760 
THb:  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
INDIAliUliBER  IN  GERMAN  AFRICA. 
In  an  ollicial  report  on  “ The  Products  of  the 
German  Uolouies  and  their  Industrial  Value,”  Dr. 
O.  IVarburg  writes  ; lu  the  export  of  caoutchouc 
only  three  of  the  German  colonies  of  tropical  Africa 
are  of  importance.  Caoutchouc  is  the  cliief  article 
of  export  from  Cameroon  and  German  East  Africa. 
Although  in  tropical  Africa  a few  other  plants 
(I'icus  and  lately  Kickxia)  have  furnished  service- 
able caoutchouc,  in  our  colonies,  rubber  has  been 
gained  almost  exclusively  from  the  Landolpldas,  es- 
pecially />.  Kirkii  and  7..  Petersiana,  in  East  Africa, 
and  L.  Comorenaiis  var,  jlorida,  in  the  Coast  colonies. 
In  the  northern  part  of  the  Cameroon  district  only 
the  milky  juice  of  an  unidentified  tree  is  turned 
to  account,  The  exports  were  ; 
TOOOL.\XD. 
Pounds.  Value. 
In  1892  ..  81,400  ^33,500 
In  1893  ..  ..  63,800  24,750 
In  1891  ..  ..  68,200  29,000 
In  1895  (excluding  first  quarter)  ..  41,000 
[)It  must  be  taken  into  consideration  that  only  a 
portion  of  the  caoutchouc  obtained  in  Togo  is  ex- 
ported to  German  porte  and  that  therefore  the  figures 
as  given  here  are  too  low  by  half.] 
CAMEROON. 
In  1892 
710,600 
$256,000 
In  1893 
910,800 
356,750 
In  1894 
880,000 
326,000 
GERMAN  EAST  AIRICA. 
In  1891 
521,000 
$2-10,000 
In  1892 
686,000 
282,000 
In  1893 
500,000 
233,000 
In  1891 
415,000 
247,000 
That  this  enormousquantity  of  1,363,200 
pounds  to  the 
yaliie  oi  fiiG02,000  can  only  be 
obtained  by  the  des- 
Iructiou  of  countless  caoutchouc  trees,  is  plain,  as  no 
method  excepting  the  cutting  off  ot  the  trunks  has  as 
yet  been  discovered,  and  this  indicates  that  befoie 
long  the  export  must  decrease  unless  heroic  measures 
are  adopted  to  check  this  wholesale  destruction. 
To  obtain  caoutchouc  advantageously  from  planta- 
tions has  so  far  proved  a failure.  The  many  ex- 
periments in  other  countries  have  found  their 
followers  hero.  In  Togo  the  d'Almeida  Brothers,  la-t 
year,  planted  i,5t)U  Oeara  rubber-trees,  for  shading 
their  colloe-plants.  The  Kpeme  Plantation  Go.  con- 
template making  a caoutchouc  plantation  in  the 
vicinity  of  Togo.  Exporinients  with  these  plants  as 
shade  trees  in  Gamei'oon  (Victoria)  had  to  be 
abandoned  as  they  were  damaging  the  coffee  trees, 
The  Para  caoutchouc  tree  is  now  being  experi- 
mented with.  In  German  East  Africa  Perrot 
planted,  on  the  Mkulumuzi  plantation,  owned 
by  the  West  Gorman  Trading  and  Plantation 
Co.  10,000  Ceara  caoutchouc-trees,  and  the  v.  St, 
Paul  plantation  have  put  out  30,000  caoutchouc- 
plants. 
* * » 
From  other  sources  the  exports  of  India-rubber 
from  German  East  Africa  are  found  to  have  been 
for  1891,  as  follows: 
To- 
Pounds. 
Rupees. 
Germany 
156,115 
181,905 
Great  Britain 
17,600 
25,766 
Zanzibar 
339,665 
475,589 
Total. . 
513,380 
6 80,260 
Converting  the  rupee  at  par  this  valuation  would 
be  equal  to  $341,630,  or  at  the  present  value  in  the 
United  States  curi'ency,  only  $157,833. — India  Rubber 
]Vorld,  March  10. 
RUBBER  RESOURCES  OF  SIERRA  LEONE. 
The  India-rubber  resources  of  the  British  protec- 
torate of  Sierra  Leone,  West  Africa,  received  special 
attention  from  the  colonial  governor.  Colonel 
P’rcderic  Cardew,  c.m.o.,  during  his  recent  prolonged 
tour  in  the  interior,  an  account  of  which  has  been 
presented  to  the  legislative  council  and  printed  in 
the  Sierra  1j  mue  Weekbj  \cn;n.  It  was  the  third 
Jour  undertaken  by  the  governor  within  three  years. 
[May  I,  1897. 
each  over  a different  route,  and  involving  in  all 
same  1875  miles  of  travel.  As  a result,  the  extent 
and  direction  of  the  water-courses  are  now  much 
better  understood,  and  the  extent  of  the  forests  more 
accurately  known,  especially  in  the  valley  of  the 
Mano  river,  forming  the  boundary  between  Sierra 
Leone  and  Liberia.  Much  of  the  governor’s  latest 
route  was  through  territory  never  before  visited  by 
white  men. 
