no 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUEIST. 
[Aug. 1, 1901. 
tapped, the approxiipate number of trees also being 
given. This pieliniinatj' work of road making is not 
done for a single season, but is meant to be pKnnaueut 
so that, whe' a plentiful supply of prolific fcr. es is oiiee 
located on a navigable stieam, they m-iy be visited 
season after season, with an assurance of a j ield that 
will prove profitable. Fn m one description we quote : 
'This faim was marked off five years ago, lor wiiic i 
service was paid 40 contos of reis (equivalent toriay 
to $10,000)." The number of trees on this estate is 
estimatea at 20,000. There are also said to be on the 
farm wooden buildings, cattle, etc., besides which 
four steam launches are owned. Doubtless on an 
estate where the business of rubber gatheriog has 
been prepared for with so much forethought and at 
such expeuse, we might today see a for(-e of workers 
eHtablished all the year round, but for the fact that 
the annual risit}g of the rivers scatters the rubber 
hunters for a certain period. As it is, the crop season, 
during which the trees are tapped daily, is something 
more than six months in the year. 
It may be asked why, in the face of such prepara- 
tions and the presence of rubber in paying quautities, 
the owners of these farms should want to sell. The 
reason given is the fin incial depression frum which 
all Brazil is suff. ring. Any m .nufacfcurer who buys 
Para rubber is prepared to believe that somewhere, 
between the forest and the factory, good piofitsare 
made on it. The owuers of many of the^e farms have 
profited largely, but their money has been made loo 
easily for any thought to have been taken for the 
morrow. Hence the beginning of each new season 
finds most of them with nothing but their estra as^ 
waiting lo be worked. They must seud for woikers, 
and pruvide for them until the proceeds of ihe 
year's crop come to hand, all of which mikes 
necessary advances from merchants or bankers 
who are generally at a distance. Whatever may 
be the prime cause, money is now a scarce article 
in the rubber country, the rate of exchange is most 
unfavourable, and credits have become contr.icted to 
an extent which leaves the Weaker operators helpless. 
It is quite possible that the number of pet-sons in the 
rubber gathering business, and .h .^ number of estates, 
affected by the Biazilian fiuancial i^risis will be so 
great as to curtail seriously the production of rubber 
during the coming season. 
All of which leads to the thought that, if the Para 
rubber already produced has come to an important ex- 
tent from systematically marked out farmi, visited 
year aftyr year by workers under the SHme control — 
albeit the general management of these estates may 
have been wasteful and improvident — ihere may be a 
good opportunity for the iovestmt^nt of capital by out- 
siders, on a basis of cash capital instead of advances 
of goods and credit, in very large tracts of rubber 
lands, to the profit of the investors, while reudeiiug 
the supplies of rubber more stable and the uli.nnate 
cost to the manufacturer lower. — India Rubbe i''World 
June 1. 
THE RUBBER PLANTING INTEREST. 
RUBBER PLANTING IN SOCONUSCO. 
The Snconusco Rubber Plantation Co., inc rporated 
tinder < alifornfa laws, October 36, 1900, to develop a 
plantation in the Soconusco depanment in the state 
of Chiapas, m the extreme southern portion of Mexico, 
was organized by Mr. Charles G Oano, c.e., who is 
its general manager. The company own 17 8.58 acres 
and are preparing to plant rubber on an rxtensive 
scale. They expect to ship considerable rubber this 
year from native trees on the properts'. This property 
is near tlie estales of La Z ..cualpa Rubber PI ntation 
Co.i comprising 18,791 acres, and whi'-h h<.« I een men- 
tioned several times in The India liubhcr Uotid. 
