The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-08-07
Similar to Sugar Grovvths.

IN the discussion of rubber from the
agricultural standpoint. it is Of the utmost
Importance 70 keep in mind a primary fact
very generally overlooked by the interest
ed public. Rubber IS not like wheat, ap-
pies or coffee, the product of a single be-
tauical species or group of closely allied
species; it is comparable rather to sugar,
a substance, or rather q series Of similar
substances, obtaina5le from a great va
riety of plants belonging 10 different DO
tanical families, native in different parts
of the earth, and requiring utterly differ
ent conditions for their successful cultiys-
t4on. Thus sugar exists in the juices OF
large number of species, and has been COM
meTcially obtained from the sugar cane,
the sugar beet, and the sugar maple, the
grape, the date, and the Palmyra palm.
Similar substances marketed as rubber
and gutta perCha are known to exist in
the milky juices of nearly 90 plants be
longing 10 botanical families quite as re-
mote from each other as the sugar cane
and the beet, or the palm and the ma
pie. Rubber culture becomes, therefore, a
very complex problem, and one very much
in need of thorough investigation; for
concerning many of the rubber bearing
plants very little is known. even the bo-
tan.e-I identity being frequently In doubt,
TO say nothing of the deficiency of all in
cultivation.
While it is thus impossible to deter
mine in advance the possibilities OF rubber
cultivation in Porto Rico it is desirable
nevertheless, to consider the prospects
there of some of the rubber pants viii, b
have been Investigated from the cultural
standpoint
To the cost of numerous experimenters
IT has been found that. the fact that a rub
ber- producing tree will-fiourish in a given
locality is not trustworthy indication
that it will yield a profitable quantity CT
rubber, and many hopeful and widely ad-
vertised enterprises have thus NIT with
fore or less complete faiIue-"
Mr.. Cook proceeds to give an Interest,"
ing description of the attempts made to
extract rubber from the various plants in
ruhber-g growing countries and a brief his
tory of the cultivation of rubber trees
Continuing. he writes:
Much EXPERIMENT. Necessary.
The Well-knoWn rubber plant in COM
mon use for decorative purposes, thrives
in Porto Rico and grows to a large size,
though the wood is soft and the trees suf-
fered in the hurricane. Plantations of this
tree while requiring from fifteen to TWEEN
ty years to reach full bearing, have proved
profitable in the Malay Peninsula. In
West Africa very similar and
equally beautiful native species,
like many other members of the
genus. is also known to yield rub
Der, and three or four others are already
growing wild in Porto Rico or are planted
fer shade. The amount of rubber obtaina-
bic has been found to be small, but more
might perhaps be secured by tapping in
the rainy season. The figs have the adj
vantage of growing readily from cuttings
and there are other rubber yielding trees
which may be propagated in this way. In
Madagascar an apocynaeeous tree has re-
Gently been discovered which spreads it
self readily by means of suckers rising
from the ground; and thus the species is
not exterminated, although individual
trunks are cut down to secure the milk
Recently a rubber plant from the Andes,