506 



[[December, 1908. 



GUMS, RESINS, SAPS AND EXUDATIONS. 



THE COLLECTION OP PARA 

 RUBBER ON THE AMAZON, AND 

 ITS FUTURE, 



(By D. Sandmann, in Der Tropenflan- 

 zer, September, 1908.) 



Abstracted by J. C. Willis. 



(Continued from page Ji.ll.) 



The smoking usually takes the serin- 

 guero 1-2 hours, so that his day's work 

 is 6-7 hours. 



The patrao, or possessor of a seringa], 

 supplies his labourers with all that they 

 require, and a store is kept on the 

 place, in which the goods are sold at 

 cost price, plus a commission of 10-25% 

 and heavy freight charges. The serin- 

 guero has to buy all that he wants, in- 

 cluding tools, collecting tins, &c-, from 

 the patrao. Figures are given showing 

 that the tools, &c, average 300 milreis 

 (£30, most of the advauce), while he will 

 consume (on the Solimoes river, say) 

 about 1,200 milreis worth of provisions 

 in his 6-7 months work. The food also 

 is of poor quality, and often damaged 

 by the climatic conditions, being full of 

 grubs. 



In payment for the food the seringuero 

 gives rubber. The conditions on which 

 this is furnished differ, but in general 



(1) the rubber is bought by the patrao 

 at about one-third below market price 

 in Manaos, or 



(2) the rubber is sold, and the pro- 

 ceeds, less 35 kilos, per estrada, given to 

 the seringuero, or 



(3) the rubber is sold and 85-90% given 

 to the seringuero. 



On the lower Amazon, especially on 

 the islands, each seringuero hires two 

 estradas with about 8 acres of land on 

 which he plants and hunts, and a water- 

 surface for fishing, and pays about 30 

 milreis a month. The return per estrada 

 is about 320 kilos borracha fina and 15 

 kilos sernamby, and the rubber is 

 generally sold to the patrao. 



The average return of the work of a 

 seringuero is 350 kilos borracha fina and 

 50 kilos sernamby, but it varies from 

 100 to 1,000 kilos (1 kilo = 2i lbs.). As a 

 normal estrada one may take one with 

 120 trees of 35 cm. (13| inches) in diameter. 

 On the average 5 litres of milk are 

 obtained daily, or 42 grams a tree. In 

 146 days about 700 litres of milk are 

 obtained, yieiding 400 kilos of rubber. 

 This is rather less than would be obtain- 



ed on an estate in Ceylon with trees of 

 the same size, and the treatment on the 

 estate is more rational. 



The rubber as it accumulates is shipped 

 down river by the patrao, and sold in 

 Manaos or Para. It loses weight as it 

 travels, it is divided into three chief 

 grades : borracha fina, interfina, and 

 sernamby, to which is sometimes added 

 borracha fraca for the more brittle 

 rubber obtained from other species of 

 Hevea. 



The testing is troublesome. Two men 

 put hooks into the central hole and 

 draw the rubber apart, and it is divided 

 with a sharp knife. If uniform and 

 elastic, it is fina, but if there are bad 

 spots, interfina, which sells at 200-800 

 reis a kilo less, while sernamby (scrap) 

 sells at 1,700-2,200 reis less. The difference 

 in price is greater in Brazil than in 

 Europe or America, and on this the 

 merchant makes his profit. 



The rubber is packed for export in 

 chests of about 3 cwt. 



Prospects of the Cultivated Rubber. 



After a discussion of the area under 

 rubber in the tropics, Herr Sandmann 

 goes on to deal with the Ceylon figures, 

 and takes the area at certain dates, 

 with the export six years later, arriving 

 at the following figures of yield for the 

 bearing trees :— 



1903 ... ... 0-321 lb. 



1904 ... ... 0-515 



1905 ... ... 0-843 



1906 ... ... 1-165 



1907 ... ... 1-77 



and he calculates that a ten -year-old 

 tree, at 200 to the acre, will yield 3 lbs. 

 At this rate rubber is already over- 

 planted, for there are now perhaps 

 550,000 acres in it, which at even 3 cwt. 

 to the acre, means 80,000 tons, against a 

 present consumption of 68,000 tons, half 

 of which is from Brazil. 



Calculating on the annual rise of the 

 consumption, he reckons that serious 

 overproduction will begin in 1913. 



Many people claim that rubber pro- 

 duction on the Amazon will cease as the 

 price falls, but against this many set 

 the fact that it increased with the low 

 prices of 1900-01, for then the food 

 materials of the workers, instead of 

 being carried up river, were planted on 

 the spot, while the seringueros worked 

 harder to get enough rubber to make up 

 for the fall in prices. 



