April 1, 1902.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 669 
THE U. S. A. GOVERNMENT AND KUBBER. 
The present attitude of the department of agricul- 
ture at Washington towards the investigation of 
rubber resources and production merits the ap- 
liroval and support of every branch of the rubber 
trade. There is no longer any reason why rubber 
— any more than wheat, or tea, or hemp— should 
remain a forest product, to be gained by unsys- 
tematized and uneconomical methods. Much has 
been done by individual private enterprise in 
the direction of bringins the production of rubber 
under more intelligent supervision, but vastly 
more remains to be done. The rubber belt is so 
wide and the conditions so varied involving, 
among other things, so many rubber species, and 
the whole production is so remote from the centres 
of consumption, that any changes based upon 
unconnected individual enterprises must be slow. 
While the gathering and marketing of rubber — 
and its planting, for that matter — must always be 
under private control, and based upon private 
capital, governments can render great help 
to the interest, particularly in the way of collect- 
ing and disseminating correct information. Reports 
by trained scientific observers, intent upon dis- 
covering facts rather than making profits, when 
published officially, gain a wider circulation and 
are accepted as more trustworty than even similar 
reports from any private source. Of the mass of 
printed matter in The India Rubber World's 
library regarding the sources and conditions of 
natural rubber supplies, by far the greater part is 
the result of official or semi-official investigations. 
There is not one book in the lot written by a 
private individual who has travelled in and 
studied any rubber country on his own account. 
The United States government in the past has 
given little attention to the subject of rubber, 
considering that more than half the world's pro- 
duction is consumed in this country. But now 
that we have extensive tropical possessions, the 
same reason exists for studying the development 
of a rubber interest in them tiiat has appealed to 
every colonising power in Europe. The present 
disposition at Washington is to discover, not only 
what plants of economic value exist in our tropical 
territory, but what plants in other countries 
of corresponding latitudes may be introduced 
profitably therein. The department of agriculture, 
in making the estimates of money needed for the 
coming fiscal year, has included the following 
clause, which, it is understood, refers in an im- 
portant degree to rubber : 
Botanical Investigations and Expepiments, — ; 
to investigate and publish reports upon the useful 
plants and plant cultures of the tropical territory of 
the United States, and to investigate and report upon 
them, and ijatroduce other plants promising to be valu- 
able for the tropical territory of the United States, 
such plants and botanical and agricultural information 
when secured to be made available for the work of agri- 
cultural experiment stations and Bohools ....$65,000. 
It might tend to influence Congress favorably in 
respect to voting the appropriation if citizens 
engaged in the rubber trade would write, approving 
the measure, to^senators and representatives from 
their States, or whom they know personally ; or 
letters might be directed to the chairmen of the 
eommitteeson agriculture, of the Senate and House 
of Representatives, respectively. — India Rubber 
World, Feb. 1, 
RUBBER IN ASSAM, 1901-02. 
The quantity of rubber collected and sold by direct 
Government agency in the Kamrup and Darran}? 
districts was as follows : — 
Mds. R. 
Kamrup .. 39 6,987 
Darrang .. 28 5,040 
Total ... 67 12,027 
During the year, the exclusive right of collecting and 
removing rubber on payment of duty from outside 
the Government plantations in the Darrang district 
was sold for B22.100 against R16,900 in 1S99-1900. 
The total outturn of rubber for the year was 3,592 
maunds, against 5,558 maunds in the previous year. 
This large decrease was entirely due to the smiUI 
quantity of foreign rubber imported into the province 
as may be seen from the figures given below : — 
1899-1900. 
1900-1901. 
Mds. 
Mds. 
Manipur 
409 
392 
BhutaM 
406 
42 
Dufia and Aka Hills 
... 1,148 
583 
Naga, Mishmi, and other 
neighbouring bills 
... 2,853 
1,786 
Total 
... 4,816 
2,803 
-Planting Opinion, March 1 
o 
PASSION 
FRUIT. 
Question. — What is the best method of 
coHeeting and preserving passion-fruit seeds ? 
when is the best time for planting them ? 
Ansiver. — In Southern Queensland, on the 
coast, plant in September ; in North Queens- 
land in March. To save the seed, take out the 
pulp of several fruits, press it lightly so as not 
to injure the seed. This will remove a large 
amount of the moisture. Put the pressed 
pulp and seeds into a tin and let it dry. 
It will keep for a very long time. When 
you intend to sow the seeds, soak the cake 
for a time in water. — Agricultural Journal, 
Feb. 1. 
^ 
GUTTAPERCHA NOTES. 
Dr. Treub, the director of the Botanic Garden in 
Buitenzorg, is in negotiation with his Government 
to establish with Government aid a Palaquin 
Gutta plantation on a space of about five thousand 
acres in the Plabocan district, in the province of 
Saekaboemi and near the plantation of Tjipetir ; 
the splendid results of the Tjipetir plantation 
have already been stated in previous numbers 
of this journal. — La Gazette Coloniale. 
In their annual report Messrs Kramrisch & 
Company write as follows : — Gutta-Percha : The 
year opened with a >'ery pojr demand, and the 
market continued weak throughout almost 
the whole of the year. It was only daring 
November that, owing to larger contracts for cables 
being placed, extensive buying orders appeared 
on the market, thus increasing values of Gutta- 
percha, and since then a fairly large business 
kas been done. There seems to be every pros- 
pect of a continued good market, with fair prices 
being paid for good and desirable qualities of 
guttapercha. — India-Eubber Trades' Journal^ 
Jan. 20, . 
