6 
“ of Jack fruit [Artocarpus integrifolia ) how to ship me the seeds. 
“ He followed instructions and I raised 80 % of the seeds sent. 
A BIG PARA RUBBER CROP. 
According to the United States Consul at Para, it is believed that 
an exceptionally good crop of rubber will be harvested in that pro- 
vince this season. The rubber fields of the lower river, and es- 
pecially in the islands, are slowly but surely failing, both in quantity 
and quality, but the decrease is more than made up by the develop- 
ment of new fields and the expansion of the old fields on the Upper 
Amazon. While all the more important tributaries of the Amazon 
are supplying their full quota of rubber, and even making a pro- 
mising increase, interest, he says will be centred in the now famous 
Acre territory and in South Eastern Ecuador. In the regions 
reached by the Purus (of which the Acre is a tributary) Jurua, Beni, 
Madre de Dios, Jawari, Ucayali, Japura and other great affluents of 
the Upper Amazon which penetrate Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, 
there are illimitable rubber forests as yet unexplored, which will 
now be gradually developed. Many seringueiros, or rubber 
gatherers," are making their way to these regions, and it is reported 
that several syndicates are about to begin operations in new fields 
in Bolivia and Peru. Home Paper. 
EXTRACTION OF RUBBER PROM BARK. 
The question of extracting rubber from the bark of certain rub- 
ber trees has repeatedly been suggested and experimented upon. 
So far, little success appears to have been achieved. 
[t certainly does not strike one as a very difficult matter to de- 
vise a process for the extraction of the rubber from a bark which 
really contains a fair amount of it. But it is certainly impossible 
to devise such a process without any direct reference Jo be operated 
upon. In other words, a thorough chemical examination of the 
bark in question is the first step to be taken. Further, there may 
be a large quantity of rubber in the bark, but it is most likely ac- 
companied by a considerable proportion of resinous matter, the 
separation of which from the rubber would be quite as important 
as the elimination of the bark. Otherwise it might be found that 
the rubber extracted is of such inferior quality as to be almost 
valueless commercially. This, to a large extent, is what has been 
found in the various attempts of extracting gutta percha from the 
leaves of the gutta trees. 
The resin accompanying the rubber in the different rubber trees 
varies very considerably in properties, and unless these are known 
it is quite impossible to give any directions as to their separation 
from the rubber. If the amount of resionous matter present should 
turn to be so small that its presence in the rubber could be tolerated 
there would still be the question of the nature of the tissues of the 
bark which has to be separated from the rubber. Under favour- 
