and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



508 



I hope that we shall see many other sides to 

 this all important question freely discussed in 

 your columns in the immediate futnre. — 1 am, 

 Yours, etc., 



Hevea. 



— Straits Times, April 7. 



AN INTERESTING RUBBER-LIKE 

 SUBSTANCE. 



By H. C. L. 

 Some days ago I took the opportunity of 

 examining a new substance which bids fair to 

 make a name for itself as a substitute for air 

 in the inner tubes of motor tyres. The name 

 by which this material is kuown is "Resileon," 

 than which it would have been difficult to find 

 a more descriptive title. An extended run with 

 Mr George Neill, who is carrying out the ex- 

 periments on a car the tyres of which are tilled 

 with this compound, served to confirm the 

 excellent impression made on my mind by a 

 careful examination of the raw material. Re- 

 sileon, a soft, rubber-like substance, produced 

 by boiling down the sinewy portions of animals, 

 has the advantage over some other tyre fillings 

 of being quite impervious to extremes either 

 of heat or cold. As regards its behaviour when 

 subjected to heat, 1 made the experiment of 

 putting a piece of Resileon into the heart of a 

 bright fire, and was more than surprised to find, 

 on extracting it, that the surface alone was 

 slightly charred, and thac there was not the 

 least symptom of liquefaction. After such a 

 test it is quite certain that no heat generated 

 in a tyre on the road would change the char- 

 acter of the filling, so that thare could be no 

 " flatting " of the tread when the car was at rest 

 after a long run. 



I looked closely at the car on which the trial 

 run took place, and noted that the springs 

 were by no means well adapted to absorb road 

 shocks without assistance from some elastic 

 medium on the rim. For this reason I antici- 

 pated a somewhat bumpy journey over the 

 villainous roads 1 had selected for the test. I 

 was, however, agreeably surprised by the smooth 

 running of the car, there being no more vibra- 

 tion than would have been experienced had the 

 tubes been pumped with air to 80 lb. pressure. 

 Especially was absence of shock noticeable 

 where the surface of the road was pitted with 

 large hole3, for at such spots the rebound of the 

 springs was less pronounced than it usually is 

 with air-filled tubes. On the score of economy 

 in covers, Resileon seems as if it would be a 

 boon. The covers on the trial car— a heavy 

 machine— had all run over 6,000 miles, and 

 showed extraordinarily slight signs of wear, 

 scarcely a stud being missing froai the leather 

 treadsofthe back wheels. Unless I am much 

 mistaken, Resileon will become extremely 

 popular. —Globe, March 31. 



THE COST OF AMAZON RUBBER. 



No question in connection with crude rubber 

 is of more commanding interest today than the 

 probable effect of a large production from plan- 

 tations upon ultimate prices of staple rubber 



grades. Five years ago such a question would 

 not have had respectful attention outside the 

 then narrow circle of rubber planters. The 

 rapid increase in the output of rubber planta- 

 tions of late, however, has made a marked im- 

 pression even in Stock Exchange circles in 

 London, in which city the leading financial 

 journals give relatively as much attention to 

 rubber as to railway or mining interests. 



It may be said, of course, that rubber plant- 

 ing commands so much attention because it is 

 the newest marked success with which investing 

 interests have been concerned. But it has been 

 proved that rubber can be produced under cul- 

 tivation with as much certainty as wheat or 

 cotton, and the fact that the forest product in 

 recent years has been sold to factories at as 

 much as 3,000 dol. per ton, while steel has been 

 produced at not above 3.30 dol. for the same 

 weight, has rendered most alluring the possi- 

 bility of cheapening the cost of production of 

 rubber without wholly upsetting the long main- 

 tained price levels. In fact, it has been pos- 

 sible to draw a most spectacular picture of the 

 near future of rubber planting profits. 



But just as a thousand or so tons of cultivated 

 rubber began to be produced, along with, say, 

 70,000 tons a year of the forest product, an un- 

 exampled drop in prices occurred, and investors 

 in plantations naturally have been disturbed. 

 The exact cause of the drop remains yet to be 

 understood ; up to date nobody seems to be able 

 fully to understand what sent rubber up or 

 down, or " where prices are made." At every 

 meeting of a planters' association in Ceylon it is 

 gravely stated that the lower prices today are 

 due to something having happened in America. 



But that is because the planters in Ceylon are 

 British. Ten years ago, or five years ago, 

 whenever crude rubber prices went up, London 

 and Liverpool dealers told their customers it 

 was because something had happened " in Ame- 

 rica. " But all the while every American who 

 cared a snap of his fingers about the situation 

 blamed everything upon England or some other 

 country, and at this moment the same thing is 

 true— in every market it is said that rubber has 

 gone up or down because of conditions some- 

 where else. And there you are. 



The United States has not ceased to buy 

 rubber. Look at these figures, showing the 

 government statement of the quantity ana value 

 of rubber — total and average per pound 

 — imported into the United States during 

 ten calendar years past : — 



Year. 



Pounds. 



Value. 



Per Pound 



1898 



44,236,070 



$25,937,108 



56 cents 



1899 



54,408,495 



34,219,019 



63 



)5 



1900 



49,337,183 



28,577,789 



58 



1» 



1901 



55,152,810 



28,120,218 



51 



1 1 



1902 



50,851,257 



25,158,591 



49 



1 J 



1903 



55,744,120 



35,152,642 



63 





1904 



61,889,758 

 64,147,701 



43,734,297 



71 



1) 



1905 



48,517,906 



76 



)) 



1906 



67,907,251 



53,391,137 



79 





1907 



68,625,647 



49,797,437 



73 



M 



New York is not, like some other rubber 

 markets, an international clearing house for 

 rubber ; for the most part whatever supplies 



