676 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[April 1, 1902. 
clearly that the company is well within the mark 
with its figures as to the prolits that may be 
expected. The company is probably one o{ the 
most promising and substantial undertakings that 
has been put before the Indian public, and is well 
worthy ot the attention of investors, We do not 
anticipate that;the share list will belong ia filling 
up. — Indian Planters' Gazette. 
[Experiments made in Ceylon by practical men, 
over wliich a s;ood deal of money has been spent, 
do not make us so sanguine of success as our Indian 
contemporaries. — Ed. T.A.] 
THE WORLD'S PRODUCTION OP 
RUBBER. 
AND THE FUTURE OF AMAZONAS. 
The territory in the Amazon Valley fiom 
whence the largest portion of the world's rubber 
supply has, as yet, been obtained, is according to 
most reliable reports constantly decreasing in area. 
It is an undeniable fact that, owing to the extra- 
vagant method employed by the natives in gather- 
ing crude rubber, tlie natural source of supply has 
been, to a considerable sxtent, depleted, with the 
usual results attending. The risks, besides this, 
attending the gatiiering of the crop, especially in the 
Amazon Valley, are considerable. Heavy advances 
must be made to the improvident natives who 
depart into the limitless forests to remain for 
months with a chance, periiaps, never to return. 
The trees cannot survive the murderous butcheries 
of the native gatherers, whose sole aim consists in 
extracting the gum which is to pay the advances 
they received as quickly as possible, even if the 
death of the trees is involved. In order to reach 
the yet living and untouched trees, the native is 
compelled to travel deeper into the forests every 
year and the supply is maintained with increased 
dithculty with each successive season. These are 
facts, which sooner or later must become af the 
most serious consequences, respecting the economi- 
cal conditions of the State of Amazonas, inasmuch 
as the production and exportation of rubber con- 
stitutes the alnrost exclusive source of revenue of 
that State. These circumstances and the fact, 
that there is scarcely a plant of equal value that 
responds so quickly to careful cultivation as the 
rubber tree, greatly stimulated other countries to 
develop this culture on a large scale, and it is 
from this quarter that Amazonas will experience 
the most dangerous blow to its heretofore com- 
manding position as the world's supplies of rub- 
ber. Thus we learn from reliable sources that 
already in the year 1898 the value of exports of 
rubber from Africa alone amounted to 98 million 
francs. Angola, which contributed at that time 
to the amount of 28 million francs, is saifl to 
export now nearly twice this amount. The Uongo 
State exported IG'S millions ; Gold Coast 13 7 
millions ; Lagos 7 millions and French Guiana 
8 millions. The steady increasing produc- 
tion of the French Congo States and of 
Cameroon, as w(!ll as the Dutch possessions in 
India not counted ! 
TIIK TOTAI, AREA UNDER RUBBER CULTIATION 
in Africa is estimated to be 4,000 square miles 
with a jjopulation much denser than in the 
Amazonas, no dithculty being therefore ex- 
perienced to obtain a leirular and efficient supply 
of labour. A considerable increase in the pro- 
duction of rubber is therefore to be expected 
vitUv^t any doubt iu the near future. 
A very large amount of capital has within the 
last few years been invested in the rubber 
plantations of the Southern Mexican States. 
In years gone by the rubber industry of Mexico 
was already of considerable importance, but also 
in that country the improvident native method 
of gathering was fatal to the industry and the 
large returns dwindled as the number of trees 
decreased, until the export of native rubber 
ceased to be of much account — a warning ex- 
ample to Amazonas and to other countries where 
such abusive methods of gathering are practised ! 
The states of Tabasco and Chiapas, adjoining 
the isthmian region of Tehuantepec, have been 
the former sources of rubber supply in the 
Southern Mexican States. In soil, temperature, 
rainfall and other general conditions, these States 
possessed ideal qualifications for the cultivation 
of the rubber tree. The soil is the accumulation 
of long centuries of tropical decay, while the 
annual rainfall ranges from 150 inches and up- 
ward. The temperature required, hot and moist, 
is here found, while the dense shade which the 
rubber tree is sahl to need is afforded by the 
forests which abound in the extended valleys of 
the watercourses of navigable streams emptying 
into the Gulf of Mexico. 
The fitness of these lauds for the cultivation 
ot the rubber tree has been remarked for many 
years, but the project seemed not to attract 
capital. The increasing scarcity of supplies 
together witl> an enormous development of demand, 
however, stimulated capital to invest, so that 
at present not less than 200,000 acres in the 
Tehuantepec provinces have been acquired, prin- 
cipally by Americans, who have invested 
6,000,000 dollars in planting and development ! 
Reports from plantations in those provinces state 
that trees, five years old, had attained a diameter 
of from 8 to 10 inches, and yielded from 35 to 4J 
pounds of pure rubber each. Trees 6 j'ears old 
were 10 to 11 inches and yield 4 to 5 lb, and 
7 years 14 to 16 inches with a yield of 6J to 8^ lb. 
It will be seen by this rapid exposition that the 
production of rubber has for some time past been 
the object of no small efforts by all countries with 
possessions in tropical regions and as those efforts 
are supported by plenty of capital, and directed 
with method, enterprise and energy, the result 
cannot be doubtful : — a foreign proiluclion that 
will render the consuming markets, if not entirely 
independent ot Brazilian production, at least 
reduce it to an almost negligeable quantity. 
Tropieal agriculture ceased to be exclusively 
limited to South America from the time that 
nearly every one of the European countries secured 
extensive possessions in the southern hemisphere. 
In proportion as the development of the colonial 
possessions of these countries advances, inter- 
changes between these and the mother country 
will necessarily become more numerous, and as 
the product of these colonies is nearly similar to 
thatof South America, a competition can be foreseen 
that cannot fail to seriously menace the future 
exporting trade of the latter, at least in similar 
products. This should be borne in mind by 
Brazilian agriculturists, who should direct their 
efforts to multiculture, instead of confining them- 
selves to one product only, especially when that 
product is seriously menaced by a not distant 
competition. 
We can therefore but agree with the timely 
warning raised by the Provincia do Fm^d against 
