This argument, it seems to me, shows that there is a purpose to bring up a cheapness which is more apparent than real, with the determination of recommending the Asiatic plantations to the detriment of the Amazonas rubber plantations. This plan of attack is not the most correct one. We have the advantage of having workmen who easily adapt themselves to the producing land, and with the measures of protection that the Government is going to guarantee to the rubber planters, the life of the contractor is going to become easier. The tree which is planted in its own region, is less subject to ravages, being less persecuted by the destroying parasites, is not violently fell by hard winds. As every day increases the number of industries which requires rubber as a raw material, it is therefore necessary to exploit it in different centers, counting even with possible disaster, but nowhere in the world, in accordance with the most reliable statistics, is there more favorable land for the planting of rubber trees than in the various territories of the Amazonas. That territory has been placed by nature to be the emporium of that industry, and counts with all the means to preserve that privilege, and for the guarantee of the planter as soon as the rubber tree develops itself, it has other resinous trees suitable for construction, and excellent fibres which can be sold at a profit. The Brazilian walnut is so abundant there that it is a second source of income in the State of Amazonas. THE PRODUCTION OF RUBBER Only during the first six months of this year, notwithstanding that the time for the full crop was not as yet due, from Manáos there were exported to the United States 2,328,389 kilograms of fine rubber, 602,180 medium quality, sernamby 991,088, caucho 798,024; to Europe, first quality 2,449,776, medium quality 407,278, sernamby 507,860, caucho 1,368,489; from Itacoatiara, first quality 37,240, medium 3,858, sernamby 26,237, caucho 11,405, that is for the Amazonas a total of 9,531,824 kilograms, almost half of the export of 22,902,401 kilograms made in that period for that State, besides that of Pará and Iquitos. The production of Amazonas in 1910 was 10,466,231 kilograms; in 1911, 10,122,242; this year, it is expected that there will be an increase of more than 15 per cent of the production of last year. [Illustration: THE INTERIOR OF A RUBBER-WORKER’S HUT. There Were Always Two or Three Hammocks.] This is due only to the active work of a few thousand workmen. What would be the colossal production of that territory, when the work of the men will be facilitated by a rational distribution of rubber trees! Reflecting upon that, I am reminded of the words of Dr. T. Huber: “A regular planting industry will have a marked and salutary influence upon the extraction of wild rubber and the management of wild rubber forests.”