April, 1909. 



GUMS, RESINS, SAPS AND EXUDATIONS. 



A STORY OF GROWTH. 



At the beginning of a new year in the 

 life of The India Rubber World it 

 always has seemed to us appropriate to 

 engage somewhat in retrospect. The 

 recounting of accomplished progress 

 in any industry is of interest not only 

 in itself, but as indicating lines of 

 possible future development. The nine- 

 te en years which have elapsed since the 

 initial issue of this journal have been 

 fruitful in invention and progress in 

 many ways, and in no other industry, 

 perhaps, more than in rubber and the 

 allied interests. We feel certain that 

 the last word has not been said in the 

 development of rubber interests, and 

 look forward to chronicling every year 

 much more news of importance in this 

 trade. 



To eliminate from the rubber trade 

 to-day all that has been developed in 

 it within the past nineteen years would 

 leave some very wide gaps — nearly 

 everything in the way of vehicle tyres, 

 the greater part of the insulated wire 

 manufacture, air-break hose, hose for 

 pneumatic tool work, the rubber-cored 

 golf-ball, and an immense number and 

 variety of minor articles of rubber, 

 together with the new processes and 

 apparatus which have been perfected 

 for their production. 



The rubber world, so to speak, has 

 been greatly broadened in those nine- 

 teen years. The opening up of forest 

 rubber areas in Africa and in the upper 

 Amazon regions has alone proved of 

 vast importance to the industry, while 

 the introduction of rubber culture has 

 still further increased the world's 

 supply of raw material. Scarcely less 

 important has been the great improve- 

 ment in reclaiming rubber and the 

 increase in the volume of this product. 

 The growth in the extent of the output 

 of the rubber factory has involved not 

 only a large increase in consumption at 

 home, but the sale of important quanti- 

 ties in countries not consumers of rub- 

 ber before. 



We cannot better sum up the situ- 

 ation, perhaps, than by referring to the 

 International Rubber and Allied Trades 

 Exhibition, just closed in London, as 

 an epitome of progress in rubber ; to 

 have omitted from its catalogue all that 

 represented development during the 

 past two decades would have left little 

 more than a skeleton. We regard this 

 exhibition as epoch-making, and by 



comparing few rubber exhibitions with 

 it will best be measured the growth of 

 the trade. 



It is of interest to note that seldom 

 has rubber been utilized to an impor- 

 tant extent for the purpose without con- 

 tinuing to be so utilized. Hence every 

 new application means a permanent 

 addition to the catalogue of the uses of 

 rubber. To-day the possibility appears 

 to exist of a great coming demand for 

 rubber in aerial navigation — a demand 

 which within the coming nineteen years 

 may prove as important as the present 

 demand for rubber in the tyre trade. 



We do not doubt that the most im- 

 portant development in the next decade 

 will relate to the production of crude 

 rubber — in new fields and from new 

 plants, as well as in the improved pre- 

 paration of rubber in the field now ex- 

 ploited. It is not unlikely that within 

 this period the culture of what now are 

 regarded as minor rubber plants will 

 become extensive in the temperate 

 zone. — The India Rubber World, Vol. 

 XXXIX., No. 1, October, 1908. 



THE RUBBER EXHIBITION : SOME 

 NOTABLE EXHIBITS AND MR. 

 BAMBER'S PROCESSES. 



By Hubert L. Terry. 

 The main features of this Inter- 

 national Rubber Exhibition have been 

 dealt with by the Editor, and the obser- 

 vations I am about to make refer 

 entirely to the raw rubber exhibits 

 of Ceylon and British Malaya, which 

 occupy two of the most prominent 

 stands in the Hall. Stand is perhaps too 

 plebean a term to use in connection with 

 the ornate pavilion of Ceylon and the 

 attractive native dwelling of Malaya, 

 but its significance will not be misunder- 

 stood. These two exhibits, along with 

 the Dutch colonial exhibits, may, I 

 think, be selected from the bulk of the 

 show as of special, interest, embodying 

 as they do the results up to date of the 

 rubber planting industry— one of;: the 

 newest departures in economic botany. 

 In no way do I wish to belittle the 

 interest attaching to exhibits of raw 

 rubber from the forest— such as the 

 splendid show made by the State of 

 Amazonas. Native rubber, however, is 

 not exactly a novelty, and as the object 

 of the exhibition was declared by the 

 President in his opening speech to be 

 primarily educational, it is important to 



