The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-07-17

only one cultivated rubber plantation
In the country, and this has about
100 trees. In the forests you often find
as many as 5000 trees to the square
mile. l have seen groves of 10000 The
trees usually grow in the valleys be-
low the eastern slopes of the Andes
They are of all sizes, from as big as
your leg to the giant of the forest, $50
rect high, and so large that three men
could not, by joining hands, reach
around 1t. The tree which produces
the best rubber of commerce is known
as the Symphonic Elastica. We have
plenty of gutta percha trees, but
these have not yet been worked"
CHANCE FOR CAPITALISTS.
'Is there much profit in the rubber
business here?" I asked.
Yes, there is a great deal of money
TO be made out of it, but only by the
Use OF large capital. No man can do
much without $25 900 or $50, 900, and he
Will make proportionately a great deal
more If he has 100000 With this
amount he ought to net from 60 to 70
per cent year. There is no trouble
Tor capitalists to get rubber forests.
The best of the lands upon which such
trees grow are now in the hands of
Cholos, or Bolivians with Indian blood
in them. They have taken up the lands
OF the government and have no money
to work Them
How do you get the rubber from
the trees?"
ut comes out in the form of a milky
white sap" was the reply. cat the
beginning of the dry season the trees
! are gashed with chisel about an inch
broad A little tin cup is fitted to the
tree under each cash and the sap oozes
out and drops down into the cup. Sew
eral gaShes are made in each tree
When the Indian has gashed a num-
Der Of trees he stops and collects the
milky sap and carries it to the head
| quarters Of the camp. He places il
somewhere In the shade and then builds
a fire to smoke 1t. This fire is made Of
wet wood or palm nuts, and it Is SO
arranged as to give a dense smoke
Now the Indian takes wooden shovel
or spoon and covers 1t with milk. He
then thrusts it into the smoke and
rapidly turns it about. AS the smoke
touches the rubber-milk it coagulates
and turns from the color of rich cream
to a light gray. He coats his shovel
again and again and at last has ball
Of rubber upon it, This is cut off and
laid away to be shipped to the markets
A number of the balls are put into nets
These are slung on the backs Of mules
or donkeys, and are thus taken to
Chililaya on Lake Titicaca or La Paz
l. We have to watch the Indians that
they do not put stones or dirt into their
balls of rubber to make them weigh
heavier. This is the case when they
are paid by the work done rather than
by the day."
This is the land Of quinine. The
bark of the cinchona tree, from which
| quinine is made, is called Peruvian
| bark, but it would be more in accord
with the facts to call it Bolivian bark.
| The best quinine CT the world is made
| from the bark of trees grown in the
state of La Paz, and Bolivia far ex-
| ceeds Peru in the number of her quiz
nine trees. There are millions of trees
! here growing on plantations set out to
make money out of the quinine market.
| These plantations were established
when quinine was high and before soma
of the Bolivian trees had been taken to
India and Ceylon to start plantations
| there. AS a result of the Indian plan
| tations the market became overstocked
| and Quinine fell. The bark which in
1882 brought here in La Paz 1920 in Bo-
| livian money a hundredweight now
| sells for from SIG to $1S a hundred
weight, considering the difference in
the value of the Bolivian dollar by tbs
| fall of silver for about one-thirtieth OF
| what it sold for sixteen years ago. This
fall of prices ruined a great many ci
the Bolivian capitalists More thar