The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-12-05

To enumerate the articles made of rubber used by scientific men would be an endless task, as each year more and better ones are Invented; so 1t can be safely said that if rubber in it's various forms and appliances were to sudden ly be removed from hospitals and the offices of dentists. doctors and sur geons, 1t would paralXze the services of these ministers of mercy. As every body Is heir to suffering and pain, 1t ought to be an interesting study to know where this wonderful product of nature comes from. how 1t grows, and what processes are used to bring 1t to a state that makes 1t fit for daily use.
 Rubber Is not only used to alleviate suffering. but it is 6 great factor in giving man pleasure, adding to the en- joyment of man in a thousand ways, in this age of rush, speed and force.
 Anybody who has ridden in the won derful automobile. with it's luxurious rubber tires, and skimming the ground with more than the speed of a race horse, is ready to say rubber is indeed the friend of man.
 The history of mans struggle to ob- tain rubber is as intensely interesting. as full of romance and as full of hor- TOT as IS the story of the adventures, hardships and cruelty of the Spaniards in their search for gold.
 Unlike the yellow metal. rubber Is not widely distributed over the earth for the benefit of mankind, and what little Is left Is rapidly disappearing.
 Wild rubber, or caoutchouc, is ob- tained from several varieties of trees, shrubs and vines nearly all of which are indigenous to the tropics. South America, Central America, India and Africa each furnish large quantities. the gum produced being all rubber, differing somewhat In It's character, due largely to the various methods of gathering and eoagulatton.
 Para rubber (hevea brasiliensis). what is known as Para rubber of com merce. is obtained from the vast re- gions drained by the Amazon and It's tributaries. estimated to embrace a territory nearly two-thirds the size of Europe. Yet so enormous has the worlds consumption of rubber become that this great region is practically denuded of its rubber growth.
 The Mexican rubber. tree growing in the district of Soconusco, on the shores of the Pacific. has been named Cas- tilia luctiiua Castilla in honor of Cas- tillo. a Spanish botanist, who died in l793, while engaged in the preparation of a flora of Mexico, and lactIfiua sig | nifying flowing milk" distinguishing 1t from trees in other localities from which the milk exudes. but does not run freely.
 The worlds supply Of rubber has ur | to this time been drawn almost wholly l from the wild trees found growing in the dense depths of the tropical for ests, but, owing to the destructive methods of gathering pursued by the natives millions of these trees have been destroyed, to replace which will | sands of acres.
 1 During the years of 1889 and 1890 ( | grove of some 5000 If these trees wa, planted In the Department of Soconus' co, State of Chiapas. Mexico. whicf trees are now on an average of eigh' teen to twenty Inches In diameter. anc forty to fifty feet in height, and arc yielding about two and one-half pounds of rubber to the tree. They stand about 400 to the acre and are in prime condition.
 As an evidence of the vitality oi these old planted trees, one of them now twenty years of age and scared 1 by innumerable tappings with the ma chete so that there is not an unscarred inch on its trunk. is still vigorous A tree selected at random in the pres ence of the American consul general Mir. Gsttschalk. was tapped and pro- duced two pounds and eleven ounces of refined rubber, this being the month of January-in the middle of the dry season-when the sap flows less freely than at other times, and the tree did not suffer In any way.