Ocr.  r,  1896.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
247 
be  found  in  considerable  quantities  in  South  America 
and  elsewhere.  At  the  present  time  French  capitalists 
are  trying  to  make  profit  out  of  the  scarcity  of  india- 
rubber  by  utilising  the  balata,  which,  for  many  years, 
has  been  employed  upon  a small  scale  for  a variety  of 
purposes.  There  at  least  two  descriptions  of 
balata,  one  white  and  one  red,  the  latter  being  known 
as  the  “bullet-tree.”  The  species  being  exploited  in 
French  Guiana  is  the  Jlimussops  balata^  a imignificent 
tree  which  is  peculiar  to  all  the  Guianas.  It  attains 
a height  of  from  90  to  100  feet.  The  wood  is  very 
much  sought  after  the  cabinet  making,  on  account  of 
its  beautiful  colour,  while  it  has  also  the  property  of 
resisting  the  depreciation  of  insects.  These  merits 
are  almost  fatal  to  the  existence  of  the  tree  as  a 
rubber  producer,  and  in  some  of  the  South  American 
States,  forests  are  being  cut  down  without  any  regard 
to  the  profit  that  can  be  secured  by  tapping  them  in 
an  intelligent  manner.  In  Venezuela  the  tree  is 
also  to  be  found  in  great  abundance.,  and  it  grows 
very  freely  in  the  mountainous  districts  of  the  northern 
states  of  South  America.  In  British  Guiana  immense 
forests  are  found  in  the  low-lying  districts  of  swampy 
Cauje.  In  a report  on  the  balatas,  published  recently 
by  M.  Hayes,  a colonising  agent,  it  was  said  that 
there  was  a sufficient  expanse  of  forest  in  the  Guians 
to  allow  of  the  exploitation  of  rubber  being  carried 
on  for  centuries.  It  was  however,  necessary  that 
something  should  be  done  to  prevent  the  whole- 
sale destruction  of  the  Mimusops  balata,  which 
would  very  soon  disappear,  if  alloweed  to  be 
cut  down  indiscriminately  for  its  wood,  and  one 
of  the  richest  and  most  prolific  resources  of  South 
America  would  thus  be  destroyed.  In  fact,  both  in 
Venezuela  and  the  Dutch  Guiana  the  trees  are  cut 
down  with  a view  to  collecting  as  much  of  the  juice 
as  possible,  and  in  French  Guiana  the  same  process 
was  for  a long  time  t mployed.  When  the  trees  are 
thus  felled,  circular  cuts  are  made  every  12  inches, 
and  receptacles  are  placed  underneath  to  catch  the 
juice.  The  bark  is  also  removed  from  the  tree  and 
juice  extracted  from  it  by  presses.  In  British 
Guiana  it  is  only  permissible  to  tap  the  trees  with- 
out felling  them,  and  a similar  restriction  is  now 
imposed  in  the  neighbouring  French  colony.  The 
English  method  of  collecting  the  rubber  is  to  make 
horizontal  incisions  halfway  round  the  tree,  and  con- 
nect them  with  a vertical  channel  to  allow  of  the 
fluid  flowing  down  into  the  receptacle,  but  a better 
method  is  said  to  consist  in  cutting  out  rectangular 
pieces  of  bark  from  which  the  juice  is  exracted  by 
presses.  Alternate  rectangles  must,  of  course,  be  left 
on  the  trunk,  and  these  can  be  removed  at  the  next 
tapping,  when  the  exposed  parts  of  the  tree  are 
sufficiently  healed.  To  secure  perfect  vitality 
in  the  tree,  it  is  preferable  to  tap  it 
only  over  a third  of  its  circumference  every  five 
Tears.  If  properly  carried  out,  the  collection  of 
balata  rubber  is  a very  profitable  industry.  One 
traveller  in  French  Guiana,  who  was  accompanied 
by  three  men,  collecte  1 GtiO  litres  of  juice  in  119 
days,  which  produced,  on  coagulation,  720  lb.  of 
rubber.  It  is  estimated  that  a single  balata  will 
supply  2 lb.  of  rubber  eveiw  year  without  suffering 
to  any  appreciable  extent  from  the  tapping.  The 
system  usually  employed  for  securing  coagulation  is 
to  pour  the  liquid  into  large  shallow  pans,  about 
4 inches  deep.  A hard  crust  very  soon  forms  at  the 
surface,  and  this  is  removed  to  allow  of  another  crust 
forming,  and  so  on  until  the  whole  of  the  juice  is 
solidified.  The  crusts  are  then  hung  on  lines  to  dry. 
The  balata  rubber,  though  perhaps  slightly  inferior 
to  caoutchouc  for  certain  purposes,  and  notably  as  an 
insulating  medium,  is  yet  specially  adapted  for  a 
great  many  uses,  such  as  machinery,  belting,  mackin- 
toshes, surgical  appliances,  &c.,  but  its  merits  are  so 
far  recognised  that  a considerable  trade  has  grown  up 
during  the  past  two  or  three  years  iu  the  Guianas. 