“ Though  the  indigenous  products  of  the  protectorate 
may  not  be  superabundant,”  writes  the  governor,  “still, 
I believe,  partly  from  want  of  cheap  means  of  trans- 
port, a lack  of  enterprise  on  the  part  of  the  traders, 
the  ignorance  of  the  natives  in  the  methods  of 
gathering  and  preparing  their  products,  such  as 
India-rubber,  and  palm-oil,  and  their  paucity  of  wants, 
not  nearly  half  the  products  of  the  country  are  ever 
bi’ought  to  the  markets.  There  are  large  tracts  of 
forests  with  abundance  of  rubber  and  valuable  timber 
awaiting  exportation.  They  have  been  in  no  sense 
explored,  and  they  only  require  intelligent  and 
systematic  methods  for  gathering  the  rubber  to  yield 
their  wealth  to  the  first  comer  who  has  the  neces- 
sary enterprise.” 
Referring  to  a certain  district  traversed  during  his 
late  tour,  he  says  that  the  extent  of  forest  land 
within  it  may  be  computed  at  not  less  than  600 
square  miles.  Along  the  greater  portion  of  his  route 
cbe  forest  is  of  some  eight  to  ten  years’  growth,  the 
former  cultivators  of  the  soil  having  disappeared 
on  account  of  the  activity  of  slave-raiders  at  one 
time.  But  in  many  parts  of  the  district  virgin 
forests  still  exist.  It  is  of  particular  interest,  how- 
ever, to  learn  that  “ even  in  the  forests  of  re- 
cent growth  there  is  an  abundance  of  rubber.  This 
is  contrary  to  the  accepted  view  that  the  perma- 
nent disappearance  of  the  African  rubber  creepers 
is  the  inevitable  result  of  the  felling  of  the  virgin 
forests.  This  was  the  opinion  expressed  by  G.  F. 
Scott  Elliot,  whose  official  report  on  the  botany  of 
Sierra  Leone  was  reviewed  in  the  India  Rubber 
World  of  November  10,  1894. 
Unfortunately  Governor  Cardew’s  enumeration  of 
rubber-bearing  species  does  not  render  their  iden- 
tification possible.  He  does  not  even  quote  the 
same  local  names  as  those  given  by  Mr.  Elliott, 
whose  observations  were  made  in  a different  district. 
The  report  continues  ; 
“ Three  kinds  of  such  [rubber]  plants  were 
Xsoiiited  out  to  me.  Two  were  vines  called,  res- 
pectively, in  the  Timui  language  “ lilibue  ” and 
‘ nofe,’  and  the  third  a tree  called  in  the 
same  language  ‘ kewatia.’  The  ‘ lilibue  ’ yields  the 
choicest  rubber  in  the  pi'otectorate.  In  gathering 
it,  incisions  are  made  in  the  bark  of  the  vine,  which 
is  not,  however,  always  cut  down.  In  the  case  of 
the  ‘ nofe  ’ vine,  it  is  invariably  cut  up  into  small 
pieces  of  about  six  inches  in  length,  and  thus  com- 
pletely destroyed.  The  ‘ kewatia,’  i.  e.,  the  rubber 
tree,  appears  to  grow  rapidly,  and  in  eight  or  ten 
years  to  attain  a girth  of  from  two  to  three  feet, 
but  the  tree,  however,  like  the  ‘ nofe,’  is  also  de- 
stroyed in  the  process  of  gathering  its  rubber ; it 
is  felled  and  the  bark  ringed  at  intervals  of  about 
six  inches  along  the  trunk.  The  rubber  appears  to 
be  treated  in  a different  way  to  that  of  the  vines; 
the  latter  is  coagulated  with  lime  juice,  but  the  rub- 
ber which  exudes  from  the  rings  cut  in  the  tree 
is  placed  in  hot  water,  on  the  surface  of  which  it 
coagulates,  and  is  then  cut  into  strips,  which  are 
formed  into  balls  for  the  market.” 
The  governor  considers  it  absurd  that  large  trees 
should  be  destroyed  for  a paltry  few  ounces,  or  even 
pounds,  of  rubber,  and  urges  that  steps  be  taken 
to  instruct  the  natives  in  better  methods  of  rubber 
gathering,  before  greater  damage  has  been  done  to 
the  forests.  An  account  of  the  methods  of  prepar- 
ing Para  rubber  for  market  was  published  at 
the  recent  agricultural  exhibition  at  Sierra  Leone, 
and  the  authorities  have  since  drawn  up  “ an 
account  of  other  processes  which  may  be  suit- 
able to  the  rubber  industry  of  this  colony.”  The 
natives  of  some  of  the  districts  appear  to  be  ignorant 
not  not  only  of  methods  of  rubber  gathering,  but  als9 
