Feb. 1908.] 



105 



aps and Exudations. 



obtained can better be judged by the 

 price realized for the product of the 

 various processes, which varies from 

 25 to 50 cents gold per pound on the 

 New York market. There is still con- 

 siderable difficulty in removing certain 

 foreign substances and producing a pure 

 rubber free from resin. However, a 

 better finished product is gradually being 

 produced, and 1 am informed that a 

 sample lot of such excellent quality has 

 been extracted bv a new process still in 

 the experimental stage, and not yet 

 patented, that it fetched $1 gold 

 per lb. 



Numerous companies for the extraction 

 of the gum from the Guayule plant have 

 been formed, and mauy of them are so 

 flourishing that big Corporations are 

 active in securing control of the product. 

 Factories have sprung up all over the 

 North of Mexico, and already represent 

 an outlay of many millions of dollars in 

 buildings and machinery alone. The 

 Continental Rubber Co., of America, has 

 large holdings of Guayule lands in 

 Mexico. It is estimated that it has 

 $9,000,000 Mexican invested in Guayule 

 lands and factories in the country, and 

 the output from its three factories at 

 Torreon, Ocampo, and Saltillo i» said to 

 be in the neighbour of 500,000 pounds per 

 month. In addition to this there are, I 

 am informed, twelve other large firms 

 engaged in the trade, not to mention 

 smaller factories. There are various pro- 

 cesses of extracting the gum already 

 pateuted, the best known being the 

 Pablo Bergner, the Garza, the Delafond, 

 the Lawi ence, and the Hunieke pro- 

 cesses, but none of them seem to be 

 satisfactory so far. As I before said, 

 the shrub is known to contain as much 

 as 18 per cent, of rubber, but none of the 

 present processes seem to furnish better 

 results than 10 or 12 per cent., i.e., a ton 

 of the plant produces about 240 pounds 

 of rubber. The cost of extraction is said 

 to be about 10 cents Mexican a pound, 

 and the price of a ton of the plant has 

 never yet exceeded $100 Mexican, aud 

 is generally less. Then theie is the cost 

 of freight to the factory, which is in 

 pome cases very heavy, and certain other 

 incidental expeuses to be deducted. The 

 price of Guayule rubber in New York 

 has been as high as 75 cents gold, and in 

 the summer went as low as 25 cents 

 gold, owing to the action of the Con- 

 tinental Rubber Co. of America, but it 

 has now attained again to 45 cents gold, 

 so that even at the lowest price there is 

 a handsome profit to be reaped in 

 Guayule. The actual cultivation of the 

 Guayule plant is still a problem, but it 

 will be some time before the existing 

 supply of Guayule is exhausted from the 

 prairies of Northern Mexico, where it 



grows in such abundance. I have, in 

 fact, seen it stated that the value of the 

 Guayule lands in Mexico is not less than 

 $30,000,000 Mexican, and tbat the Guayule 

 lands of one man, Salvador Madero, in 

 the State of Coahuila are worth over 

 $40,000,000 Mexican. These valuations 

 may be, and probably are, exaggerated, 

 due to the mad speculation that has 

 been taking place in Guayule, and which 

 sent up the price per ton from $15 to 

 $100 Mexican. That these prices will 

 continue appears improbable, but in the 

 opinion of those best qualified to judge, 

 the Guayule industry in Mexico will 

 have a great future if the landowners 

 are sensible and do not a-k exorbitant 

 prices, and, above all, if they discover 

 the secret of the planting and cultiva- 

 tion of the shrub. At present no one 

 knows exactly how long it will take to 

 raise Guayule shrubs, though the Depart- 

 ment of Fomento is actively persuing 

 experiments to discover the best method 

 of cultivating them. The price of 

 Guayule actually depends on the price of 

 rubber, and if there were no other con- 

 siderations to be taken into account but 

 the world's demand for lubber, the 

 future of the Guayule interests would be 

 assured. The rubber market, however, 

 is controlled by the great American 

 Companies, the Consolidated Rubber 

 Company, and the United States Rubber 

 Company. The former Company, which 

 was organised last January, is supposed 

 to control the stock of various subsi- 

 diary Companies interested in Guayule. 

 Experiments are being conducted with 

 the Guayule plant with a view to utiliz- 

 ing as fuel the refuse left over after the 

 rubber has been extracted. If these 

 experiments are successful, there will be 

 a considerable reduction in the cost of 

 manufacture. The northern part of 

 Mexico is not the only country where 

 Guayule grows. There are millions of 

 acres in Texas covered with the shrub, 

 which has lately also been discovered in 

 the Philippines. 



Extreme caution is necessary in deal- 

 ing with this subject, as the supplanting 

 of the usual rubber of commerce of the 

 gum of various herbs, vines, &c, has 

 often led to rather wild speculations, 

 not borne out by later practical results. 

 In the foreign office report referred to 

 by Mr. Max Muller, it is stated under 

 the heading of "Export Duties," that 

 "the total increase of about £7,000 under 

 this heading is almost entirely due to 

 the duty which, in the present Budget 

 Bill, is for the first time to be imposed 

 on Guayule, a form of Cactus extract 

 which is now used aud exported in con- 

 siderable quantities for mixing with 

 rubber." 



