and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— Od., 1910. 373 



of years. That they refused to do, as there 

 were decided difficulties in the way. For ex- 

 ample, wild rubber prepared as is plantation 

 rubber would be sure to appear, and if a com- 

 pany owned both wild and planted rubber the 

 temptation would be to get most of both kinds 

 upon the market without an export duty. 



Nor is the clause placing the export duty of 

 planted rubber at one-half that of wild rubber 

 an attractive proposition. It should have been 

 a definite sum like five or ten cents a pound ; or 

 a definite percentage on the sales value of the 

 rubber, say of five or ten per cent. Another 

 thing, the idea of the planter running an indus- 

 trial school or orphan asylum in connection with 

 a business venture will not appeal to any capi- 

 talist. It is more than likely that these laws 

 will be amended and simplified. Indeed, their 

 very presence is a decided advance, and a strong 

 symptom of the desire of the Government to 

 encourage planting on a large scale. 



I was fortunate enough to know the acting 

 director of the Para Agricultural Experiment 

 Station and get his ideas on planting. He was a 

 young American, was an instructor in botany in 

 an American university, and later at the head 

 of an important section in the United States 

 department of agriculture. More than any other 

 he has studied the problem of rubber planting 

 in the state of Para. I quizzed him very search- 

 ingly, and the following is his statement, almost 

 verbatim, and it is worth serious consideration : 



Although in itself the greatest rubber ship- 

 ping port in the world, the immediate vicinity 

 of the city of Para seems never, except by a 

 few better informed and more far-sighted than 

 others, to have beeu considered seriously as a 

 factor in the production of plantation rubber. 

 Nevertheless, this district possesses advantages 

 and opportunities afforded by none other, and 

 those seeking outlets for a profitable investment 

 would do well to investigate it further. 



The city's proximity to the sea and its natural 

 advantages as a port are so well-known and its 

 advantage in this respect over upriver points, 

 where higher freights would be unavoidable, 

 are so apparent that they may be passed over. 

 Then Para possesses a railroad of 250 kilometers 

 [ = 153 miles] in length, which affords access, 

 ignoring the still much too prevalent belief that 

 Hevea delights in wet and swampy locations, 

 to a tract of well drained and healthful territory, 

 immune to the caprices of annual floods, which 

 is capable of producing a grade of rubber com- 

 parable to any now coming the Amazon valley. 

 This territory was personally inspected by the 

 writer with the express purpose of investigating 

 its suitability for rubber culture. 

 I JThis section, speaking of the more accossible 

 portion south of the river, forms part of the 

 great forest system of the lower Amazon and ox- 

 tends in an unbroken stretch, practically without 

 variation, eastward to the sea and southward to 

 the mountains. The formation is a typical tro- 

 pical rain forest ; the large trees, among which 

 are some veritable giants, stand comparatively 

 far apart and represent almost innumerable 

 specie9 ; the under-growth is somewhat more 

 compact, the small trees are straight and slender, 

 while the whole is interwined with lianas and 

 made practically impenetrable without the help 



of a machete or axe. Extremely hard and durabl 

 woods are plentiful, some defying both the axe 

 and the agencies of decay, but the trees of any 

 one given species are so isolated and difficult to 

 find and reach that remunerative lumbering is 

 out of thequestiou. The small trees and lianas, 

 or cipos, serve many useful purposes in the con- 

 struction of houses, fences and tools. 



In this forest the rubber tree is no exception 

 to the general rule, as it is scattered and found 

 in isolated locations like the other native 

 species. The large size of the specimens found 

 however, even when in competition with other 

 and often times more vigorous denizens of the 

 forest, testifies to its adaptability to its sur- 

 roundings. In some localities it is, of course, 

 more plentiful than in others, as those who 

 remember recent newspaper accounts of dis- 

 coveries made near the borders of Maranhao 

 will know. There are also in the city and along 

 the Braganga railroad, Para rubber trees of a 

 foot or more in diameter, which were planted 

 and are now producing rubber of the finest 

 grade. These are large, strong and productive, 

 even in exhausted soil or when much crowded 

 and neglected. 



Labour does not present any unusual diffi- 

 culties near Para, nor are the forests difficult 

 to remove. Raw labour is available in almost 

 unlimited quantities near the city. It is easy 

 also to import men from southern Europe and 

 the Madeiras, a class which rapidly accustoms 

 itself to the climate, which is not at all uu- 

 healthful, especially in the higher district away 

 from the vicinity of the rivers. 



The native custom of clearing the land of 

 forests is to fell the small trees and ring or kill 

 by fire such of the large trees as have not yet 

 been removed for their valuable timber, and 

 then to set fire to the whole when somewhat dry. 

 This practice destroys the most valuable ele- 

 ments of the soil for the time being, making it 

 useless for more than one or possibly two crops 

 of corn or cassava, but the supply of potash 

 made available by the combustion of the timber 

 serves as a stimulant for plant growth, which 

 can be improved upon later by mulching or by 

 a system of green manuring. 



In what is known as capoeira land— i.e., aban- 

 doned clearings which have been covered by 

 second growth— the cost of clearing is, of course, 

 much less; the humus has been restored to the 

 soil, oftentimes in greater quantities than ever 

 before, and a clearing can be made simply by 

 felling the young growth of trees, which can be 

 left to decay. This does away almost entirely 

 with the extra expense of burning and cleaning 

 up after felling; besides it preserves the humus 

 in the soil and adds an additional amount with 

 a mulch by its own decav. — India Rubber 

 World, Sept, 1. 



THE AMERICAN CAMPHOR TRADE 

 AND THE JAPANESE. 



The New York Oil, Paint and Druty Reporter 

 in its issue of September 5th, devotes consider- 

 able space to the above subject. It first alludes 

 to an article in the New York Herald, which 

 states that Amerioau camphor dealers have 

 long been exasperated by what they consider 



