BARK AND GRIT.--With ordinary machines and the usual process of working, it would seem impossible to wash and macerate some of the scrap rubbers sufficiently to free them entirely from bark. This applies specially to the grade of rubber prepared from bark-shavings. Specimens have been handled in which it was practically impossible to detect bark, but in such instances the amount of working necessary would be such as to interfere seriously with the regular working of the factory. Even with the employment of special scrap-washing machines, complaints of the presence of bark in dry crepe have been received, but it is certain that this mode of operation reduces the quantity of bark to a minimum. While fully realising that the amount of working it is possible to give in proportion to the existing machinery and the output per day is limited, it must be recognised that the working of lower grades of rubber is usually insufficient, and that where possible it is the duty of estates to pay more attention to these lower grades. A considerable improvement in this direction has been noticed of recent years. It is not uncommon to encounter managers who fail to appreciate that complaints regarding the presence of bark in the lower grades are founded on legitimate grounds, and that they are not frivolous objections put forward for the purpose of depressing the price of the article. The sooner such an idea is jettisoned the better. There would appear to be a good future demand for the lower grades, and it is only natural that consumers will be willing to pay the best price only for an article which is clean. The same arguments apply to the complaints regarding the presence of sand and grit. The quantity of the latter found in low-grade crepes from some estates is surprisingly high. Its presence can often be shown by the simple device of spreading a piece of crepe over the upturned and hollowed palm of one hand, while striking the rubber with the other hand. The incidence of bark in higher grades of crepe may be due to inadvertence or to gross negligence. In the former class one might put those occasions on which pieces of bark are embedded in lumps of naturally coagulated rubber. A piece of bark-shaving may fall unnoticed into latex and be partially responsible for the coagulation which takes place. This piece of coagulated lump may be massed with others, and hence, unless each small piece is cut up, the bark is not perceived. Or again, by some unknown means, a piece of shaving may drop into a jar of latex, and so become embedded in the coagulum. Sometimes this becomes evident on cutting up the rubber, but it is quite as likely to pass unseen. On the whole, the presence of bark in first-grade rubber is most unusual, and should be seen before the rubber is packed.