10 
Pineapple .— A price of £60 as mentioned by you is a fancy price 
and is in my opinion impossible to realize in the open market for 
regularly shipments, the price for this fibre will always be about the 
same as for Sanseveria which according to quality, colour and length 
will fetch between £2 7/37 per ton as a normal average price, except 
if of very short length, i. e., under 25 Ctm. 
Ramie . — (China Grass) 1 sent you by to-day’s Mail a. sample taken 
out of lots sold without difficulty in big qualities at £20/30 per ton 
The general Hamburg market is as follows : — 
Sisal. October. 
Mexico £35 
E. G. Africa 36 
Aloes . — Mauritius 28/33 
D. O. Africa 28/3 1 
Manila fair current 38.10^. 
New Zealand good fair 32. 
November 1904. 
£35 
36. 1 os. 
29/34 
30/32 
40. 
32.105. 
A fair business has been done here and in the neighbour markets 
with an always strong upwards tendency for all lib're and hemp 
sorts, especially for Manila. The arrivals are not in proportion 
with the consumption especially not in the better qualities which 
are always in strong demand at daily higher prices asked and paid 
for, however in Sisal the market at actual high prices is dull and no 
contracts’ for shipments to arrive and term are reported. 
L. RIEBOW, 
Hamburg , 10th November , 1904 . 
RUBBER VINES IN SOUTH ANNAM. 
The Bulletin Economique de Hanoi contains in No. 35, Novem- 
ber, 1904, an important article on the Rubber vines of Southern 
Annam by M. VERNET. There are several species of climbing 
Apocynacesc in this country which produce a fairly good rubber, and 
the French Direction de 1 ’ Agriculture has for some time been 
employed in studying these plants and experimenting in processes 
for the extraction of the latex. Of these plants the two most suit- 
able for cultivation are Parameria glandulifera and Xylinbarui 
Raynaudi. The former occurs to a small extent in the Malay 
Peninsula. Besides these however, there are species of Chone- 
morpha, EcdyscntJiera and Pezizicarpus in the forests, which also 
supply rubber. The rubber from these wild plants is collected by 
natives but as they grow only here and there in the jungle they 
bring in a mixture of gums c and rubbers from all kinds of plants 
wherever they can find them and the result is consequently a very 
poor and valueless product. For this reason the Annam rubbers 
have obtained a bad reputation. It is also difficult owing to the 
wild way in which the Hanes' climb in the forests to satisfactorily 
tap them. After cutting into them .also the latex coagulates soon 
