Gums, ilesins, 



198 



[September, 1910. 



Now it is quite evident that there is 

 no living vestige of the primary cortex 

 on the lower six feet of a four-year-old 

 stem. Therefore the planter cannot 

 obtain latex formed in primary growth, 

 unless in tapping he draws upon the 

 whole tree, up to and including the 

 green shoots. Such an idea is quite 

 contrary to the theories of our rubber 

 experts (the length of a cigarette was 

 one estimate of the distance from which 

 latex is drawn) ; and even those of us 

 who maintain that latex is drawn from 

 a considerable distance are not prepared 

 to extend that distance to the top of 

 the tree. That, however, is the only way 

 in which rubber formed in primary 

 growth can be obtained by the usual 

 tapping methods. It has been shown 

 previously that the rubber formed is 

 not all stored in the tree, but that some 

 is cast off with the dead bark : that is 

 the fate of the rubber produced in the 

 primary growth of the cortex of the 

 lower six feet of the stem. 



Prom a botanical standpoint, Parkin's 

 theory is improbable. If it were correct, 

 there should be a progressive decrease 

 in the strength of the rubber as the tree 

 is tapped, for it can hardly be supposed 

 that the primary rubber is drawn upon 

 during the first tappings'. This, how- 

 ever, would not provide a decisive test 

 of the theory. 



DEVELOPMENT OP RUBBER 

 PLANTATION. 



Manager Littleb will go South to 

 Locate Site op Operation— Work 

 will begin Immediately. 



(Prom the Manila Bulletin, Junel, 1910.) 



Development work will be begun in 

 the near future by the Rio Grande Rub- 

 ber Estates Company, of which Mr. 

 Littler is the general manager in the 

 Orient, , 



Mr. Littler expects to make a trip to 

 Mindanao in the near future, as soon as 

 Major George P. Ahern, Director of 

 Forestry, can find time to accompany 

 him to the Cotabato Valley. Mr. Littler 

 also expects the company of General J. J. 

 Pershing, Governor of the Moro province, 

 who is at present in this city, but will 

 leave for Mindanao as soon as his present 

 duties, on court-martial hearing in con- 

 nection with the Ames case, are ended. 



It is the intention of Mr. Littler, with 

 the aid of the chief of the Bureau of 

 Forestry, to pick out a certain portion of 

 government land in the Cotabato Valley 

 on the Rio Grande for a rubber planta- 

 tion, which it is expected the govern- 

 ment will grant a lease or concession for. 

 He will also purchase 2,500 acres under 

 the provisions of the law to adjoin the 

 concession, which will also be planted 

 with rubber trees. 



In the concession asked for the Rio 

 Grande Rubber Estates Company re- 

 quests that it be allowed the right to 

 gather the rubber and gutta-percha that 

 grows wild throughout the valley pend- 

 ing the development of the rubber plants 

 that will be set out. 



As to the granting of the concession 

 Major Ahern said yesterday morning 

 that there was no question but that the 

 Government would grant concessions of 

 the land to any persons or companies 

 that would improve the same, as it was" 

 the desire of the government to have 

 the land settled and cultivated as far as 

 possible. 



Mr. Gibson, who is also in Manila, in- 

 tends to accompany the party to Min- 

 danao to look over the situation there 

 with a view to investing in plantations, 

 and may possibly invest in the rubber 

 industry after he has looked over the 

 land and become acquainted with the 

 situation and the possibilities afforded 

 in Mindanao for rubber cultivation. 



OILS AND FATS. 



CINNAMON BARK OIL. 



(From the Chemist and Druggist, Vol, 

 LXXVI., No. 1587, June 25, 1910.) 

 When an essential oil is valued for 

 the sake of one of its constituent sub- 

 stances its assay follows, naturally, 

 sooner or later, according as the chemical 

 problem be easy or the reverse ; and in 

 course of time the oil itself may come to 

 be replaced for technical and even medi- 



cinal purposes by its chief constituent, 

 which may be derived from the oil or 

 may even be obtained synthetically. 



If the replacement of the oil by the 

 constituent for which it is assayed does 

 not occur to any great extent, then the 

 obvious inference is that the natural oil 

 has a value, which may be an odour value 

 or a medicinal value, by reason of some 

 other constituent or constituents which 

 may even be unknown. In such a case 

 the assay cannot be said to be true, 



