 tained largely, if not solely, from culti- 

 vated sources. The study, therefore, of 

 the cultivation of rubber trees is of 

 great importance. The methods in use 

 at present for extracting the latex and 

 preparing the rubber therefrom, though 

 fairly satisfactory, cannot be regarded 

 as final. Everything connected with 

 this novel form of cultivation is still in 

 the experimental stage, requiring not 

 only the close attention of the practical 

 agriculturist, but also the services of the 

 botanist, chemist, and physicist, and 

 especially of that much-needed but 

 rare expert, the biochemist. 



It is the purpose of this article to de- 

 scribe briefly the methods employed on 

 the estates, and to dwell somewhat on 

 the problems connected with them, 

 hopiug thereby to arouse a general 

 scientific interest in the subject. Before 

 doing so, a short account of the history 

 of rubber cultivation may not be out 

 of place. 



Historical. 

 Although the modern industry of rub- 

 ber-planting may be considered to date 

 back only some ten or eleven years, yet 



