and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



489 



are ready for tapping in from five to seven years. 

 Some of the largest trees are reported to be from 

 five to six feet in circumference. In the experi- 

 mental nurseries, started some time ago, 60 per 

 cent of the seed germinated and produced 

 healthy plants. Experiments made as to the 

 yield of rubber from the plants give an average 

 of about one half pound of gum from the first 

 tapping. Subsequent tappings give better results 

 and large trees have yielded ovor four pounds of 

 rubber. There are immense numbers of the 

 manga ice in a wild state, but their growth i s 

 widely scattered, and makes the cost of produc- 

 tion rather expensive more especially as labour in 

 Paraguay is scarce, It has been estimated that 300 

 trees may be planted to each hectare (2/.- acres) 

 and that upon reaching maturity the trees may be 

 tapped every three years. This latter is a 

 somewhat undetermined point, as some claim 

 that the tree may be tapped with safety 

 every year. The quality of rubber derived 

 from the manga ice is not of the best, but 

 this may be due in a measure to the rather 

 crude manner in which the sap is coagulated, 

 and the lack of capital to carefully handle 

 and prepare the product. Coagulation is now 

 effected by placing the sap— a white liquid 

 of about the consistency of cream— in water 

 to which a small quantity of alum has been 

 added. The second class of rubber-produc- 

 ing trees of Paraguay is the Manihot glazi- 

 ouii of the mandioca specie3. This tree, it 

 is said, is also found in Brazil, and is also 

 reported as being cultivated successfully in 

 Ceylon and in the Congo Free State. It is 

 a troo of rapid growth, and in Paraguay is 

 found in the Chaco or western portion of the 

 country, where its growth is not confined to 

 any particular soil, as it is found in swampy 

 land, as well as in the semi-arid sections 

 of the northern Chaco. Little is actually 

 known in Ascuncion of the value of the pro- 

 duct of the " manihot,' as nurseries set out 

 some time ago were abandoned on account 

 of lack of capital, but the rubber of this 

 tree is said to be much superior in quality 

 to that of the manga ice. The sap — also 

 white— coagulates upon exposure to the air, 

 and the trees are said to grow to a height of 

 about forty feet, and first tappings from 

 young trees yield about one half-pound of 

 rubber. The production increases yearly un- 

 til a maximum yield of from ten to twelve 

 pounds is secured. The Manihot glarsiovii is 

 reported to be the most valuable of the rub- 

 ber-producing troes of Paraguay. The dif- 



ferent trees mentioned may be grown or 

 cultivated successfully in the same planta- 

 tion, although the young shoots of the 

 " manihot " must be fenced to protect them 

 from animals who are fond of the tender 

 shoots. The last group of rubber-producing 

 plants found in Paraguay, the "lianas' or 

 vines are reported to yield a considerable 

 quantity of sap, and from the majority of 

 these plants the gum may be extracted by 

 the use of machinery, probably a process 

 similar to that of treating the " guayule " 

 shrub of Mexico. — Society of Arts Journal, 

 March 27. 



THE BRAZILIAN RUBBER BNDSJSTRY. 



Opinions of Me. R. W. Wickham. 

 Mr R W Wickham, the well-known authority 

 on Brazilian rubber, who was in Colombo 

 last month was still of the opinion he expressed 

 previously that it will not pay the producer in 

 Brazil to collect and expert rubber at ]s6d. 

 Labour in Brazil is becoming more and more 

 expensive. The chief source of supply is Ceara. 

 The men go under heavy advances and with 

 goods provided them sufficient to last eight 

 months. There is also plenty of demand for 

 labour elsewhere. The only means of transport 

 is the rivers ; the climate along the banks is very 

 unhealthy and the heat is much worse than in 

 Ceylon. The total force employed in collecting 

 rubber is at ■ the outside 150,000 people— all 

 Indians from Ceara dressed in trousers and vest 

 although even these are considered an unneces- 

 sary encumbrance when they go out tapping. 

 Each man— if he is a good worker —will collect a 

 thousand lbs. in the seven or eight months that 

 he is there and when Mr Wickham was there he re- 

 ceived from 4s to 4s 6d per lb for it. He is credited 

 with the full value of the rubber and then he is 

 charged 200 or 300 per cent profit on the goods 

 sent up to him. That is how the profit of the 

 " proprietor " is made. Rubber hardly appears 

 in these people's accounts. It is all goods trade. 

 When the rubber that has been collected during 

 this period of low-prices comes down it can only 

 be credited to the tappers at the existing price, 

 whereas it was practically paid for months ago 

 at the then scale of prices. As it takes about 

 eighteen months or two years before the rub- 

 ber arrives, the low-prices that have prevailed 

 have not yet had any effect on the collecting 

 of rubber, as the tappers went out before the fall 

 in prices. But the effect on the people at 

 Manaos has been serious. One big firm has 

 been exporting about 10,000 tons of rubber 



