010 



The Supplement to the Tropical A grivullurist 



year usually pass before final title is received, 

 and this is only in the form of a lease for 10 

 years, with the privilege of renewing at the 

 expiration of that time, as the lands are not 

 sold outright. No fixed cost can be given for 

 such procedure, because it differs according 

 to the difficulty of access to the tract for the 

 surveyor, the bargain made by the petitioner 

 with different parties employed, etc. 



The title for 10 years having been secured, 

 the petitioner may use the land as if it were 

 his own, and his first movement ia usually to 

 placemen at work locating rubber trees. One 

 man will open up what is called an "estrada'' 

 consisting usually of as many rubber trees as can 

 be visited and worked by a rubber gatherer in 

 one day, the number of trees differing as the 

 district may be thickly or thinly studded with 

 such trees, the rapidity with which the rubber 

 gatherer may work, etc. For instance, near 

 Iquitios, many "estradas'' contain but 75 to SO 

 trees, in the Javary river district the average is 

 150, whileinthe Acre districtlit issaid that some 

 estradas contain as many as 400 trees. 



For locating an "estrada" and clearing a path 

 from tree to tree the workmen receive from £5 

 to £7 10s. When this preparation has been 

 completed all is in readiness for the work of rub- 

 ber gathering which goes on during the dry sea- 

 son from July to January the trees being 



TAPPED IN A I'KESH SPOT EVERY OTHEK DAY 



during that time. Work cannot be carried on dur- 

 ing the entire year for several reasons: (1) By 

 such constant tapping the tree would be worked 

 to death in a short time ; (2) during the rainy 

 season a great portion of the land is absolutely 

 impassable, because of inundation; (3) the 

 rain water flowing into the cups and becoming 

 mixed with the liquid renders it unfit for market. 



The rubber worker in the more thickly 

 settled districts is usually a poor labourer who 

 buys his supplies or provisions, consisting 

 chiefly of rice and beans, from his "padrone,'' the 

 owner or renter of the "estrada,'' whom he must 

 pay in rubber, at prices prevailing at the time 

 of delivery. Charges for provisions are usually 

 extremely high, and at the end of the season 

 the labourer, though he may have delivered 

 a large amount of rubber, is rarely out of debt 

 to his "padrone." 



In a tract recently visited by the Consul there 

 were 24 "estradas" worked every alternate day 

 during the season by 12 rubber gatherers. Mr 

 Eberhardt accompanied one of the men in his 

 work and performed all the duties of the 

 position, tapping the trees, placing'the tichuelas, 

 gathering the latex, ' and finally smoking the 

 same over a half-smothered fire. 



A start was made at 5 a.m., and the work of 

 tapping the trees and placing the cups (each 

 with a capacity of half a-pint) was performed. 



The smallest trees, about six inches in dia- 

 meter (6 in. + 3 l-7th = nearly 19 inches in 

 girth), carried two of these cups, and the 

 largest visited in the day, about 2ft. in diame- 

 ter, carried nine. The average was four or five 

 cups on trees 15 to 18 inches in diameter. 

 During much of the time spent going round 

 the "estrada" the Consul and his companion 

 waded through the standing water of the 



SWAMPS 



almost to their waists, and it was ten o : clock 

 before they had visited all the 150 trees. 



When an entire round of the "estrada" had 

 been made it was time to commence gathering 

 the latex. The trees were again visited and the 

 cups emptied into a can of about -2\ gallons 

 capacity, which was carried round. Many of 

 the cups contained less than a tablespoonful of 

 liquid; the day's work produced abouttwo gallons. 



On returning to the hut in the afternoon this 

 liquid was smoked in the usual way over a half- 

 smothered fire till it formed into a hard white 

 substance which later turned b'ack of approxi- 

 mately two kilos, weight (4^ lb.). This is the 

 rubber known locally as "jebefino." A 



NEW SERIES OF WOUNDS IS COMMENCED EVliRY 

 MONTH 



at a point as high as the workman can 

 conveniently reach, each subsequent wound 

 being made a little below and in the same vein, 

 till the bottom of the tree is reached at the end 

 of the month. When a tree has been over- 

 worked and the milk does not flow freely, a 

 scaffolding is constructed about the tree, which 

 the worker mounts and inflicts the wounds 

 farther up along the trunk. This practice, how- 

 ever, is very injurious to the tree, if not abso- 

 lutely fatal in the end, and was forbidden on the 

 tracts visited by the Consul. 



The foregoing are the methods ordinarily em- 

 ployed in working the "jebe fino," best grade 

 of rubber, and "jobe debil," second grade. 



To collect "caucho," Mr Eberhardt says the 

 tree itself is cut down, so that regions where 

 it could once be collected in abundance are now 

 entirely denuded of such trees except for the 

 young ones growing up. He is of the opinion 

 that natural recuperation cannot keep pace 

 wivh the present rate of destruction. With re- 

 gard to trees producing "jebe fiuo" and "jebe 

 dobil,'' he says that in spite of the assertions 

 freely made by rubber gatherers that there is no 

 cause for alarm at the increasing number of 

 trees dying in proportion to the number of new 

 ones springing up, and the further admitted fact 

 that many of the trees which have been worked 

 for twenty and thirty years are still productive, 

 there is no denying the fact that, in Peru at 

 least, the number of rubber-producing trees is 

 steadily growing less. Systematic planting and 

 cultivation would be of inestimable benefit to 

 the country and the individual.— India Rubber 

 Joicrnai, May 4. 



F5VE SEEDED HEVEA FRUIT. 



Mr. Lowther Kemp sends two samples of five- 

 seeded fruit o£ Heuea brazi nsis from the Sioni 

 Rubber estate forwarded by Mr. E A B Brown, 

 the manager. Normally as is well-known the 

 Euphorbiacaue have three-seeded capsules, 

 whence at one time they were known as Tricocci, 

 but occasionally we get abnormalities of this 

 kind. We have met with fruit of Hovea with 

 two, four and five seeds. Some trees are very 

 irregular in this iratter, and one tree in the 

 Singapore Botanic Gardens produced quite a 

 large proportion of four and five seeded 

 capsules on several occasions. — H. N. R.— 

 Straits Agricultural Bulletin for May, 



