Jan. 1, 1903.] 
THE TROPICAL AGEICULTURIST. 
4C1 
to hia figures, that the tendency to recovery shown 
during the previous month has been further accentu- 
ated daring the month just closed, and there are not 
wantine figns of further material improvement. 
—Financial Netvs, 
MICA IN GERMAN hAST AFRICA. 
Mica has hitherto only been produced in German 
Ea>t Africa by persons possessed of very limited 
plant, and the supply has, in consequence, been re- 
stricted. A Germiin firm in Mannheim dealing in mica, 
who had pui chased the five mica mines in the Alugaru 
Mountains, have new formed a company for tha 
further working of the same, under the name of the 
" Deutsch-Ostafraka Glimmerund Miuen Werke," 
with a preliminary capital of 200,000 marks. Under 
the manngement of the former owner the production 
^vas 1,200 kilos, monthly ; the new company reckon 
a production of at least 60,000 kilos, yearly, a 
^f^antity which, according to specialists, can easily be 
obtained by proper working. The import of mica into 
Germany last year through Hamburg was about 
120,000 kilos., valued at 500,000 marks, and the de- 
mand for mica in the electrical industry is continually 
increasing. Mining is now going on uninterruptedly 
under the supervision of two engineers, with thirty 
natives, and it is probably that even in the first year 
the expected production of 00,000 kilos, will be 
achieved. By means of proper instruction to the 
natives, and the opening of new workings, the firm 
hope to reach an output of 100,000 kilos, per annum. 
Investigations conducted by the Government in 1807 
showed that the existing mines in the Inbakana district 
were rich enough to warrant moderate working, 
whilst a cursory survey of the land disclosed numerous 
rich lodes, an indicatiou that the deposits were richer 
than generally supposed. — London Chamber of Com- 
merce Journal, November. 
« 
PROFITS FROM A RUBBER 
PLANTATION. 
^ Mention has been made more tl,an once in the "India 
Rubber World" of a rubber plautation in the state of 
Chiapas, Mexico, from which shipments of rubber 
have actually been made. About thirteen years ago 
a Mexican planter set out a number of rubber trees 
(Castilloa. clastica) as a shade for cacao, which grew so 
rapidly that in limo the cacao was practically starved 
out and of th se trees some 5,000 are now st anding, ia 
a various condition. A few years ago Mr O H Harrison, 
engaged in coffee planting in Chiapas, bought this 
property including ndj.iceut lands containing wild 
rubber trees, for" ^12,000, Mexican. Within eight 
months he had ■■•old m London enough rubber from 
the wild and cultivated trees to pay the purchase 
price for the property. This formed the basis for La 
Zacualpa rubber plantation. A like amount of rubber 
has beerr sold from the property each year since, and 
more land has been purchased, the cost of the whole 
having been met by the proceeds of the rubber sold. 
During this time there has been no outlay for labour 
in caring for the cultivated trees, beyond the collection 
of rubber. The land havicg been paid for, the 
proceeds of rubber sales will be devoted to dividends 
on La Zacualpa shares. Mr Harrison reports that 
these trees yield an average of at least 2 pounds of 
rubber a year — tapped once — and is convinced that a 
good profit could be made with a yield of half as 
much, which would give from 2 0 to 300 poirnda of 
rubber per acre, according to the nnmher of trees. 
The new planting on la Z iciialpa plautation h is been 
done with seeds from the pioduclive trees ref^rrred to 
BO that no doubt can exist as to the variety that is 
being planted. 
PLANTING "CEAjRA RUBKER" IN NICARAGUA. 
La Yictoria Rabbec Plantation has been formed at 
La Paz, Nicaragna, for the cultivation on a con- 
siderable scale of the Ceara rubber tree (/Vani/io^ 
Glazioiii). The location is on the Pacific slope where 
the rainfall is slight as compared with t>iat in Eastern 
Nicaragua, and in other respects the conditions 
resemble those of the Brazilian state of Ceara, the 
native hahitat of this species of rnhber. La Paz is on 
the railway extending frow Grenada, on lake 
Nicaragua through the city of Managua to the 
Pacific coast, and is favourably situated for trade and 
transporation. This is a private enterprise, owned by 
Georgti Adler, who for a number of years has given 
close study to the different species of rubber. Mr 
Adler is now in Nicaragua. The plantation manager 
is Fredrico W"gner. Alfred C Adler. of Waltham, 
Massachusetts, is also interested in the plantation. 
About 300 acres have been planteri to d^te, and with 
such results in the growth of the trees that the work 
is to be extended. — India Rubber World, Nov. 1. 
RUBBER IN AFRICA AND SOUTH 
AMERICA. 
The following extracts are taken from an article 
by Emile Boniiechanx, explorer, published in " Le 
Vieux Coisaiie " : — 
With the e.Ktending use of rubber and its thousand 
and one applications, a serious question presents itself. 
Will the forests producing rubber and bind weed be- 
come exhausted ? Several trips to Madagascar and two 
voyages to Brazil for the purpose of exploring the 
forests may peimit me to express an opinion on this 
subject. I believe that certain species will disappear in 
Africa, Madagascar and Brazil — in fact, in all the 
regions producing rubber now exploited. 
Landolphias will disappear both in Madagascar and 
on the continent of Africa, by reason of the barbarous 
methods of extraction employed by the natives, which 
consist in tapping the bind weed close to the place 
where it issues from the ground, dividing it afterwards 
into sections about 20 inches in length, from which the 
milk is drained by placing the sections upright in a 
gutter of split bamboo supported above the receiving 
pail by two wooden forks. The Eaphortiacee tntisy will 
also be exterminated in the southern part of Madagas- 
car. The intisy yields a milky juice, as rich as that 
furnished by the Hevea hrasiliensia, but it is impossible 
to obtain it pure, as the natives allow the juice to flow 
to the ground, where it at once makes an amalgam 
elastic only in name. Besides, in their greed to obtain 
the maximum yield, the natives do not hesitate to tap 
even the tubercles of the roots, thus killing in one 
moment wha,t nature has taken a century to produce. 
Other varieties will also disappear. But there is one 
not indigenous to either Africa or Madagascar, which 
will not. It lives in the forests which are included 
between 8° north latitude and 8" south latitude. It 
is a native of Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia 
and Venezuela. The species is called Seringa in the 
Brazilian tongue. The botanical came is Hevea, one 
of the large family of the Euphortiacees which com- 
prises a dozen varieties. The product of these trees 
is known on the markets of Europe by the name of 
Para fin, from the town of Para, near the mouth of the 
Amazon, through which all the gum passes. The de- 
nomination Para fin is, however, iucoirect. The State 
of Para produces some robber, but the greater part 
comes from the district cf Amazonas, from Pern, etc. 
lu these countries, the Hevea has fortunately been 
protected. The extractors have every incentive to 
preserve the trees from injurj', in order to insure an 
annual yield, which I estimate at from §290 to §347 
for one hundred days of actual labour. Some afiiim 
that the gatherers average from to §10 per day. 
This estimate is exaggerated. The exploitation of the 
Heoeas s.'cd other lubber trees of South America 
supports some 100,000 people. One can judge from this 
of the importance of this industry. The rubber tree is 
cEurefally treated here, Already the two States of 
