above mentioned have not given even this attent ion to the mduslty 
except Minas Geraes which collects an export duty of 4 P Lr f’ 1 ; 
ad valorem. In these seven slates the first comer may harvest 
crop wherever he may find it on the public domain 
On the other hand, the stale of Para from which by tar the 
largest shipments are made, encourages the ^ntmg^caoutdww- 
bv offering a premium of 1,000,000 reis s, or over $1,000 ° r 
2^000 trees that are properly planted. I Ins law, which has been 
deforce only four years, is already stimulating the the development 
of rubber plantations and its wisdom is being condusively demon- 
strated. This large state, which embraces all the lower part ot the 
Amazon and some of its mightiest tributaries will not have to rely, 
in the coming years, upon supplies that grow wild in the _ fo ^ 
in fact, no source of rubber so freely tapped as that in Para can be 
relied upon indefinitely to yield an unfailing supply. The day s o 
exhaustion will come fust as they have overtaken the rubber vines 
of West Africa, which have all been killed for many miles in and 
from the coast. The only way to supply the future demand will be 
to increase the quantity, and that can be done only by rubber 
planting, which, in a few decades, will revolutionize the business 
1 lie world now depends almost solely upon the wild sources o 
supply, but there w ill be a great deal of plantation rubber m the 
market before the century now beginning is very far advanced. 
The State of Sao Paulo also offers a handsome premium for the 
development of rubber plantations, and both these states impose 
a comparatively heavy tax upon the exports of rubber with he 
wise intention of devoting a considerable part of the ^atto^ro sso 
conservation and encouragement of the industry. Matto G 0 , 
under the law of 1898, otters special facilities for the acquirement 
of a fixed quantity of rubber lands by those who discover them in 
the vast part of the public domain that is still unexplored Ama- 
zonas and Bahia are not yet offering special inducements for rub- 
ber planting, but the land laws, adopted by these states in 1897. 
facilitate private owneiship in rubber forests and thisjs a long 
step toward establishing the industry on a stable basis. 
Ml these improvements in the status of the rubber industry ol 
Brazil have been made within the past four years They encourage 
the belief that this great source of wealth will come, more and 
more, to be managed scientifically in the interest of Brazil and of 
the world and the great advantage of the investors of capital 
GUTTA PERCHA IN NEW GUINEA. 
For some years there has been a report that' Gutta-percha of 
good quality had been .found wild in German New Guinea, and the 
German Government naturally much interested in this matter, 
offered a large reward for its discovery. As early as November 
180^ Professor Engler described in the Notiz-blatt des Konigl, 
Hot Gart. und Mus'zu Berlin No. 3. p. 101, four plants from King 
Wilhelm’s Land, where the following names are applied to the pro- 
duct. Getah Susu (Palaquium Susu Engl) the best kind, Getai 
Maran ( Pa vena Bawun Scheflf) Getah Natu \Payena Menisci 11 K. 
