The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1888-06-02
INDIA q IRaER TREES.
How the Gum IL Gathered by the Uleros Of
North America.


North America.
The average North American sup
poses that rubber Is obtained like pitch
and comes from the exudcd gum of the
tree. but the process is altogether
different resembling our method OF
making maple sugar. When the sap
begins to rise from the roots to the
branches of the tree. expeditions of
thirty or forty men are organized, who
arc furnished by the exporting mer-
chants with an outfit of buckets. axes,
pans and provisions, and start into tho
woods. The uleros, as the rubbermen
are called, from the termule, which Is
the native name for the tree, are always
paid small sum in advance, ostcnsi-
bly, for the support of their families
during their absence, but which is
always exhausted in dcbauchery before
they start.
When they reach the forest of the
ule-trees they build u shanty of palms
and brush, If there is not one already
standing, on the bank of some stream.
as q great deal of water is required for
the manufacture of tho gum. Then
they distribute their large cans and
buckets through the forest at con-
venient intervals, and proceed to busi-
ness. When the ulero selects his tree,
he clears the trunk of vines and
creepers, and climbs it to the branches.
Then he descends. cutting diagonal
channels through the bark with u sim
gle blow of his latchet. or knife, left
and right, all meeting Mt the angle.
At the bottom of the lowest cut an
iron trough about six inches long and
four inches wide is driven into the tree,
which catches the milk rs it flows from
the wound. and conducts it into bucket
on tho ground below. This is done
with great speed and skill by an ex-
pert, and necessarily So to prevent
waste, as the sap springs out instantly.
and by the time the spout is driven
into the tree is flowing at the rate Of
four gallons an hour.
A large tree will produce twenty
gallons of sap, and will run dry in n
single day. The ulero having tapped
n dozen or eighteen trees has all the
work he can attend to emptying the
buckets into the ten-gallon cans that
are provided for the purpose. In the
evening the cans are carried to the
camp, and the sap strained through
sievcs into barrels. In Brazil it is
boiled, but in Nicaragua the natives
have peculiar system of reducing it.
There is plant or vine called the
achuna. the sap of which when mixed
with that of the rubber tree has the
singular property of coagulating it in
a few minutes. BY whom. or how, or
where, this process was discovered no
one can tell. Undoubtedly it was an
accident, for the vine hangs from all
the trees in the ule forest, and proba-
bly, cutting dropped into a bucket of
sap some time or another. and pro-
duced the result for which it is now
used.
Having their barrels full, the uleros
cut short pieces of this vine, soak it in
the water, and small punches are
thrown into pans upon which the sup
is poured. In the morning the rubber
has turned to gum, about two pounds
to every gallon of sap AT the top OF
the pan is a quantity of dark brown
liquid, like weak solution of licorice,
This is poured off, and then the gum
is rolled under heavy weights of wood
into long, flat strips called tortillas.
which are hung over poles under the
she'd to drip and dry. At first they are
white like the vulcanized rubber. but
with exposure they turn black and
become hard after few days. Then
the tortillas are stacked up under cover
until the end of the season, and shipped
to market.-Home knowledge.