1 Aprit, 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 307- 
GREEN RUBBER. 
From the Tropenpflauzer (Organ des Kolonialwirtschaftlichen Komitees, Berlin) 
we take the following note on ‘Green Rubber” :—Much has already been. 
written on the extraction of guttapercha from the leaves of the tree by the 
Rigoles method, and only lately this invention was represented in a very bad 
light by many publications, whilst previously optimistic opinions prevailed on 
the other side. Who is right, time must show. But meanwhile the fact 
remains that the product by this method is placed on the market in quantity 
and offered to the manufacturers. In the United States shipments made some- 
months ago were favourably received. 
In Europe, the well-known firm of H. P. Moorhouse, Paris, undertook the 
sale of green guttapercha. This firm reports:—Green guttapercha is the extract 
of the leaves of the Zsonandra, a tree which hitherto has yielded the rubber 
of commerce by tapping or by felling. The product has the advantage :—1. 
Of guaranteeing a constant equal quality to the purchaser. 2. The work 
of cleaning, which inereases the price from 15 to 20 per cent., is entirely done 
away with. In addition, the material combines the same properties of ordinary 
rubber with an exceedingly great solidity and elasticity, which must necessarily 
tend to strengthen and extend the use of the material. 
The green colour, which results from the chlorophyl contained in the 
leaves, can easily be altered or done away with by ordinary chemical process. 
‘Ag it is very plastic and yet very solid, the green rubber can be bent and 
twisted at will, without breaking. It can be rolled into very thin plates;.it, - 
gives the most exact and delicate impressions, and withstands the action of water 
as well as that of the sharpest acids. Even after it has been used and broken 
up, it still represents a value of about 25 per cent. of the cost price. 
The French Telegraph Directory, in order to obtain an authoritative 
opinion on the product, has employed the new rubber for the repair of deep- 
sea cables, and experiments made with the most sensitive apparatus haye 
established the fact that, as far as capacity and insulation are concerned, the 
rubber extracted from the leaves gave better results than were obtained with 
other first-class rubber. The green rubber works up either when pure or - 
mixed, as in the case of the ordinary crude material, with the. only difference 
that, on account of its purity and homogeneity, exceeding care has to be taken 
in working it, and this has to be done at a somewhat higher temperature—100 - 
degrees to 120 degrees Réaumur (257° I’.) 
