160 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
[Sept. 1, 1900. 
most excellent investments," The officers of the 
company are: Dr. Irvin J Becknell, president; B 
B Brothers, viue president; L M Latta, secretary; 
Luther E Bartholomew, treasurer ; A S Zook, attorney; 
Clark Bruce, manager; L 0 Singer, assistant manager; 
and Eva Peck Brnce and Orville Li Simmons trustees. 
The secretary of the company, in sending a copy 
of their prospectus to The India Ruhher If odd, writes : 
"In view of your article on page 206 of your issue 
of May 1, we bog to call your attention to the state- 
ments we make, as we believe we have in every case 
been conservative. Should you find any statement 
that is at variance with your knowledge of the rubber 
industry we should ba glad to have you call our at- 
tention to it." The prospectus embraces the following 
estimate of — 
EXPENSE. 
Planting and bringing to produc- 
tion and marketing 1 acre (100 
trees} at the end of 7 years . . ^40 
10,000 acres will cost .. .. 400,000 
10,000 acres will produce at 4 pound 
per tree, in seventh year . . 500,000 pounds. 
At New STork price of $1 per pound, 
would be .. .. .. S 500,000 
Less cost of planting, etc., as above 400,600 
Profit at end of seventh year $100,000 
The production each year after the 
seventh year, being 100,000 pounds 
at $1 per pound, will be . . §500,000 
Caring and marketing at 25 cents 
per pound each year .. 125,000 
.dnnual profit .. .. $375,000 
The India Buhher World cannot undertake, in the 
present undeveloped state of the rubber planting 
industry, to pass upon the merits of the estimites 
of planting companies. It may be proper to suggest, 
however, that there nowhere exists, to our knowledge, 
data to justify any particular calculation of the cost 
of planting a given area in rubber and bringing the 
trees to the productive age. It might be more or 
less than $40 an acre, and accurate statements based 
upon experience would be welcome by the editor. 
Another point is that 100 trees to the acre would 
seem an unnecessarily small number, as this would 
allow them to be planted 66 feet apart each way, and 
closer planting is advised by most authorities. 
Finally, the " New York price o* $1 per pound " is 
misleading. This is the price of fine Para rubber, 
but " r,entrals," which grades are obtained from the 
Castilloa elastica, the rubber tree of Costa Rica, 
cannot be expected to bring nearly so much money. 
We are informed, however, that 65 cents has now been 
substituted for $1 in these estimates. Tbs yield per 
tree is, indeed, estimated conservatively. We shall 
look for the results of this, experiment with much 
interest. 
RUBBER TREES IN SALVADOR. 
Writing from Santa Ana, Salvador — which is near 
the Pacific coast and also near the eastern boundary 
of Guatemala — Mr. J Hill informs The India Rubber 
World: '■ lh.a.ve Castilloa elastica growing on all my 
farms upon the Volcan here, so that I know it will 
grow, but it is in very small numbers, and up to 
now I cimnot size up its age. But I know that a 
pound of rubber can be had from a tree, because 
the men get it out and use it. These trees have 
grownup here find there, unnoticed and uncared for, 
among the shade covering coffee plantations. I in- 
tend planting some 100,000 trees this year, in order to 
give rubber a trial. The rubber grows wild along the 
coast and up to our place." 
RUBBER IN THE PHILIPPINES. 
A correspondent of The India TlvMer World writes 
from Sal) Francisco that a friend in Manila informs 
him that the plant known as the II itlour/libeia Ji niia — 
the kind of rubber plant native to the Malaysian 
p^niusuUv 9(Ui.l the jiuuila itilaud.^, a creeiper which 
grows to very large dimensions — is found growing wild 
in marshy sections of the island of Luzon, in the 
Philippines. 
RUBBER FLAK TING IN TRINIDAD. 
In the thirtpenth annual report on the royal botanic 
gardens of Ttinidad, for the year 1899, the super- 
intendent, John H Hart, F.L.S., gives Bome notes of 
interest on the progrc-ss under cultivation ot Castilloa 
ela:,tica, Htcea Brasiliensis, Kich^ia Africans, and 
other rubber jieldiag species. One Para rubber 
tree has a gi-'th, three feet above g'onnd, of 58 
inches, and i:^ 40 feet high. Experinents to date 
do not promise a lurge yield of latex. One- 
liflh of an acre has hsen planted, iu Kiclcxia iLngos 
rubber), some of ibe specimens being cov/ 8 feet high, 
and apparently thriving in the Trinidad ch'mate 
" Castilloa promises thd best of any of the rubbers, so 
far, for local cultivation. A tree" planted in 1885 is 
over 40 feyt in heifjht, and 51 iaclies iu girth at 3 
feet from the ground. It yields abundant latex." 
THE RUBBER OUTLC'K IN EAST AFRICA 
Mr. Louis Sgal, of Liverpool, who is interested ia 
more than one company engnged in the exploitation 
of Indiariibber in Africa, si-.id recr-ntly to a repre- 
sentative of The India liuhher World:—" A% regards 
the development of Africa as a rubber-producing 
continent par excellence— I mean as a field for the in- 
vestment of capital in handiiu'; rubber — a satisfactory 
settlement of tiie trouble in South Africa would no 
doubt beneficially affect Ihe whole of the rubber 
districts in the east of Africa. If England should gain 
possession of the Transvaal and Orange Free State, 
an enormous impetus would no doubt be given to 
capital to Africa in railway enterprises, and 
it may be, in such a case, that very speedy progress 
would be made with the Cape to Cairo railway, which 
at present is not far from Portuguese East Africa. 
As it is, the country around the Central African 
lakes is improving, and the native population is getting 
over the disastrous effects of the failure of last year's 
crops. It is a strange thing that in central Africa the 
rubber trade should be in so few hands comparatively. 
Two or three of th-i trading companies have a few 
steamers plying on the rivers and up to the lakes, 
and although possessing only a very limited capital, 
they have trade ever an area where there shouM bo 
sufficient room for twenty more companies." 
The English companies operating in Africa above 
referred to have no connection with the Belgian com- 
panies engaged in the Congo country, but are located 
further east. Good profits are reported to have been 
made in bartering goods of English manufacture with 
the natives for rubber collected by them. Mr. S^^al 
is of the opinion that American capital might be 
invested profitably in a similar way. 
THE MANGABEIRA AND MANICOBA 
RUBBERS. 
In the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo in 1899 
a law was passed to encourage the cultivation of 
mangabeira rubber (Tlancornia speciosa), and premi- 
ums offered for the acclimatization of other good 
rubber species, and for better processes of extracting 
the latex. The mangabeira tree grows native in tha 
states of Pernambuoo, Bahia, Goyaz, Espirito Santo, 
Sao Paalo, Minaes Geraes, and Rio de Janeiro. There 
are many of the trees in the last three states. A 
recerit report from the Belgian legation at Rio de 
Janeiro states that attempts to grow mangabeira trees 
from seeds have thus far failed, the planting having 
been done in lands exposed to the sun. Many native 
trees growing on plantations iu Sao Paulo have 
failed to yield a profit to the owners, because of 
having been tapped surreptitiously by the natives. 
The government is now distributing seeds of the 
manicoba or Ceara rubber tree {Manihot Glaziovii), 
and large quantities have been planted, the quality 
of this rubber being superior to the mangabeira. Many 
manicoba trees have been planted, on coffee estates, 
but one planter reports scarcely one of a thousand 
yoan;,' trees gurviving the attacks of auts an^ oshej 
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