Gums, Resins, 



108 



[August, 1908. 



PS The visible supply on hand on June 

 30th, 1905, of 8,869 metric tons was re- 

 duced to 5,352 metric tons by June 30th, 

 1906, though the production of the latter 

 year was 14,651 metric tons greater than 

 that of the former year. 



Comparing the first and the last two 

 years, this table shows an increase of 

 28 - 3 per cent- in both production and 

 consumption. 



Last year's output is valued at about 

 300,000,000 dollars Mex., and of this 

 amount tropical America yielded about 

 63 per cent., tropical Africa 34 per cent., 

 and Asia 3 per cent., of which Ceylon 

 plantation rubber to the amount of 150 

 tons. Mexico's total export of rubber 

 during the same period was valued at 

 83,342,000 or 3 per cent, of the world's 

 total output. 



In 1906, the United States imported from 

 Mexico 16,993 bales rubber, of which 

 about 5,000 represented Castilloa. During 

 the first seven months of the fiscal year 

 1906-7 the value of rubber exported was 

 $2,761,873,00 U. S. currency, including 

 Guayule. The total value of rubber 

 exported in 1906 was $1,671,000 Cold. 



Although Mexico as a rubber-produc- 

 ing country does not yet rank very high, 

 Mexico was the original country where 

 rubber was found by Europeans. The 

 oldest data about rubber come from 

 Mexico. The earliest historical reference 

 to rubber was made in 1525, when an 

 Italian writer speaking of the customs 

 of the Mexican Indians mentions the 

 rubber balls used by them in certain 

 games. 



While thus rubber was first discoverd 

 in Mexico, the first rubber planting in the 

 world was also made in Mexico, not in 

 Ceylon as is often claimed. The person 

 who first took up the question of plant- 

 ing rubber for commercial purposes was 

 the Mexican statesman, Sr. Matias 

 Romero, a close friend and relative of 

 our present President. When he wrote 

 his paper on rubber culture in the year 

 1872 there were already several rubber 

 plantations in existence in this Republic. 

 From inquiries in the region where 

 Romero started his own rubber plantation 

 I have found that rubber was planted as 

 early as 1867 in Mexico by Don Jose 

 Maria Chacon at Zanjon Seco, in the 

 district of Soconusco in Chiapas. During 

 the next year plantations were started 

 in Guatemala, and later on in Nicaragua 

 and Honduras. These plantations were 

 small, but even as regards size they were 

 much larger than the first plantations 

 begun in Ceylon or India. 



Less than ten years ago American 

 capital was attracted towards rubber 



planting in Mexico. As a result of thi s 

 movement we have to-day approximately 

 95,000 acres on 118 plantations, entirely 

 or partly devoted to rubber, represent- 

 ing an investment of $60,000,000 Mex. 



From data at hand I would consider 

 the world's area of rubber plantations to 

 be 355,500 acres, distributed as follows : — 



Mexico 95,000 



Malay Peninsula 92,000 



Ceylon 85,000 



Africa 30,000 



Central America 14.000 



Java 10,000 



India 8,200 



Brazil 6,00C 



Venezuela 3,400 



Ecuador 3,000 



New Guinea 2.500 



Borneo 2,000 



Colombia 1,800 



West Indies 1,600 



Other countries 1,000 



As seen from these figures Mexico 

 among other countries has still the lead 

 in regard to area under rubber. The 

 statements published regarding the total 

 area of rubber in Ceylon are highly 

 misleading on account of the fact that 

 rubber is being mterplanted between 

 tea and cacao. Thus on many estates 

 there are not more than 75 rubber 

 trees to the acre, but in the esti- 

 mates each acre is stated to be under 

 rubber. In the statistics the same area, 

 thus often appeals both under tea and 

 rubber or under cacao and rubber. One 

 of the latest statements was made by 

 Mr. Wright, until recently an assistant 

 at the Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, who 

 estimated the present area under rubber 

 in that island to 130,000 acres. Messrs. 

 Ferguson of Ceylon recently stated (in 

 August this year) thab the planted 

 acreage of rubber in Ceylon is 150,000 

 acres, of which they claim that 116,000 

 are under rubber alone, and that 52,400 

 acres of tea and caoao are interplanted 

 with rubber. Data collected by myself 

 in Ceylon in the beginning of the piesent 

 year show that, taking 250 trees to the 

 acre, the area planted does not exceed 

 85,501). Another favourite method in the 

 East of making up a large acreage is to 

 count in the area " alienated " for rubber 

 culture. That is to say, if a Company 

 has alienated from the Government 2,000 

 acres for a rubber plantation, but 

 planted only 50 acres, they will speak of 

 their plantation as a 2,000 acres rubber 

 estate. If the same rule was followed in 

 Mexico our acreage would be nearly 

 400,000 acres. We have rubber estates 

 owning as much as 20,000 acres, of which 

 it is intended ultimately to plant 50 per 

 cent. 



