FORD ENTERS RUBBER MARKET

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 484, 13 October 1928, Page 29

FORD ENTERS RUBBER MARKET

ESTATE ON THE. AMAZON ’ It is more and more clear that Mr. Henry Ford and his son Edßel have set out in earnest to turn the world rubber market upside down and inside out for the purposes of their business. writes “The Daily Chronicle.” A few weeks ago there sailed from Detroit the Ford Company’s motorship Lake Ormoc, taking machinery and material for pioneer work in the development of the 6,000,000-acre plantation which the great motor firm is to own in Brazil. The Lake Ormoc's destination was Santarem, the port _t which the River Tapajos enters the Amazon, and which forms the north-western boundary of the Ford property. Nearly all the soil of the estate, which is considerably larger than all Wales, is said to be of the best rubber-bearing quality. Trees will be planted which should mature in 10 yoars, and on the basis of maximum production the five million cultivable acres would yield approximately 6,000 million pounds of rubber yearly—enough to make 1,000 million Ford tyres. Ford officials figure it out, indeed, that if this vast area actually is planted, production on the basis of 1,2001 b. to the acre will be five times the total of the world’s output for th‘* year.