Aug. 1,.1902,] THE TEOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
89 
the reputation of any brand, and effectunlly " boycott " 
from the markets the estate sending it. Thia is the 
d'^figned admixtu' e of inferior gums, snch as Euphrohia 
gum and many others of the reain class to reduce the 
prii'e and illegitimately to increase the meantime 
profit, but to court disaster, and discredit the market 
of the future. For example, some six years ago, 
Borneo produced a fair rubber promising with in- 
creased care and experience better things. The pro- 
ducers m their haste to be rich, introduced "potato 
pum " into the milk ; and down to the present time the 
class of rubber is hopelessly discredited and 
CONTEMPTUOUSLY .SPOKErJ OP A3 " BEAD BORNEO." 
Mauy other brands have met the eame fate from the 
same cause. On the other hand, where resolute and 
continuous attempts have been made to improve the 
method of collection, such efforts have been amply 
rewarded. Four years ago, the poor gum of Accra, 
(3ape Coast and Saltpond sold with dilBculty at lOd. to 
lid. per lb. ; and now, by a process of cle.^n collection 
and careful curing, the price has advanced to 2s. to 2s. 
3d. per lb., at which it finds willing buyars. Per- 
haps the most striking illustration of this apprecia- 
tion of quality is that shown by the Congo rubbers, 
the preparation of which is yearly steadily improving 
with a proportionate increase in price, moving from Is. 
3d. to 3s. 6d. per lb. The process of curing to produce 
the fiist grade rubbers also necessitates an experienced 
headman, so that the smoking or curing may be 
thorough and complete, that all the immature so may 
be dully coagulated into caoutchouc — here decrimina- 
tion is necessary, secured by experience in order to 
smoke the milk thoroughly, yet not excessively. Great 
care iu this process is necessitated by tv70 con^i^eta- 
tions — in the first place, to be certain thnt nil i,he sap 
is coagulated, failing whi'^h tlr-' i'.i;;-. ..^a, o juice will 
be lost in washing, uauaiug perhaps the loss of 15 
to 20 per cent, in weight, instead of 5 per cent,, as 
in the case of a well-cured, clean rubber, and in the 
second place to secure its freedom from rubber resins. 
To the presence of these has been traced the 
cause of the rotting or hardening of vulcanized 
rubber, and this knowledge has led to the issue, by 
Sir A. M. Kendel, of a rigid specification on behalf 
of the Government, refusing to pass any rubber 
article found to contain more than 5 per cent, of 
rubber resins. This olBcial specification is being 
rapidly adopted by the Indian Government, and by 
the -principal engineers, and will, iu a few months, be- 
come the recognized standard for a good rubber. 
If Ceylon rubber is to command a good place in 
the market, it must meet this requiranent ; otherwise 
the product will bo relegated to a third cla=>s group, 
looked upon with suspicion and priced at "rubbish 
heap " rates. Recently some experiments have been 
made by prof, Heinrique, to effect the removal of 
these resins by chemical treament, with alcoholic 
Boda. Good results are predicted, but the practi- 
cal results of time, sunlight and heat upon the 
manufactured article must be awaited before any 
reliable opininon can be formed as to the value of 
this chemical process, and also of its cost upon a com- 
mercial scale. 
IN Ceylon's own hands. 
It is proven that the soil, climate, and rainfall 
of Ceylon are all alike favourable to this new 
industry, but it now depends upon the care, the 
attention, the intelligence of the planter, in view 
of the cjnsideratioBs herebefore mentioned, as to 
whether Ceylon rubbers are to command a high 
place in the markets of the world, securing profit 
to the planter and reputation to this colony, or to 
become one more addition to the role of discredited and 
unreliable products. — Local Times. 
^ 
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM MANAOS. 
(To the Editor of the India Ituhher World.) 
The Brazilian nut crop now being over, the landholders 
are turning their attention to the rubber crop for the 
coming season, and already large shipments of goods 
have been made from Manaoa to the rivora .Jurua 
Puius Japura si.nd Madeira, and rubber is trickling 
in from the Bnbira Tarauaca, and other affluents 
of the Jurua. The nut season has been very poor, 
as regards both quantity and price. 
The production of Upviver rubber is not expected to 
bo so large during the coming season, for many 
people are saying that rubber at 4$ .500 Brazilian ia 
not worth working. Yet the receipts are larger to 
date than last year at this time. The price here is 
equivalent to 50 and 55 cents a pound for fine, and 
further up it is selling at 25 to 30 cents. 
As indicaiing the tendency to introduce modern 
improvements in Amazonian towns, it may interest 
some of the readers of the India Unbher IForld to 
know that an electric lighting plant has been installed 
at Labrea, on the river Purus, at the point where 
the Ituxy joins the Puius, 692 miles from the Amazon. 
The plant was constructed by the C. & C. Electric 
Co., of New York, and is based on the Nernst lamp 
system. The same company will probably supply a 
plant for Manacapnru, in the same region. The town 
of Labrea is also planning to obtain a water works 
system. 
The Indians on the river Japura have been out on 
the war path, burning two or three rubber stations 
and killing some thirty persons. 
The Amazon cable is as usual broken, so that busi- 
ness in rubber has been done by fits nnd starts depen- 
ding entirely cn fbe nrrival of ^hipc bringing news 
of exchange rates from Para. 
The greatest present need of the Amazon country 
is a better, quicker, and cheaper means of steamer 
communication with the United States. 
THE CONWAY CONCESSION ON THE ACKE' 
Everybody here is talking about the concession by 
the Bolivian government, of the Acre rubber district 
tn the American syndicate, of which the India Rubber 
Y/orld has lately published accounts. The river 
Acre rises in Bolivia — in which country it is called 
the Aqniry — but enters Brazil before discharging 
into the Purus, one of the largest tributaries of the 
Amazon. The highest point on the Acre navigable is 
1,058 miles distant from the Amazon. The chief 
towns (they "ic called " cities") are Fioriano Peixoto 
on the Brazilian section, and Puerto Acre (or Puerto 
Alonzo), at the boundary, in Bolivia. At the latter 
place in a Bolivian custom liouse exists and a fort 
is beine; built ; a mule road is also being opened 
to La Paz. the capital of Bolivia. On the Brazilian 
Aci-e are rubber stations at Apuhy, Arares, Nazareth 
and the state revenue station at Caqueta. On the 
Bolivian section there are rubber stations at Flor de 
Ouro and at Bagaro, where Galvez, the head of 
the late so-called "republic of Acre," fired upon a 
Brazilian boat. 
The dispute at one time between Bolivia and 
Brazil over the ownership of this territory arose 
from the trouble in determining the exact source of 
the river Javary, the division line being specified aa 
running from that point to the mouth of the river 
Beni. This point having been settled, Peru now bases 
a claim to a portion of the Acre district, on another 
imaginary line, and has filed a formal protest against 
the validity of the concession granted to Sir Martin 
Conway. 
That the Acre district is the richest portion of the 
Amazon valley, there can be no doubt, some of the 
sctinyates their yielding from 8 to 12 kilograms of 
fine rubber a day, per estradi of 180 trees. This ia 
equal to 2.3 ounces per tree. Elsewhere iu this 
paper the same writer refers to 1-5 ounces as a good 
average yield, — [The Editok]. The Caucho has been 
largely worked out on the Brazilian Acre, but doubt- 
less very much still exists on the upper waters of the 
river. 
At present the prices of goods are very high ou 
the Acre, owing to heavy freight rates »nd the fact 
that everything must be imported. In 1900 I paid 
at the rate of ^1 a pound for jerked beef, aq^ 
