Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1900-09-27

/
only the best possible varieties and
insuring gradual amelioration of the
race. They are terminated by the hun
| dreds of thousands, and the plants are
grown on for one, two or three years
They are thoroughly hardened off and
then sent to the country of their des-
tlnation. In this way the ultimate sue
cess of the plantations is as much in
sured as it is possible to do. The lit
tie plants, already well established in
pots, are able to take care of them
selves, with the little cultural aid
which it is possible to give them in the
undeveloped tropical countries. Ex-
perience has taught that these nursery
grown plants give much better results
than those grown on the spot, and
though preparatory cultivation in
Europe may seem to be a complication,
1t really facilitates the planters work.
Without such basis of supply from
which at moments notice large
quantities of well-prepared plants of
20 or more different kinds can be
bought, it would indeed often be a life
work to establish a plantation. First
the seeds have to be gathered, perhaps
IN another continent, and it may take
years until one shipment will arrive
alive. Then, again it may take years
until sufficient number of plants has
been grown to start the plantation,
and with all that, there is the un-
certainty whether the seeds were true,
whether the varieties are good and if
the kind that has been selected will do
well in the particular country or dis
trict
No doubt these difficulties have dis
| couraged many an enthusiastic planter.
and all the more does the Belgian es-
tablishment deserve credit for the
work it has accomplished and to be
initiated by other countries. Within
the last two years many thousands of
rubber and other colonial plants have
been shipped to distant countries by
the Belgian camp, and with signal
success, and thanks to their practical
knowledge the selection of vari cites
could be made with intelligent dis
cernment.
1t may be of interest to mention a
few of the best reproducing trees
The most generally known rubber is
doubtless the ficus elastica, the COM
mon rubber tree of our greenhouses,
which for many years has been grown
as house or conservatory plant. This
species, with five or elk others of the
same genus, furnishes the Tava or
Assam rubber of the market.
Parameria glandulifera is largely
grown in Malaysia, Cochin China and
Siam.
Wiccola esculeata furnishes the
Burma rubber; it is rapid-growing
vine. An experimental plantation has
yielded as high as $4,000 worth of
rubber from 10000 plants 10 years
after planting.
Wiliughbeia edulis grows in Java
and Borneo. 1t is as yet little known,
but promises good returns.
| OF the African rilbbers Kicksia
Africana, the Lagos rubber, has been
very successfully grown by the Eng
fish. The tree grows 60 to so feet
high as so and 80 cents in the English
market.
Some9 or kinds of Landolpia have
been found. All are rapid-growing
vines, growing $50 to $50 feet in
length, and their rubber is very good.
The Vaheas, native in Madagascar,
have been successfully grown also
along the west coast of Africa and are
as valuable as the last-named genus.
The best American rubbers are the
Castiloa elastica, Panama rubber Of
the market. 1t grows as tree 60 feet
| high at an altitude of 1000 feet. This
kind is very productive and recon-
mended as a shade tree for coffee and
cocoa plantations.
Haucornea speciosa, Pernambuco
rubber, or Mangubeira, as the natives
call it, grows Is to 20 feet high. Its
fruit (mangoba) is relish for the
natives. 1t was supposed to grow in
an altitude of 1000 to 5000 feet, but
Actually SiOWo Ouly OOU 10 DUU IeBL
above the sea level.
| Hevea brasiliensis, Para rubber. is
the great rubber tree of Amazonia; 1t
grows like the Hevea Guyanensis along
the rivers in very moist places.
Manihot Glasiooi, Ceara rubber, pre-
fers gravelly, well-drained soil; it fur
nishes the well-known Ceara scraps
(Manisoba). The most remarkable
rubber tree of all is the Sapium Toll
mense. 1t grows on the Andes noun
tains at an altitude of from 5000 to
5000 feet This is an immense tree,
attaining a height of 100 feet and
stem up to eight feet across. The
true Sapium rolimense there has been
great confusion about this name) is
the hardest rubber tree of all. as may
be inferred from the altitude OF It's ma
tive habitat. It grows in a compare
lively cool climate II gives the very
best of rubber-the white virgin rub
ber-and is very rich. Experiments on
small scale are being carried out to
acclimatize this rubber on the north
coast of Africa and in the south Of