V hile  the  exports  of  balata  rubber  .from  British 
Guiana  in  1881  were  only  41,000  lb.,  they  were  no 
less  than  3G8.480  lb.  in  1889,  and  though  the  total 
fell  to  287,450  lb.  in  1892-98,  the  value  has  been 
rapidly  increasing.  In  Dutch  Guiana  the  industry 
has  not  been  carried  on  in  such  a systematic  manner, 
nevertheless  two  .American  companies  are  exploiting 
the  balata  on  a large  scale,  and  are  sending  the 
product  to  the  United  States.  That  the  industry 
can  be  made  a very  profitable  one  may  be  seen  in  the 
price  paid  for  the  rubber,  which  varies  in  Paris  from 
three  to  eight  francs  per  k logramme  (kilogramme — 
2'204  lbs.  avoirdupois),  accoiding  to  quality.  It  is 
evident  that,  while  industrial  ente)  prise,  says  Consul 
Meriitt,  is  Ijing  under  a cloud  iu  South  America,  it 
may  be  to  the  interest  of  capitalists  to  turn  these 
balata  resources  to  account.  In  this  connection,  a 
few  notes  are  added  to  show  the  condition  of  German 
rubber  companies.  The  new  buildings  of  the  German 
Rubber  and  Guttapercha  Goods  Company  (formerly 
Volpi  and  Schluter)  at  Berlin,  erected  during  the 
latter  part  of  1894,  are  now  occupied.  The  dividend 
for  1894  was  4 per  cent.  The  products  are  mainly 
supplies  for  rai'roads,  and  the  capital  is  1,400,000 
marks  (£70,000).  At  the  general  meeting  of  the 
Mannheim  Rubber,  Guttapercha,  and  Asbestos  Fac- 
tory, it  was  resolved  to  pay  at  once  a dividend  of 
8 per  cent.  The  dividend  declared  on  the  business 
for  1894  of  the  United  Berlin  Frankfort  Rubber 
Goods  Factory  was  8 per  cent.,  and  the  same  for  1895. 
An  exceptionally  good  showing  is  made  by  the  Han- 
over Rubber  Comb . Company— a joint  stock  com- 
pany. Their  profits  for  1894,  after  ample  provision 
had  been  made  for  the  usual  reserves,  permitted  a 
dividend  of  21  per  cent,  to  be  declared.  The  divi- 
dend for  the  preceeding  year  amounted  to  17  per  cent. 
— Journal  of  the  Hocietp  of  Arts,  Aug.  14. 
THE  FUTURE  OF  COFFEE  PLANTING  : 
LAUY-BIRD  BEETLES  FOR.  COFFEE- 
BUG,  cC'C. 
Among  tlie  editorials  in  the  latest  file  of  a 
London  leading  financial  paper— the  Financial 
Times  of  August  13th— is  one  on  “ The  Brazilian 
Outlook,”  giving  an  account  of  the  failure  of 
a well-known  and  old  established  Rio  firm  with 
liabilities  of  over  £600, OCO  ! And  although  our 
contemporary  does  nob  take  a gloomy  view  of 
the  future,  it  admits  that  “ a mild  commercial 
crisis  ” is  nob  unlikely,  and  we  know  w'hat  a 
disturbing  inlluence  that  must  have  on  a great 
jilanting  industry,  and  especially  on  the  develop- 
ment and  extension  of  planting— on  which  the 
continued  prosperity  of  the  Brazilian  coffee 
enterprise  so  greatly  depends.  Here  then  we 
have  a new  and  strong  argument  for  faith  in 
the  future  of  “ coffee”  as  a product  not  likely  to 
be  over-supplied  from  any  quarter  for  a long 
period  to  come.  We  have  already  given  our 
reasons  for  this  faith  in  respect  of  the  Eastern 
hemisphere,  and  if  any  check  should  be  placed 
on  the  Brazil  enterprise,  the  encouragement  to 
try  our  old  staple  freely  not  only  in  Africa  and 
Jav.a,  but  in  the  Straits  and  once  again  in  Ceylon 
would  be  \ ery  great  indeed.  We  had  the  other  day 
an  interview  at  Cambridge  with  Professor 
Marshall  Ward — now  permanently  attached  to 
the  Scientific  Staff  of  the  Cambridge  University 
after  some  eiglit  years’  work  in  connection  with 
Cooper’s  Hill  College.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  Professor  Ward  (who  is  still  in  the  prime  of 
life)  won  his  spurs  as  a scientist,  by  his  careful 
observations  and  able  working  out  of  the  Life 
History  of  Hcniilcm  Vastatrix,  the  fungus  which 
pr.actically  destroyed  the  Coffee  Industry  in  Ceylon. 
Professor  Ward,  who  recalls  with  pleasure  his 
stay  in  our  midst  and  the  many  valued  friends 
he  made  among  the  planters,  was  much  interested 
in  hearing  of  the  marvellous  development  of  our 
tea  planting,  and  still  more  at  its  so  entirely 
superseding  coffee  in  all  the  Kandy  and  higher 
districts.  Like  every  one  else  who  recalls  the  old 
conditions,  he  deprecates  the  universal  and  con- 
tinuous Jilanting  of  “ tea.”  “ Why  can’t  you 
have  it  broken  up  ?”  “ Wh}^  entirely  abandon 
coffee  ?” — were  some  very  natural  questions  ; bull 
