The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-29
THE INDIA RUBBER TREE.
HOW THE FORESTS OF THE ANA
ION ARE Elk

| Abaudoned-Immepss Profits of the
Rubber Gathering Industry Milking
the Trees aud Preparing the Gum for
Market-Florida q Future Field.
From the Ne,o Orleans Times Democrat
While the india rubber of commerce has
been obtained from many different parts OF
the globe, the world has been compelled to
look TO Central aud South America for the
bulk Of its supply. south America, especi-
ally Brazil, is the territory upon which the
commercial world relies, aud when the
statement is made that there is great
danger OF diminution of the supply of crude
rubber from the Amazon Valley it awaken5
thought.
! Figuratively, the rubber trees of the
Amazon are gold mines which require no
shafts, no machinery, no costly expert
ments, no guesswork, aud practically no
risk nor labor, The only thing to be
guarded against is the killing Of the geese
which lay the golden eggs. All that has to
| be done to accumulate riches from the
| rubber trees is to hire the willing natives
to enter the junglss, tap the trees and let
| the liquid gold run into ones Golfers. In
the great rush for becoming suddenly rich,
| however, in the Lower Amazon feld-the
delta-mRny rubber forests have already
become exhausted. While the coming
Brazilian congress intends to discuss the
| question Of preserving these forests, no
such precautions have as yet been taken
at all.
| HOW FORESTS ARE DESTROYED.
If but three gashes per day are made in
| the rubber tree, and the Ratchet in the care
less hands Of the native does not penetrate
or strike the wood, the tree does not appear
TO suffer from the treatment, except that
| the trunk grows tnick and the Scared sur
face becomes Irregular and bunny. 1t will
| continue, however, in good health and yield
milk in abundance for thirty or forty years.
II the blow from the Ratchet, however,
wounds in the slightest degree tho wood of
the tree it dies. Decay begins at this wound.
AS the wood is soft, little weevll called
punilhs enters the decayed spot, as a
| worm does the body, and hestens
| the destruction. The tree may
| drag out a miserable, half dead existence,
out, as they say in Portuguese, 1t is "can-
| cado.n 1t will be seen how very easily the
destruction Of even almost ''inexhaustible"
forests may be conn leted by a mere blow Of
a Ratchet in the hands OF a maraudiug
native. For this reason very many of the
| once 'inexhaustIble" rubber swamps of the
Lower Amazon are already wholly or par
italy abandoned, and the same fierce on
i Slaughts are being made now upon the
virgin swamps of the upper tributaries.
Renters of swamps are naturally less care
| full of the trees than are the owners, who
manage the property from a central station.
| But the principal forests are owned in
Para OF Manaos by those dealers who are
| interested only in the present supply, and
! who have no interest Ia the future produc-
ton.
FLORIDA A GOOD FIELD.
This carelessness with regard TO the future
can be Offset with cultivation elsewhere,
| II begun at once, and those who have invos-
| tigated the matter believe that the Ever
| glades of Florida offer the best Inducements
for experimental culture. The conditions
of moisture, heat and soil there are just
| about on a par with the conditions where
the rubber tree flourishes, aud as for Won
derfully remunerative returns there is no
| question. Ii Is simply matter OF time.
| Many years elapSe before the rubber tree
produces sufficient milk to justify its plant
ing, but after it does begin to do so the
profit is sufficient to pay for much greater
delay. IL is true, however, that Brazil is
| "the land Of Tomorrow" and If uything is
done Anglo-Saxon energy must do it.
| The rubber tree of the Amazon valley
| grows spontaneously; a man can gather
| enough of the nuts in O day to plant a
| quarter section of land; they germlnate
easily and grow rapidly; 5SS treas will do
well to each acre; the land needs no pre-
| parstion, and no cultivation nor care is
necessary. Taking the most unfavorable
figures Of the rubber swamp and applying
them to the rubber grove, the man who
| cares for $50 trees in the swamp could care
| for an acre with its 538 trees. AS four kilos
! is an average yield from the $50 trees, his
| 53S would yield him fifteen kilos per day.
| One dollar per kiIo is an average price, and
so the laborer could make Sl5 per day, with
no outlay but his ordinary living expenses,
during four or five months In the year.
AN EXPERIMENT AT PARA.
In 1865 Senior Joaquin Antonio da Silva,
now deceased, but then living on the River
Guiana, twelve miles above the city of
| Para, had %, 00U young rubber trees planted
on the low alluvial island in the river,
called Bonn Intento, which formed part of
his estate. He paid to Francisco Rahia,
the man who did the work, tue sum of IL
cents apiece for the young trees when
planted. The 20, 900 young trees thus cost
him total outlay OF SO 200. Unfortunately
the trees were all planted near the margin
OF the island on its whole circumference, as
only small part OF the island was to be
planted, and it was less trouble to plant
near the shore than to work his way
through the jungle further inland. The
tide GIBBS and flows with tremendous power
and tears away and builds up the island at
one or the other end, alternating by periods
Of ten years. Consequently only about
| 1000 of the original ~, 900 trees remain.
These, however, are ia excellent condition
and yield abundantly, though they have
never cost a cent for care OF cultivation.
Since any acre of rubber yielding trees
will yield between $500 and $500 per month
the 10000 trees mentioned, occupying a
forty-acre tract, would mean an Income of
nearly 500, 900 per month for four or five
months of every year. While twenty or
twenty-five years is quite awhile TO wait for
the return TO begin to come IN, yet the re-
ceipts are so great and the expense OF such
an enterprIse so little that northern capital
and energy will probably at no dis ant day
solve the problem Of preserving the rubber
forest in the characteristic Anglo-Saxon
way.
GATHERING RUBBER.
In gathering rubber from the rubber
trees along the valley Of the Amazon, there
are three different classes or interests ia
volved-the business houses Of Para, or
Manaos the traders and the laborers. The
business houses own certain rubber swan ps,
and remain "owner" as long as their agents
and rifles can hold possession; they rent or
sell to the traders. If the trader dies they
! turn over his effects dncluding his widow
| to his successor, and il she is not acquiesceat
| she is left in the forest to die. The trader
is grub-staked" from headquarters, and
gathers a motley crowd Of whites, negroes
and Indians, and goes many miles into
10 afrW h, cod