33 1 
on this point, it is at once obvious to all those familiar with the 
peculiar physico-chemical phenomenon known as polymerisation, 
that the properties of the product of the coagulation of the latex, 
the quality of the india-rubber produced, is not onesidedly ^ e ^ r_ 
mined by the species of the tree furnishing the latex, but is capable 
of variation between very wide limits. 
3. The nature of this variation must therefore be determined 
by the physical, but even much more by the chemical conditions 
observed in the carrying out of the coagulation process. 
4. So far the truth of this has been recognised only in regard 
to the physical conditions observed, the variation of the quality of 
the rubber produced due to specific and definite chemical conditions 
has hardly been recognised yet otherwise than in the crudest 
fashion, and it certainly has not been made to our knowledge the 
object of systematic investigation. 
5. These will probably have to be made on the spot so as to 
render it possible to examine the latex in its virgin condition, as it 
is highly probable that the preserving agents which have to be 
added to the latex, in order to render it sufficiently permanent for 
shipping it to Europe, almost certainly result in differentiating it 
more or less from the original product. 
C. O. WEBER, 
Extracted from the India-Rubber and Gutta-Percha Traded 
JotirnaL February, ryth , 1902. 
A RUBBER PLANTATION IN GUATEMALA. 
This account of a large plantation of Castilloa is taken from 
an article in the Journal d’ Agriculture Tropicale (No. 9 March, 
1902) by M. Rene Guerin, and will interest many planters. The 
plantation belongs to M. JOAQUIM Asturias, and is known as the 
Finca (hacienda, plantation) Et Baul. A large sample of the rub- 
ber was exhibited at the Paris exhibition and received a gold 
medal. 
The plantation includes about 50,000 trees of which 30,000, from 
10 to 15 years old are producing rubber The soil very copiously 
watered consists of zones of sand and of black soil. There seems 
no difference in the appearance and production of the trees on 
either zone. The trees'shed their leaves in March and April, the 
dry season, when the seeds are ripe. 
All the trees in the plain country furnish regularly a latex of the 
same quality, but those on the mountain-slopes, which have to stand 
a drought, give a greater amount of latex in the wet season than 
in the dry one, but as the latex is less rich in rubber the return is 
the same. 
Castilloas grown in the plain begin to give seed in the third 
year. Those grown in the forests, under shade grow more slowly 
and are at that age scarcely 9 fee* tall, but as soon as they get 
i/i<u 
