Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1906-01-28
INDIA RUBBER TREES
WHERE THEY FLOURISH AND HOW
THEY ARE CLASSIFIED.

lures Gifts For Which Nnn Cnn De-
wise No substitutc.
The steadily increasing demand for
India rubber. the great variety of its
uses and the failure OF attempts TO de.
wise any satisfactory substitute for it
were facts suggested by converse.
ton with members of the staff of the
New York botanical garden incidental
to an inspection of tue india rubber
economic collection in the gardens
museum.
This collection ia an exceptionally
good one. comprising berbarium spec.
mems Of the leaves. seeds and fruit of
rubber plants and trees. specimen
OF the milk or sap which is the basis
OF india rubber md samples OF the
commercial product in its various
stages up TO and including vulcanlzn-
tion. All the principal varieties of rub
Der are represented, and in the gar
denis greenhouses are living speci-
mems of the plants producing them
The most notable exhibit in the eco
nomic collection IL bottle of the milk
from a Para rubber tree. pure white
and looking like cows milk. very re-
Gently presented TO the garden by John
Lane Beck. who brought it from Peru.
Such q specimen Is said to he extreme.
ly rare in the temperate zone. Then
there are samples of india rubber in
the various processes OF the manufnc-
ture and few specimens Of fully com
pleted products The most curious OF
the latter is n pair of shoes made by
South American natives In the rude
mold of foot shaped hole in the
ground into which the rubber was
poured in semiliQuid condition and
fashioned in the desired form while
plastic. In addition, there IL n collec
tion OF tools used In gathering the sap
from the indin rubber trees. such ma
the pick or Ratchet for woundng the
bark, the tin cup in which the SAP is
received as II cxudcs, etc.
AS Is generally known. the rema rk-
able commercial product called india
rubber. or cnoutchOuc. is formed from
the milky Juice Of various trees and
shrubs, which Is dried and coagulated.
The fret European knowledge Of II
was derived through the second voyage
OF Columbus, when II was noted that
rubber balls. said to he made "of the
gum of tree" were used in n game
played by tho natives Of Haiti. One of
the trees yielding the juice was gen
orally described 10y Toruuelnada in
1915, but the first accurate Information
concerning any of the caoutchouc trees
was supplied by La COpdamine. who
In 1875 was sent by the French govern
ment to measure an arc of the meridian
near Quito I'm Ecuador. BY the natives
of South America the crude india rub.
Der was employed for balls used in
games, for waterprooiing garments md
for the material of shoes. a great OBJ.
stAcle to any general use Of such rub
Der for long period nftcr ii became
known to Europeans was the fnct TINT
while 1t is dry and leatherlikc at n low
temperature II becomes sticky and very
soft when exposed to n high one. In
the latter part of the eighteenth cen
fury the celebrated English scientist.
DR.. Priestley, who passed his later
years In this country, directed public
attention to india rubber as n novelty
for erasing pencil marks stating that
1t was then sold In England in cubicnl
pieces of half m inch for 8 shillings
piece.
Although india rubber was utilized
In the first half of the nineteenth cen.
fury for the manufacture Of very crude
and clumsy overshoes. which became
soft In warm weather. and for some
other purposes. its industrial use did
not become general until the American
inventor, Charles Goodyear. after re-
peated trials and failures. succeeded in
1874 In introducing the process of vul-
canizing Bv the admixture Of n little
sulphur and the application Of heat
he produced India rubber in n form
which is una ffccted by ordinary tenn.
peratures and IL even less susceptible
to external influences than leather.
Moreover, this treatment increases it's
pliancy and elasticity. One Of the i'm
portant properties OF rubber in the
course of manufacture is that In the
process Of kneading or "masticating"
1t by machinery 1t becomes soft md
plastic. and the purcr 1t is the more
plastic II Is. In this condition It can
be formed Mt will into any shape de
sired. which 1t retains when vulcanized.
at first only two kinds Of india rub.
Der we're generally known to coIn.
merce, one being a product of Mexico
and Central America. called the Castil
loa elastice. and the other tine rubber
found in Brazil, especially in the prov
ince Of Para, known rs Para rubber
or hevea, which has ranked rs the
best End purest kind, being the freest
of LII from resin Another rnru c,nnh