The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1901-04-15

| the Commercial Cable company, zone
! person who. although he IL mechanic
| having an important part OF the cable
4 splicing 10 perform, Is I'm about the posi-
| zion OF a first class cabin passenger. lie
is called the gentleman of the ship.
"IIutii the time comes for him to get
! IN his fine work he does no laoor what
ever. because II is absolutely necessary
| thai he shall keep his hands soft and with
all their delicacy OF touch unimpsired'
.,This il the man who LAYS on the gutta
percha covering over the parts OF the ca
! bic after they are spliced. II Is the most
! delicate and careful work imaginable.
1 lie has TO go over the gutta percha again
and again smoothing II down with his
fingers and examining IL minutely as he
works 10 see II there is the slightest inn
perfection or the most hair-like porosity,
This has 10 be done with every coat
ing as IL IL PM on until the requisite
thickness OF gutta percha is reached
"a man whose hands were In the least
hardened OF caHoused with rough labor
never could do IT, 80 the gentleman OF
the cable-repair ship has nothing 10 90
between cable splicing times save eat
and sleep and keep his hands manicured
until they are as white and delicate as
fine lady's are supposed 10 be. IL Is an
easy berth, but like most easy berths II
requires a corresponding degree OF skill
TO go with IT,"
In France OF late years there has been
a growing anxiety over the increasing
scarcity OF gutta percha. for the reason
that the French do not consider that ca
BILE laying will be at an end by good
deal when the world is girdled round and
round about with the cables now IN oper-
alton or contemplation,
4 great deal OF ink has been spilled In
France Of late years 10 point out the Iac'
-rhEr-Ftf tf1psp- -czhles English lines
touching for the most part English SOIL
alone. In fact with the recent comp'e-
lion of the second line from England 10
South Africa the earth Is girdled with ca
bles which touch land nowhere save
where the English flag flies.
Several r rench writer's have recently
viewed with alarm the tremendous ad-
vantage this would give Great Britain
i'm a war waged with one OF the FEW ma
tlons that the approximately near Eng
land in naval strength.
1t would mean for one thing that
whereas England would he able to keep
very accurate tab on the movements Of
her enemys fleets the whereabouts or
her own would not he an easy matter for
her enemy TO follow For that reason
these French writer's have been urging
their government 10 wake mp and go 10
cable laying for the benefit OF France
CABLE LAYING IN ITS INFANCY.
Germany is already aroused 10 the sit
uation and has stretched wire, with
wide ramihcations. TO this country. So
that instead of cable laying being nearly
a completed job II may very well be
that IL ia a job only just fairly begun.
That being the ease, and gutta perchs
being indispensable 10 submarine cables,
the tree which Yields the precious milky
gum from which gutta percha ~ made
has become an object OF very great Inter
national interest.
Commercial concerns as well as govern
ments themselves have IN the past few
years been giving very close attention to
the gutta percha problem Tropical for
ests have been ransacked for the tree
or for one so nearly akin 10 it that
cable covering product may be had from
II, and there are various attempts at
creating plantations Of the original tree
an regions where heretofore " has not
grown.
The forest ransacking has resulted in
failure and the plantations have not yet
got beyond the experiments stage.
The area in which the gutta percha
tree thrives is extremely limited. Ii is
confined exclusively 20 portion or the
Malay archipelago and the Malacca pen
insula Where there is an even iempera-
ture or an average of from 10 10 81 de-
grees Fahrenheit and the soil Is favorable
the tree grows with great yigor
hut with only slight variation OF
these conditions. and particularly where
there are sudden changes ~ temperature.
even II those changes are not extreme, II
languishes and dies. tt
The Philippines touch closely upon the
gutta-percha belt vet the tree does not
grow there indigenously, and II Is at
least very problematicel whether II can
he cultivated there 10 will not grow In
Cochin China, likewise near the gutta-
percha belt. because the average temper
ature is too low asd the changes too sud
den
Gutta-percha trees have been trans
planted 10 a score or more places where
they have failed although the Dutch
have succeeded in csta blishlnR several
plantations ia their East Indian posses
sions which give promise OF success. The
experiment is by no means complete as
yet
EXPERIMENTS BY TIE FRENCH
In 1898 the Frenrh explorer Raoul coll
lccted about fifteen hundred plants gath
cred ~ the foot OF the trees where they
had sprung up from seeds that had been
dropped. These he put out in the con-
servstor!es az Marseiles and after a
time onc-third of them were taken 10 the
Congo and put IN plantat tons and another
third were distributed among the plant
crs ot the West Indies and In French
Guiana.
I'm 1897 NJ Iacquet. Inspector of agri-
culture In Cochin china, carried away 200
plants from Singarors. loo OF which I'm
lsfa were in a -falr- -cnndiilon--
u remains for the future TO determine
| what the results I'm the Congo. the West
Indies, and in French Guiana will be. al
though those who have studied the tree
and know the very exactlng nature Of it's
| demands In regard 20 soil and climate