Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-08-24
Gathering Rubber i'm Colombia.

Consul Smith, of Cartagena, has sent
to the State Department an interesting
sketch of the manner in which the ma
tives Of the South American states of
Colombia extract milk from the rubber
trees and prepare it for the market.
Before entering the woods, the rubber
hunters provide themselves with guns,
ammunition, -four, salt and tobacco.
The -four is made from plantains, is gen.
orally mixed with corn meal, and will
keep sweet for months. When the local
ity for a camp is decided upon, a roof of
palm is speedily made, and, the camp
being established, every man starts out
with a gun and machete, each in differ
ent direction, in search of rubber and
game. When rubber tree is found,
space is cleared from the roots by cut
ting away vines, underbrush, ETC., and
the finder moves on in search of other
Custom decides that the rubber tree be-
longs to the man who cut around it.
When all the trees in the vicinity of
the camp have been discovered, the work
of gathering the rubber begins. Before
tapping the tree a hole is dug IN the
ground close to it, unless another party
is camped near, in which case the hole is
dug near the camp of the owner of the
tree. The bark of the tree is first cut
with naGchete as high as man can
reach, the cuts being in the form OF the
letter V. The milk is caught as it ex-
udes, and is deposited in the holes pre-
viously dug in the ground When the
milk ceases to flow from the cuts the tree
is chopped down and it's trunk raised
from the ground by means of an i'm
proved trestle. After placing large
leaves on the ground under the tree to
catch the sap, gashes are cut throughout
the entire length of it, and the milk that
exudes from the gashes is carefully col
lected and deposited il the vat. When
it first exudes the sap is of the whiteness
and consistency of cream, but it turns
black upon exposure to air and light If
not properly watched The quantity of
milk put into one hole depends on the
size of the trees, their distance from each
other, and the strength of the man who
is to carry the rubber to the river.
When the hole is filed with rubber it is
coagulated by adding the root of mech
vacan, hard soap, etc. These substances
cause the milk to coagulate SO rapidly as
to prevent the escape of the water, which
is always present in the fresh sap, and as
the rubber and water will not mix,
piece of rubber coagulated In this way is
always filed by small cells, which re-
duces its commercial value. When CO.
, agulated the rubber is strapped on the
backs of the hunters by bark thongs,
carried by them to the banks Of the riv-
er, and foated to market in canoes Or On
RATS.
The annual destruction of rubber trees
III Colombia is very great, and as the
people have not turned their attention to
planting trees to supply the wastage,
there is some apprehension that this in
dustry Will be seriously crippled before
many years unless the Colombian Gov
eminent enforces it's regulations against
the destruction of forest trees, and COM
pels hunters for rubber to tap without
destroying the trees by cutting them
down. Consul Smith thinks there is a
good chance for profitable investment in
this direction. He says there are places
on the Sinu river where rubber trees will
grow from eight to ten inches in diamet-
er in three or four years from the seed.
The trees require little attention, and
begin to give returns sooner than almost
any other The trees that yield the
greatest amount of rubber flourish along
the banks of the Sinu and Aslato rivers.
The reports of the bureau of statistics
show that the value of crude rubber an
nually imported into the United States
is about SO, 100000.