The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-03-02

Nearly three billion sticks OF chew
Ing gum viii be manufactured In the
t tinted States this year, ana mort OF
y VIII De chewed as fast as 1t IL made.
There are numerous factories scatter
ed throughout the country, and II Il
said that few industries show greater
cleanliness OF operation than IL the
rule In the american chewing gum
establishment. A report OF the De-
partment of Commerce. and Labor de-
clares that the second cleanest fac
tory OF any kind inspected by that
department was one where chewing
| gum was made.
| The process by which the gum Is
made Is full Of interest Its basis is
| chicle gum, and this Is boiled to the
required consistency In copper ket-
| ties. after which Is added the flavor
Ing and the necessary sugar to give
| 1t sweetness. 1t Ii then transferred
to large centrifugal receivers. whip
kped into dough and then removed to
dered sugar. After this it IL rolled
into sheets. cut to the desired size,
dried, wrapped by machinery and
| placed in boxes for marketing.
Repeated attempts have been made
to mix or adulterate chicle, or to get
a substitute for It. but there seems
to be no substitute except spruce
Suuis huout Ao,oVv pouAua Oh WAlcA
are gathered In to woods OF Maine
| each year. OF course this Il o mere
drop In the bucket compared with the
amount OF chiclo brought Into the
United States from Central America.
Chicle Is not incidentally valuable. but
has proved an excellent vehicle for
carrying such drugs as pepsin. A
British court has held pepsin chewing
gum to be drug, and under the Eng
it0l n II tat n
fined for selling some that contained
less pepsin than was called for by
the label. The mastication that goes
with chewing gum produces a now
of saliva which Ia highly beneficial in
| certain forms OF stomach trouble,
While gum chewing has been prtn-
cipally an American habit. the people
of other countries are becoming int-
tiated to its delights. A big Ameri-
United States produces enough an
| nually to give two sticks to each man.
woman and child on earth.
Chicle comes to US from tropical
America at the rate OF more than o.
| 100000 pounds a year. and costs in
| the raw state about 100000 an
| nually. The tree which bears 1t Is
to be found In the dense forests Of
| the tropics. The operation In its
l EatnGTlIE IL UbS uA6aiiAliAk u AnAt
OF gathering maple syrup In the
| United States A chicle gatherer has
little more equipment than the YER
satiie fHaehete and a piece OF Repe.
He places the rope around his waist
and the trunk of the tree. which en-
abies him to scale 1t as conveniently
as telephone nneman goes up q
| pole with the aid OF climbers He
makes notches in the tree into which
the sap flows. Later he comes around
and gathers 1t, securing from ten to
fifteen pounds a day in the height of
| the season. A tree may be tapped
profitably for twenty-five years An
effort Is hsiHg nsade by the growers
to induce the men to work by the
week, as their ambition to make good
wages by the so-much-per-poun sys-
tenn has resulted In great harm to the
! trees.
| Planted four hundred to the acre,
the trees yield 1900 pounds of gum
annually. Larti where they will
grow sells at from three to fifteen
dollars per acre. The wood resem-
bIes mahogany. and door and win
/ dow fro ,eS rnada of IL are sill in an