The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-07-07
INDIA RUBBER.
A NEW SOURCE OF SUPPLY pIsCOV-
Erred IN SOUTH AMERICA
A New Method of COagulating the Juice
The Rubber Industry in Brazil - The
Tremendous Demand Constantly
on the Increase.
TChicago Times. ]


During the past twenty-five years the
demand for India rubber has been con
stantly increasing. The amount required
for car springs has been enormous. Rub
Der shoes are now worn by people Of all
classes. Most men exposed to the snow
and raj wear rubber boots. A kind Of
rubber shoe has been made expressly for
protecting the boots made of belted wool,
that are now so popular with lumbermen
and others who work in the cold. Rub
Der is now an ingredient in various kinds
of paint Every woman has water
proof cloak, and many men have water
proof coats A complete suit of water
shoes, can be obtained from any
dealer in rubber clothing. The
number and variety of articles now kept
in rubber stores surprises a person who
visits one for the first time. They en-
brace almost everything that is manu-
featured for ornament or use The num-
Der of rubber toys is almost endless.
Nearly every article that was once manu-
featured from bone, horn, wood or metal
is now made from rubber From infancy
to old age, during sickness and health, we
are constantly using rubber il some form
Goodyer endowed it with new properties,
and made it subserve purposes for which
it could not be used in its natural state
while Macintosh rendered it soluble, SO
that it could be incorporated in the fiber
of cloth and other substances.
The many uses to which rubber has
been applied during the past forty years
has caused its price to advance in all parts
of the world where it is obtained. The
natives of Brazil, from which most of the
best rubber is obtained, once wasted most
of the T. duct of the rubber forests. Of
late years they have relied on the money
they obtained from it for i-eir support
Our consul at Para states that SO per cent
nf ba no Of bo
Amazon consists of rubber. The inhabi-
tants neglect all other industries for col
lecting rubber. With the finest pastures
in the world, they eat jerked
beef from the Argentine Repub-
lie and canned meats from the
excellent fish, which are easily caught,
they eat immense quantities of salt cod
smoked herrings obtained from northern
countries. With dense forests of the most
valuable sorts of wood they import their
furniture and most of their building ma
terials. Not many months ago the price
of crude rubber was SO cents per pound at
Para and the average inhabitant could
supply his wants by working one day a
week in the rubber forests Recently the
price has declined, and the price now paid
by the merchants of Para is only 80 cents
per pound. In consequence of this de-
cline many are seeking new means Of OBJ.
tanning living.
A few years ago there was considerable
alarm over the report that the sources of
the supply of rubber were failing. The
governments of several European coun-
tries instructed their agents abroad to as
certain what measures could be resorted
to for the purpose of keeping the market
supplied with rubber which had become
of so much value in the al IS. 1t now
seems likely that rubber is to become more
plenty, an that the price will be lower
than it has been at any time since the
article came into general use. A new
method of COagulating the juice without
the employment of smoke is reported from
Brazil 1t is the invention of Antonio
Bentes, of that country. A new source of
supply has also been discovered in a tree
from which rubber has not been obtained.
A know edge of it was obtained by our
consul at Rio Janeif0 from 5. s. SCHNEIDER,
who resides at Campinas, in the province
of San Paulo. This communication,
which has been transmitted to Washing
ton, is as follows:
THE mangaba or mangabeira, as it is
called in Brazil, is a tree of medium size
belonging the apocynaCa 1t presents
a graceful appearance, something like the
weeping willow, with dropping branches
and small Oblong-shaped leaves of
glossy dark green, finely marked, and hav
ing a sharp rounded point at the apex
This tree yields an excellent rubber, but
up to few months ago, before my com
ing to this province it was only esteemed
on account of its fruit which possesses a
fine aroma delicious taste and makes a
preserve which is a great favorite with
the BraZitians. This fruit is about the
size of a large plum, of a yellowish color,
marked with reddish spots or streaks. 1t
is only fit to be eaten when it falls from
the tree, as it is then perfectly ripe. The
mangabeira has therefore the double adj
vantage Of bearing fruit which can be eX
ported, and of yielding a valuable rubber
The inhabitants of this province of San
Paulo are Just beginning to realize the
the vast stores of undeveloped wealth eX.
listing in their vast plains, and a fine
quality of rubber will be exported which
will soon rival that of Para in quality, if
not in quantity.
"The process of extracting milk from
the mangabeira tree is very simple, and
possesses great advantage over the serin-
gueiras of Para, as it is met with in large
quantities in the most healthy localities
1t t1Ourishes only IN sandy soil, and is
therefore only encountered in unproduc-
tive land unfit for the ordinary purposes
of agriculture. When the milk is about
to be collected, each person must be sup
piled with about twenty large round tins
as we'll as "a large knife facao). He
should make oblique incisions in the tree,
Sloping downwardS at a little distance
from each other, all around the trunk,
cutting only the outer bark, and placing
Immediately on the ground below the cuts
basin or large tin which will collect the
milk as it exudes. When full these tins
can be emptied into a larger vessel. The
same process is continued during the
whole day, each person treating from ten
to fifteen trees or more IN this manner,
and thus from five to eight kilos of milk
can be collected The inc Sions should
not be deep, and great number should
not be made on the same tree, as they
may weaken or kill it, as has so frequently
occurred with the Snrinnl1ni tho r11hhnr