The Hawaiian gazette., 1905-08-25

/ ing, and which has been some what
spaemodicaiiy cared for is about 40
feet high with trunk ten inches In
diameter. Other trees plated along
the trails ana absolutely neglected for
twelve years, overgrown by lantana
and over shadowed by Eucalyptus are
now little more than twelve 10 fifteen
feet high with trunk the size os
mans finger. So II pays TO take care
OF trees even though common report
has 1t that mo cultivation is required"
Pernambuco Rubber-This formerly
unimportant but of late years much-
talked-of rubber lis derived from Han
cornia speciosa Muell. Arg. 1t IL a
medium-sized tree native to the dryer
coastal plains and up lands from Ven
ezuela to southern Brazil and from the
Atlantic to the eastern foothills of the
| Andes In Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
unlike the Ceara, this tree bears rub
Der In every part of the plant, in the
bark, wood, leaves and green fruits.
The milky sap which flows from
wounds becomes rubber without other
treatment than exposure to the air.
The flow OF milk sap Is greatest dur
ing the summer months. Although
Hancornia speciosa is of very slow
growth 1t is being substituted for cof-
fee by many planters in southern Bra
zil who see only small profits in that
business for many years to come.
The tree grows on a great variety of
soils, and is easily propagated from
cuttings. The leaves are about two
inches. long by three-fourths to one
inch wide, acute at the base and blunt
at the apex. The fragrant white flow
ers are about one inch across. The
fruit is a greenish-yellow berry
streaked with red, and is edible. The
rubber is white and of very good
quality.
These species of rubber plants are
the chief sources of the American rub
Der supply. The genera Hevea, Mani
hot and Sapium belong to the Eupho-
biaceae-er Spurge family. well known
members of which are the Castor Bean,
TuaTua and Cassava.
The milky sap which yields the rub
Der is contained in milk tubes in the
inner or growing portion of the bark.
Hancornia belongs to the botanical
family Apocynaceae, while Castilloa is
one of the Moraceae, family including
the fig and bread-fruit.
OF the 81. 1852 tons of rubber exported
from South and Central American ports
in 1900, 25,500 tons were derived from
trees of the genus Hevea, 400 tons
from Castilloa and Sapium Gao per cent
Sapium and 60 per cent Castilloa) and
1850 tons Ceara and Pernambuco rub
bers.
AFRICAN RTTpPEP MTG
The African rubber supply is very
largely derived from species of vines
of several genera belonging to the bo-
tanical order Apocynaceae.
Landolphia Hendelottii D. c. is r
woody, slow-growing vine native to the
dry hot open country from Senegambia
to the western Soudan, between 9 deg.
and - deg. n. latitude While this is
an important source of rubber it is con-
sidered unsuited to cultivation because
of its very slow growth. 1t takes
twenty years to attain full maturity
Landolphia owariensis Beauv., grows
in the great tropical forest region of
western Africa. About half of the Kon-
go rubber comes from this vine. A
characteristic of this species as yet I'M
explained is that individual plants
growing side by side, and apparently
Identical show wide variations in the
amount of rubber which they yield,-a
fact tending to discourage cultural ex-
periments with this species
Landolphia Klainei Pierre. Native of
the Kongo forests, is considered worthy
of cultivation in tropical forest regions
because of its great rapidity of growth
1t produces a rose-colored rubber of
high value.
Landolphia Kirkii Dyer. is the most
important rubber-yielding vine of east
Africa extending from the Portuguese
possessions to Victoria Nyanza 1t is
the source of mozambique" rubber,
which is worth about ga as much as
Para"
There are many other species of Ian
dolphias but these are economically the
most important.
There are also number of species of
Clitandra and Carpodinus of greater or
less value as rubber-producing plants.
Root rubber is derived from the roots
of various herbaceous plants that grow
in the open prairies or savannahs in CEN
tral west Africa. The. plants are pulled
up by the roots, these cur Off dried in
the sun and the bark peeled. The dried
bark is pounded in stone mortars until
the woody portion is pulverlzed. The
rubber is gathered together, pressed in
to balls or cakes and is ready for ex-
port. About 1,50O tons of root rubber
is the average annual crop. 1t is worth
about go per cent as much as Para. 1t
is derived from the following species of
plants:
Landolphia Thollonii, Dewevre A
woody perennial to IL inches high with
strong horizontal creeping root stocks
extending many yards under the sur
face of the ground. 1t grows in very
dry, sandy soils in regions subject to
annual prairie fires, so that while it is
undoubtedly an attractive plant for ctf'-
tural experiments, seeds are not easily
obtained. The underground rhizomes
are very rich in rubber.
Carpodinus chylorrhiza X. Schum.. and
c. gracilis Stapf, yield a very elastic
brownish-red rubber. They are low
shrubs to feet hieh, native of dry,