This company, besiiles planting largely on their oA-n 
account, hnve acquired a plantation formed len yenrs 
ftgd or more, from which some rubber has been 
shipped. In the sam*' reyion is the rubber estate Los 
petritoB, on which '10,000 trees were planted eleven 
years ago, and which was sold recently by Rafael 
Ortega to Louis Tomalen for a large sum. Still an- 
otb>r enterprise there is the Dona Maria Rabberot 
PUntiiiion Co., with 5,288 aciee, owned by F A 
Qtrtmby. BIr. Cauo, mentioned tibove, has also in- 
tc.' ested e ostein capiti lists recenlli itt forming the 
Pacifii; Kubber Co., for planting rubber, which has 
just been incoiporated under Maryland laws. Mr. 
Cano is interested in the sale of other lande, on a 
large or small scale, suited for rubber planting, 
either alone or in connection with other crops, ana 
may be addressed for the present to the care of TIte 
India liuhhtr ]]'orld. 
It ii in this department, by the way, that the late 
Mexican ambassador, Senor Romero, made a rubber 
plantation in 1873. Some of the trees then phmted 
still survive, in spite of long neglect, and rubber 
gathered from ti.em formed a p rt of the Mi-xican 
exhibit at the Paris Exposition of 19J0. The identi- 
cal lands are now under control of 'ir. Cano. 
PLANTING "LANUOLPHIA" IN AFRICA. 
The Compagnie Anve.soise des Plantations de 
Lubefa, formed in Belgium in 1897 to trade i Afiica, 
with 600,u00 francs. capital, and which have been ship- 
ping considerable r .bber from the Congo, ure re- 
ported ill Congo Behje -^s having commenced a planta- 
tion of Landuipliia rubber vinea ou the ri ver LuOcf a, 
to cover 1,000 uectures =2,471 acres besides which 
the com^jany have an option on 4,000 hectares more, 
for the same purpose. — India RMer World,, June 1. 
FAILURE OF THE CAMPHOR MONO- 
POLY IN FORMOSA. 
OWING TO INCUKASE UF PRuUUClTON IN JAPAN 
The failure of the camphor niouopolyin Formosa 
is supposed to be cau.sed by tlie iinexpecLed in- 
crease in the production ol the staple lu the in- 
terior of Japan, witli the result that the mark as in 
Japan and abiuad have been cun-ulei ai.ny ..lleci,ed. 
It was therefore thought necessary Ijy tiie last 
Cabinet toexieiid the iiionopoly to Japan, so as 
to maintain the price of tlie sta|jle and protect 
the monopoly in Foi niosa. A proposal to this 
effect was agreed to by the last Cabinet. Vis- 
count KaCsura, tlie Premier of the new Cabinet, 
is reported to take special interest in the linanees 
of the teiritory, as he was for a time the Governor- 
General of Foiniosa, and it is believed he will 
take up the proposal of the last Cabinet and 
favour the extension of the campiior monopoly 
to J ipaii. The Kobe Chronicle says: — it is 
sjaied i,hat, if such a .vionopuiy finl is pas.^ed, the 
export of camphor from Japan will be uuileriaken 
b> the Agriculiural md Coimnercial Uepintin nt ; 
and that Monopoly Offices will be escabli-iied at 
Nagasaki and Kobe, the head oliice being at 
K .be. The purchase price of caniplior will be 
fixed at 75 yen per picul for Kobe, and 65 yen per 
picul for Nagasaki, while the sale price w.li je 85 
yen per piciil From these parsicuiais it wou d 
appear the Govei nment has pirtctieally decided to 
intioiluce such a iiill. — Hongkong Press, June 22 
The Orange Industry.— It is said that more 
oranges are grown at Kiversi le, Cal., than in any 
other city of equnl an a on the f,.ce of the earth. 
Out of lifiy-six quare mile-, which is the area of 
Riverside, tliiriy squaie miles have been converted 
into orange gioves. This means thai the coming 
season's product will "aggregate," as Aiiiencans 
say, about 3,2(i0,U00 Itoxes ol .:raiiges. Tina 
repiesem.s a niui.ey vaiue ol 6,000,(JU0dols,— Afom- 
ing Leader^ June 15. 
