Gums, Resins, tl 



velops best ou a red loamy soil, aud is 

 less frequently to be found on a sandy 

 substratum. "Within a few miles of 

 Porto Alegre on the Rio das Oontas, a 

 central station for the production of 

 rubber from this species of Manihot, I 

 have seen the mountain spurs so thickly 

 covered with this tree that it made up 

 almost half the total forest." (Ule.) 



For an account of the methods em- 

 ployed in tapping these trees in a wild 

 state, and of the yield so obtainable, 

 reference may be made to the above- 

 mentioned translation of Dr. Ule's 

 paper, We are now more directly con- 

 cerned with the value of Mankobar 

 rubber as a cultivated product when 

 planted on estates. Dr. Ule gives it as 

 his opinion that the wild thickets of 

 Manihot dichotoma will very soon cease 

 to have any value as a source of rubber. 

 The export of rubber from the State of 

 Bahia is said to have increased more 

 than ten-fold between the years 1900 and 

 1906, that is to say, from 100 tons to over 

 1,100 tons, but very little of this was 

 from plantations. Recently, however, 

 large areas in this district appear to 

 have been planted up with these Mani- 

 cobars, and from the accounts given by 

 Ule and others the success of these 

 undertakings seems to be assured." 



It appears from the " Agricultural 

 News" of October 17, 1908, that this 

 export fell off somewhat in 1907. This 

 result is probably to be ascribed to 

 general trade depression and not to any 

 failure in the estate product. It is also 

 possible that the collection of wild 

 rubber may fall off more rapidly than 

 can be made up for by the increase in 

 estate produce. 



The recognized distance for planting 

 in Brazil would appear to be at the rate 

 of 1,000 trees per acre, that is to say, 6 

 or 7 feet apart, and Dr. Ule speaks of 

 yields of a ton of rubber per acre from 

 such plantations. The " Kew Bulletin " 

 quotes Mr, Rowe, a resident of the 

 country, to the following effect : — " Our 

 plantations are mostly formed of young 

 seedlings taken from the forest, which 

 contain vast numbers. They are trans- 

 planted 1,000 to the acre, and they do 

 not appear to be too crowded. The 

 transplantation causes no apparent set 

 back, and the close planting has a good 

 effect in keeping down the scrub aud 

 undergrowth. At three years old culti- 

 vated trees have yielded 7 ounces of 

 rubber on the average." As regards 

 price, Mr. O'Sullivan Beare, H. B. M. 

 Consul at Bahia, reported in 1907 that a 

 planter established in the Jequie District 

 prepared a considerable quantity of 

 rubber obtained from Manicooar trees 



I [May, 1909. 



growing wild in the neighbourhood and 

 despatched it to New York. The con- 

 signment was classified in the New York 

 Market as being equal to the best Para 

 Rubber, and fetched 5s. a pound. 



The following advantages are claimed 

 by Messrs. Vilmoriu for the new rubbers 

 as compared with ordinary Ceara. 



The latex is not so thick ; it coagulates 

 less rapidly, and is therefore easier to 

 deal with; it yields a rubber of much 

 higher quality. 



Secondly, it contains a much larger 

 proportion of pure dry rubber. 



Lastly, the yield is greater. Whereas 

 the raw rubbers of Ceara and Piauhy 

 give only 60 to 67 per cent, of pure 

 caoutchouc, the proportion obtained 

 from Manihot dichotoma varies from 

 70 to 92 per cent. These figures do not, 

 of course, refer to plantation rubbers. 



It is possible that some of the state- 

 ments which we have quoted in the 

 above notes may be of a more or less 

 Utopian character. Still the opinion of 

 Dr. Ule and of Messrs. Vilmorinis largely 

 confirmed by the independent authorities 

 quoted in the " Kew Bulletin," and it 

 seems clear that the new rubbers are 

 worthy of an extensive trial in the drier 

 districts of Ceylon. The choice of one or 

 the other of the three species which 

 have been described will probably de- 

 pend for the present upon the supply of 

 seed. Of Manihot heptaphylla, which 

 Dr. Ule seems to regard as somewhat 

 the best of the three, no seed is at present 

 available. Of the two remaining species, 

 M. dichotoma is said to be the better for 

 planting on a hdavy clay soil and 

 M. piauhyensis for light sandy soils. On 

 the other hand, it must be pointed out 

 that M. dicholoDia is growing well at 

 Pamdeniya on land which cannot 

 possibly be called a heavy clay. 



Manihot dichotoma germinates moat 

 easily of the three, and it appears to be 

 quite unnecessary to file the seeds of this 

 species before planting. Dr. Ule also 

 states that the rubber from this 

 species fetches a higher price than that 

 from either of the others. On the other 

 hand, he states that the yield from the 

 two remaining species is decidedly 

 greater. In the most recent article 

 seen (by a Bahian planter in the 

 "Journal d' Agriculture Tropicale"), M, 

 dichotoma is regarded as decidedly the 

 best of the three species. On the whole, 

 the conclusion seems to be that any one 

 of the three is very well worth a trial. 



Except possibly on land like that under 

 the tanks of the North-Central Province, 

 which is readily capable of machine 



