Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-10-29
THE CULTIVATION OF RUBBER; METHODS
OF PREPARING IT FOR THE MARKETS;
NEW YORK IS CHIEF CONSUMERS MARKET

The rapid growth in the produc-
ton of rubber on plantations has
made the work of buying crude
rubber an altogether different kind
of task from what it was when
practically all rubber was wild
and when scores of varieties were
coming in from all parts of the
tropics in all sorts of conditions.
Now, about nine-tcnths of the
crude Rubber produced in the
world is grown on plantations in
the Far East under the direction
of Europeans. One notable excep-
ton is the great plantations in
Sumatra and Malaga. These are
under the direction of Americans
and it is not exaggerating to say
that they lead all the plantations
of the world in the scientific cul-
ture of the rubber tree.
The methods of preparing crude
rubber on the plantations are such
as trained business men would use,
and the rubber reaches the market
clean and in standard forms. So
that about all a rubber merchant
need know about rubber today is
the various grades of ribbed and
crepe rubber-the standard forms
in which rubber comes from the
plantations-and few grades of
Brazilian rubber. The latter, be-
cause of its high quality, still re-
mains a factor in the market, while
most of the other wild rubber shave
disappeared in competition with
the plantation product.
When wild rubber" dominated
the market, buyer had to he eX-
perienced and clever to high de-
gree to differentiate between the
many varieties and forms and
grades in which crude rubber was
offered, and particularly to guard
against being cheated out of his
eye teeth in sharp trades. Buying
rubber in those days was like the
old business of swapping horses.
All sorts of tricks were in vogue
and only the shrewdest of mer-
chants had any chance of avoiding
the pitfalls. There grew up in
those times a group of trained,
careful buyers who could tell at
sight every one of the varieties,
their place Of origin and their
value when cleaned and dried.
ach rubber district had its
own peculiar method of preparing
the rubber for market, and the
forms in which it was put up were
in many cases almost grotesquo.
There were "niggers" from Soudan,
Gambia and Sierra Leone, "vir-
gins" from Malta Crosse, twists
from Manoh and Lahou and balls"
from the CAMERON and /Gaboon
other forms We're nuts,
"spindles." 'thimbles.' Sheets"
slabs" marbles worms" "bis-
cults scraps" and Jumps"
In the earlier days a buyer had
TO give chief thought to getting
full value for his money. Today,
with a vast production and only a
few varieties the buyers chief study
is the condition of business
throughout the world and the
probable fluctuations in prices.
In the old days there used to
be many important crude rubber
markets: London and Liverpool in
England; Para and Manaos in
Brazil; Bordeaux for wild rubber
from French Africa and Madagas-
car; Lisbon for Portuguese East
Africa; and Antwerp for the Bel.
gian Congo. Weekly auctions were
held in Antwerp and Liverpool.
Even today no rubber center has
a rubber exchange. Singapore, in
the heart of the plantation section,
has become the greatest primary
market in the world, and London,
through the fact that seventy-five
per cent of the crude rubber is
produced by British capital, is the
largest secondary market. New
York is the chief consumers mar
ket. America consuming about
seventy per cent of all the rub.
Der produced. Singapore, Colombo
and Amsterdam have weekly auc-
lions where lots are offered in
variety of quantities and qualities.
All the wild rubber" markets have