The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1899-08-04
KILL RUBBER TREES.
MARROW POLICY OF CARELESS
JUICE GATHERERS.
Steps Have at Last Been Taken by
Most Countries in Which the For.
ests Grow to Protect Them from
Destruction.

The consumption of india rubber has
grown enormously in recent years. The
trade has been stimulated chiefly by
the use of pneumatic tires on bicycles.
Several years ago it began to be evil
dent that unless wasteful and destruc-
tive methods of collecting rubber We're
discontinued the supply would dimin-
ish while the demand was increasing.
Government after government has
therefore prohibited or restricted the
collection of rubber in it's territory in
order to give the plants time to null
hply and recuperate. The Congo Free
State has now gone step further. In
addition to it's decree of 1892, still in
force, which makes it serious and
punishable offense to kill the rubber
plant or to gather rubber in any way
except through incisions in the bark, it
is now made obligatory to plant at least
100 vines or trees for every ton of rub
ber collected. Infractions of the new
decree are punishable by fine up to
$4,000 or imprisonment A bureau of
control Of rubber forests has been ap-
pointed to guard the rubber interests
of the state and to enforce the DEGREES
of 1892 and 1900.
1t is necessary to kill the camphor
tree in order to get camphor, but it is
not necessary to kill any Of the varie-
ties of trees and vines that Yield rub
Der to collect their juice; and yet this
inexcusably stupid and wasteful meth
cd has been employed in many coun-
tries, with the result that rubber plants
have been eNterminated in hundreds of
thousands of square miles of territory.
How speedily this result is achieved is
Illustrated in the recent case of South
Madagascar.
In 1890 Fort DauDhin, on the south
coast of that island, was a trade cen
ter of small Importance. Then it was
discovered that rubber was near at
hand in fairly abundant quantities. a
dozen firms from Germany, France.
Mauritius and Tamatave appeared On
the scene and set all the natives they
could muster at work killing the rub
Der plant and collecting it's juice. They
paid the gatherers nearly $40 for go
pounds and sold the product at Tama-
tave at enormous profit. They rushed
the business and ruined it in six years.
In 1896 the natives had to travel north
for a week before they could find a
vine to cut. The product dropped in
1896 to one-tenth that Of 1893, and
South Madagascar rubber disappeared
from the market in 1897.
All along the west coast of tropical
Africa the trees and vines producing
rubber have been killed for a distance
of forty to fifty miles from the sea. In
the Amazon basin, the greatest rubber
field, this useless destruction of
source Of wealth has never been prac-
ticed. Small incisions are made in the
bark, the milk is caught in followed
out Jumps of clay placed beneath the
lncislons. and each tree yields a sup
ply every year. But other American
countries are finding it necessary to
adopt strigent methods of protect the
industry. In British and French
Guiana it is now illegal to collect rub
Der except by tapping the trees. The
cultivation of rubber on plantations is
now everywhere encouraged. The ex-
portation of the article from a part of
Nicaragua, unless produced on planta-
tons, has been prohibited till 1907 on
account of the great destruction of
rubber trees. Costa Rica has also pro-
hibited the killing of rubber plants.
These steps to save the rubber in
dustry from destruction, both in Amer
lea and Africa, were taken none too
early, and the prospects are that the
waste in the forests will now be great
~ reduced, while the number of plan
tations will gradually be increased
New York Sun.
I'll NvuR -TSNS>