Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1884-07-18
Gathering Rubber in Brazil.

Writing about the production and ex-
port of rubber in Brazil Consul General
Andrews says: The rubber tree requires
a growth of twenty to twenty-five years
before it begins to produce, hence little
or nothing has been done for its propa-
cation. The milky sap which forms
rubber is taken from the wild tree, which
grows scattered through the forests OF
the Amazon and many of its affluents.
The industry, being principally in the
hands of an uneducated and half civil
lied nomad population of Indian mix
ture, is of a crude character Nothing
has been done to improve the system Of
labor. A wasteful and exhaustive sys-
TEN has been followed for half century,
and the consequence is that millions OF
rubber trees have been destroyed and
many others abandoned from prema-
ture and excessive use. There are in
stances OF groves of trees, which, by
careful use and by not permitting them
to be tapped In the months Of
August and September, in which they
change their leaves. have been yielding
for thirty years, and still are in good pro-
ducing condition; but the common prac-
tice is so wasteful that many well-in.
formed people apprehend that, unless
some remedy is applied, this rich resource
will before long suffer serious and per-
haps fatal decline.
'The rubber tree thrives only on soil
which is annually overlooked to a depth
of three or more feet, and prefers the
! lowest and most recent river deposit.
The rubber gatherers are temporary
| squatters, and their usual dwelling is a
hut with low roof of palms, beneath one
end of which there is a raised floor OF
framework of lath, one or two yards
from the ground, to which the occupants
retreat at high water"
The following description of the pro.
cess of gathering rubber was written by
Mr.. Franz Keller: marrow paths lead
from the gatherer's hut through dense
underwood to each separate tree, and as
soon as the dry season sets in he betakea
himself with his Ratchet to the trees to
cut little holes in the bark. The milk.
white sap Immediately begins to exude
into pieces Of bamboo tied below and haY.
ing their ends in little clay cups set I'm,
der the gashes to prevent its trickling
down the stem. He travels thus from tree
to tree. On the return visit he pours
the contents of the bamboos into large
earthen vessel provided with straps,
which he empties at home into large
turtle shell. Without delay he sets to
work to coagulate it with smoke of palm
nuts, and pours little of the
milk evenly on a light wooden shovel,
which he thrusts into the thick smoke
issuing from a little narrow chimney
made by the neck of an earthen bottle.
lie moves the shovel several times to
and fro with great rapidity, when the
milk is seen to consolidate and to take a
grayish-yellow tinge.
'Thus he puts layer upon layer until
at last the rubber on both sides of the
wood has reached a thickness of two OF
three centimetres. Cutting it one side,
he takes it off the shovel and hangs it in
the sun to dry. A good workman can
thus prepare five or six pounds of solid
rubber in an hour From its initial color
of clear silver gray it turns shortly into a
yellow, and finally becomes the well.
known dark brown of the rubber such as
exported. The more uniform, the
denser, and freer of bubbles the whole
mass is, the higher price it brings. AL.
most double the value is obtained for the
tirst-rate article over that of the most in.
ferior quality, which is nothing but the
drops collected at the foot of the trees.1