Gams, Resins, 360 [Nov. 1906. 



their rubber, it would be sold not on the fact that it was Ceylon rubber, as at 

 present when people wanted to buy it chiefly for experiments, but ou the strength 

 and physical qualities of the rubber ; and the sooner they learned to keep then- 

 rubber of a fine grade separate and not mix it, the better. As regards that, he said 

 a good many people graded their rubber at present, but he thought the most of that 

 grading at present was done according to colour and other fairly obvious properties, 

 because the few analyses which had yet been made to test the strength &c. had 

 shown a most extraordinary difference in the various kinds of Ceylon rubber. 

 There were some published in the Tropical Agriculturist the other day, giving 

 the tests made in America, and it was shown that they came out in a tensile strength 

 from 85 to 145. That was a considerable difference, but they did not know what 

 it was due to. Rubber from older trees, it is obvious, is the stronger rubber, and 

 he gathered from all the remarks made by these gentlemen from London that it 

 was strength that was the main quality ; and he therefore personally thought 

 they would have to come to some machine like that exhibited by Mr. Carruthers 

 for the purpose of testing the quality of the rubber for strength. The London 

 people at present went a good deal by colour, because they were a little afraid that 

 the rubber, some of it being very dark, might not be pure, but he thought that 

 after som e time, as in the case of tea and cocoa, they would get to know that the 

 Ceylon planter does not adulterate his products, and that it is unnecessary to look 

 for impurities in his rubber. As he had said the other day, now was the time to 

 experiment with the making up of rubber for shipment and the shipping of it in 

 different ways before the market had got wedded to one particular way. He hoped 

 there were many proprietary planters, who were comparatively independent, who 

 Avould take the opportunity of experimenting in shipment. They might lose a 

 penny or two at first, but important knowledge would be gained. He had seen 

 people mixing tacky rubber, too, along with good rubber. A planter had said the 

 other day that if they put a piece of tacky rubber in the middle of a block and 

 squeezed it, nobody would recognise it. But Mr. Bamber had told them a certain 

 type of tackiness was infectious and it might spoil the whole block. It was 

 important not to mix tacky rubber with good rubber. It should be kept separate. 

 It might be possible to pass it off at first, but before long the buyers would be sure 

 to find out, and the price of the whole lot would go down. With regard to ship- 

 ment, Mr. Devitt inclined in favour of block, and most of them who had seen the 

 Lanadron blocks in the Show were inclined to agree with him. These blocks con- 

 tained 25 lb. of rubber, and it was obvious they occupied a much less space, and, 

 consequently, cost much less in shipment, and they exposed less surface to the air 

 than did a similar weight of biscuits, and therefore less oxidation went on. They 

 were beginning to know that oxidation of the surface had a considerably deterior- 

 ating effect. 



HOW RUBBER ARRIVES IN LONDON. 



Mr. James Ryan :— I should like to ask Mr, Devit how rubber arrives in 

 London at the present moment— the form of package which he recommends most, 

 and the condition of scrap, biscuits and crepe on arrival. I want to know, for 

 example, whether these biscuits on the voyage by contraction or agglutination 

 stick together, and what process is used for removing them when they do arrive ; 

 and what package does he consider sufficiently strong for a cwt. or a half cwt. ? 

 He warned us against using weak packing. I wish to know what package he 

 recommends. 



Mr. Devitt s— These biscuits arrive in an agglutinised mass. I do not think 

 you will find any way in which the biscuits will not be stuck to a certain extent, 

 but they can always be pulled apart unless there is some tackiness. As regards the 

 case, I think most planters agree with Mr. Campbell, who said the other day that 



