558 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



being exhausted. The area is so va^t, the sup- 

 ply of trees so constantly self-rerewing, that 

 it is most improbable that while demand con- 

 tinues and profitable prices are obtained the 

 supply from this region will fall off. The 



KEAI, DANGER TO THE AMAZON INDUSTRY LIES 

 IN THE COMPETITION OF CULTIVATED RUBBER. 



If this can be shortly produced on a large scale, 

 and the demand does notkeep equal pace, prices 

 must fall. 



The Amazon forest on the present lines of 

 Brazilian taxation and expenditure 



CAN ONLY BE WORKED IF THE PRICE OF RUBBER 

 REMAINS HIGH. 



The expenses are so great, the taxes imposed 

 so onerous, that any permanent fall in the 

 price of rubber would mean not alone the 

 cessation of Amazon rubber production, but a 

 very serious financial problem for the whole of 

 Brazil to meet. Rubber cultivation in Ceylon, 

 the Malay Peninsula, and, no doubt, elsewhere, 

 can be profitably carried out, and by annually 

 improving the methods, at a rate of expenditure 

 that would be wholly insufficient to tap the 

 wild forest trees of the Amazon basin. Con- 

 siderations such as these, while they should 

 stimulate rubber production within the British 

 Empire, should not be lost sight of (Mr. 

 Cheetliam points out) by those who may be 

 disposed to invest money in the purchase and 

 exploitation of so called rubber estates on the 

 Amazon. The excessive import duties and the 

 heavy export taxes must never be lost sight of ; 

 for they affect every aspect of commercial, 

 industrial and individual life in Brazil. While 

 it may bo held as unquestionable that Amazon 

 rubber is a wild product obtained by the least 

 expenditure of labour necessary to its crude 

 production, and with no resort to cultivation, 

 there is a growing export from other parts of 

 Brazil of inferior kinds of rubber which may 

 in the near future attain large proportions. 

 This rubber, moreover, is to some extent the 

 product of cultivation. 



THE FOUR VARIETIES OF AMAZON, OR WILD, RUBBER 



are known by the trade designations of Seringa 

 fina, Seringa entre-fina, Seringa Sernamby, and 

 Seringa Caucho. These, the overwhelming bulk 

 as they are of the more valuable varieties of 

 Brazilian rubber, are all found only in the 

 Amazon regions. In five years the quantity of 

 these inferior kinds of rubber shipped from 

 Brazil has more than doubled, and it is pro- 

 bable that with the largely increased demand 

 and higher prices which have ruled throughout 

 the last six or seven months the export of these 

 lower grades of rubber will show a considerable 

 development in the course of the present year. 



The improvement in price that began to affect 

 the rubber trade in the closing months of 1908 

 has continued its upward tendency, as Mr 

 Cheetham mentions, during the first months of 

 1909, and the returns for the first four months of 

 the present year show a very marked gain in 

 price and also an increa se of bulk shipped. From 

 January to April, 1908, the total shipments of 

 all kinds of Brazilian rubber were as follow : — 



j- January lo April— tons, Mel, £ 



190S ... .. 16,265 4,279,699 



1909 ., 17,579 6,902,243 



These figures will probably show a still more 

 remarkable development in favour of the current 

 year on the completed six months up to June 30, 

 1909, the quantity shipped in May having 

 amounted to 2,698 tons, according to a mode- 

 rate local estimate. The figures for June were : 



Met. tons. £ 



1908 .. .. 3,297 843,438 



1909 .. .. 3,883 1,550,070 



Compared with coffee, the principle article of 

 Brazilian export trade, rubber now comes in a 

 fairly close second. For the few months Jan. 

 to April, 1908, coffee was exported to the value 

 of £8,413,763. It is possible that on the first 

 half-year's trade rubber may present an export 

 value equal to that of the leading article of Bra- 

 zilian external commerce and the returns for the 

 whole year 1909, if the present high prices should 

 continue, may even put rubber in the first place 

 of all Brazilian exports. 



In the year 1908 the export of rubber from the 

 Amazon Valley diminished, but this was due to 

 fall in prices during that year, and not to fall in 

 bulk.— H. and C. Mail, Oct. 15. 



A RUBBER SHRUB IN CHILE. 



The United States consul at Valparaiso reports 

 concerning the Euphorbia lactiflua, a rubber 

 shrub discovered by the botanical section of the 

 national museum of Chile : 



" A very good quality of rubber can, it ifi 

 claimed, be easily made from this shrub, which 

 is found on the mountains and table lands of that 

 portion of the interior of Chile extending from 

 Taltal south to Caldera, a distance of about 75 

 miles. It is said to be of no other use than for 

 rubber and wood pulp. It is claimed that ex- 

 tracting the sap just does not injure the plant, 

 dustry if attention be given to its cultivation. 

 It is badly scattered and in many cases difficult 

 of access, but it is claimed that it could easily 

 be cultivated. A company has been organised 

 to develop the industry, and is seeking a con- 

 cession/' — India Rubber World, Oct. 1. 



GUAYULE RUBBER. 



And the U. S. A. $30,000,000 Combine. 



Reuter's telogram, published in our issue 

 of Saturday last, reporting the amalgamation 

 of two great American Rubber Companies — 

 the Continental anil the Inter-Continental — is 

 interesting. Mr. William H. Stayton, the Pre- 

 sident of the Continental Ruhber Company 

 (which has a capital of §30,000,000), resigned re- 

 cently, after being with the Company for a long 

 time, as he is organising a new Rubber Com- 

 pany in Texas to take over certain very large 

 concessions of guayule rubber lands in various 

 countries of Texas. Mr. Stayton has declined 

 to make public any statement beyond the fact 

 that his new concern will be known as 



THE BIG BEND RUBBER COMPANY ; 



but the severance of his connection with the Con- 

 tinental and the knowledge of his future plans 

 have revived interest in guayule rubber, the out- 

 put of which is expected to be largely increased 

 as a consequence of the above gentleman's 



