&ums, Resins, 



294 



[October, 1911. 



violators of the laws, but apparently 

 found none. The use of the wood of 

 the tree for sugar rolls in the West 

 Indian islands, and for arms and shafts 

 for windmills in the Guianas is also 

 noted by him. The trees were found to 

 vary considerably in the amount of 

 milk they give. The collector would 

 make a single cut in a tree, watch the 

 flow for a few minutes, and if it was not 

 satisfactory go at once to another tree, 

 claiming that it was a " male " tree and 

 no good. As an adulterant the col- 

 lectors then and now often add the latex 

 of the Sapium Jenmani, if it happens 

 to be plentiful in the vicinity of their 

 camps. The methods of tapping, coagul- 

 ating and handling are exactly the same 

 as those already described in the story 

 of balata in Dutch Guiana (see the India 

 Rubber World, March 1, 1911). 



According to Professor Harrison and 

 Mr. Stockdale, British Guiana sent out 

 its first balata in 1859, but rubber manu- 

 facturers would have none of it. In 1862, 

 however, another effort brought it to 

 the favourable attention of several 

 British manufacturers, and a market 

 was created. Three years later 20,000 

 pounds were exported. Then the de- 

 mand fell off for about ten years, when 

 it revived. During 1908-9 1,090,405 pounds 

 were produced, valued at nearly one- 

 half a million dollars. 1910-11 will prob- 

 ably see an increase both in product and 

 value. By the way, as a lesson in 

 modest taxation on exports, balata is 

 taxed two cents a pound, and that in 

 spite of its nearness to northern Brazil. 

 The price of balata has varied exceed- 

 ingly. In 1883 some parcels of it sold as 

 low as 12 cents a pound, and for years 

 it brought only 30 to 35 cents. Jenman 

 adds that a company in Boston, Mas- 

 sachusetts, offered in 1883 to pay 50 cents 

 a pound for it, if they could be assured 

 a large and constant supply. 



The British Guiana statistics on balata 

 are very informing, and surprisingly 

 complete. Among other things they 

 note that in 1904-5 the United States 

 took but 9 per cent, of the balata crop ; 

 in 1908-9, however, it took 25 per cent. 

 (To be continued.) 



THE OUTLOOK FOR RUBBER. 



(From the Indian Agriculturist, Vol. 

 XXXVI., No. 3, March 1, 1911.) 



No one who has followed the course of 

 the rubber market will be disposed to 

 contest the dictum of one of the leading 

 trade authorities at Home that the year 

 1910 was the most remarkable year in the 

 history of the industry since the dis- 



covery of vulcanisation. During the 

 month of April the price of Hard Fine 

 Para reached the unprecedented figure 

 of 12s. 6d. per lb., and about the same 

 time plantation rubber was sold at 12s. 

 10d. per lb. There has been a great 

 reduction in the quotations since these 

 prices were realised, but although rubber 

 is selling at less than half what is fetched 

 during the boom of last year, there 

 appears to be no cause for apprehension 

 as to the future of the plantation indus- 

 try. The position in 1910 was for a 

 considerable period altogether abnormal. 

 Owing to the prices ruling the consump- 

 tion of the product by manufacturers 

 was to some extent checked, but the 

 return to normal conditions has created 

 a more healthy trade position, and manu- 

 facturers are able to secure their require- 

 ments in a satisfactory way. The prin- 

 cipal bugbear of the shareholder in 

 plantation companies is the possibility 

 of over-production. The leading trade 

 authorities, however, do not seem to 

 attach much importance to this point. 

 For years past the demand for rubber 

 has rapidly grown, and with the exten- 

 sion of motor traction which is every- 

 where visible, the increase must continue. 

 The production of manufactured rubber 

 goods in the United States in 1890 was 

 valued at £8$ millions, while fifteen 

 years later the census returns placed the 

 total at nearly £30 millions, and there 

 must have been a great increase since 

 the later year owing to the development 

 of the motor car industry. Another 

 interesting comparison is afforded by 

 the statement that the imports of raw 

 rubber and allied materials into America 

 rose from 32 millions lbs. in 1888-9 to 179 

 million lbs. in 1909-10. There are no 

 figures available relating to the manu- 

 factures of rubber in the United King- 

 dom, but the increase there, as well as 

 in continental countries, has undoubted- 

 ly been on a prodigious scale. The 

 contribution of plantation rubber to the 

 world's harvest still constitutes a small 

 proportion of the total. Most of the 

 product brought to market emanates 

 from the forests of Brazil. The receipts 

 of wild rubber at Para in the season 

 1909-10 amounted to over 39 thousand tons, 

 which is more than five times the total 

 exports of Malaya and Ceylon combined 

 during last year. There has been an enor- 

 mous increase in the quantity of wild 

 rubber obtained from the forests of the 

 Amazon basin in recent years, the total 

 having grown from 26 thousand tons in 

 1899-00 to 39 thousand tons last season. 

 The potentialities of wild rubber suggest- 

 ed by these figures at first sight appear 

 formidable from the point of view of the 

 investor in plantation companies. But 



