I Ocr., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 411. 
large areas of land suitable for the cultivation of different kinds of rubber-trees 
have been discovered, whilst quantities of indigenous trees have been shown to 
exist on the island, and have already been utilised by white men commercially. 
In December, 1897, we showed that the getting of rubber in New Guinea was 
a very paying business. We then mentioned the case of a rubber trader who 
arrived in Sydney with two tons of New Guinea rubber. It had cost him £200 
from the tree to the market. Tn Sydney he disposed of it at 3s. per lb.—that is 
£336 per ton. The Ily River Syndicate (N.G.) took specimens of rubber from 
their trees to the same market, and were offered £200 per ton as per sample, 
two or three months ahead, no matter what might be the then state of the 
market. The Fly River Syndicate consists of two or three enterprising New 
South Welshmen, who leased a four square mile island on the Fly River, where 
the rubber-tree grows profusely indigenously. ‘This they at once began to 
stock with young trees from Java and Ceylon—trees that will yield 3 Ib. of 
rubber juice in two years. 
It may be remembered that some years ago a plantation (Hsmeralda) of 
Ceara rubber-trees (Manthot Glaziovii) was formed at Mourilyan Harbour, in 
North Queensland. But the site was badly chosen, and after a time a cyclone 
utterly destroyed most of the trees. ‘This discouraged the owners, and the 
plantation was allowed to revert to its original wild state, It is, however, ascer- 
tained that, from the few trees which survived, hundreds of seeds have fallen to 
the ground and have germinated, and quantities of young trees are to be 
found beneath the older ones, which are now about 18 years old. 
The most valuable rubber is obtained from the 
the Para rubber, worth about 3s. 7d. per lb. 
In Mexico the tree most planted is the Castilloa elasticr, acknowledged to 
be the best of the rubber-bearing trees from a planter’s point of view. “From 
ull the reports which have reached us from reliable sources, it seems clear 
that there is money in rubber-growing, provided it is done systematically and 
on a sufficiently large scale, with plenty of capital for a start. 
The India-rubber World says that a profit of 300 per cent. is what may be 
expected from eight-year-old trees. The Rangoon Gazette says: ‘*Some idea may 
he formed of the profitable nature of the trade when we say that 100,000 trees 
produce at a low estimate an annual revenue, after deducting expenses, of 
from £25,000 to £30,000.” 
The Ceylon Propical Agriculturist, some little time ago (1897), gave the 
profit in Nicaragua, which may arise at the end of the eighth year (on 100,000 
trees) at £44,337 10s., and of the ninth year at £47,620, on an original net 
capital outlay of £3,625. The Government premium is 3d. per tree. 
The Mexican Government grants a subsidy to the owners of the Llano 
de Juarez of 3 cents for every rubber-tree planted which attains a certain 
growth up to a limit of 15,000,000 trees—equal to about £3,000 per 1,000,000 ; 
the trees to be planted at the rate of 1,050,000 per annum, 
At the present time the Mexican Gulf Agricultural Company haye on their 
property, known as the “ Dos Rios” plantation, 100,000 rubber-trees four years 
old, 100,000 three years old, 200,000 two yearsold, and propose putting out 200,000 
per annum for the next three years, which will complete atotal of 1,000,000 trees. 
The Mexican Tropical Planters’ Company (an allied company) expect to put out 
on their own plantations 100,000 rubber-trees this year, and a similar number 
for their investors, for whom they are doing work in that vicinity, 
For exhaustive information on rubber-planting all over the tropical world, 
we refer our readers to Vol. I. of this Journal, 1897, and Vol. I1., 1898, and 
particularly to “Notes on the New Guinea Rubber Industry,” by the Hon. A. 
Musgrave, Government Secretary, and Mr. A. ©. English, Government Agent 
for the Rigo district, New Guinea, who has planted 25 acres of indigenous 
rubber-trees, the ‘‘ Makimaki” (Hiews rigo), see p. 488, Vol. II., June, 1898. 
Mr. M. H. Lewis, general manager of the Gulf Agricultural Company, 
has communicated to the India-rubber World the following very interesting 
article on 
Hevea braziliensis, producing 
