El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-01-14

ter proof, and thus may be said TO have
cen the first users of mackintoshes-
The First Bulb syringes.
In Brazil, the Spaniards found the
Ip6ians using queer kind Of squirt
Which consisted Of a hollow, flask
= aped ball Of rubber, with short
piece of hollow reed inserted into it.
When filled with water. this contriv-
nee would. on being squeezed dis
charge a small stream to a consi derable
distance Here in fact. was the origin
al of the now familiar bulb syringe 1t
gave the name to the Syringe tree,
which is the largest of several species
Of trees native TO the moist, Steaming
valleys of the Amazon basin, all Of
them belonging to the t'spurge" family.
that yield the famous rubber of Para.
The syringe tree, which attains a
height of so feet, is easily propagated
ny cuttings 1t has been largely plant
I'd within the last few years in Java
nd other tropical regions al around
The world, but it is exaeting in respect
10 climate, requiring a dollhouse tenn
erature with plenty of moisture. In
the Hawaiian islands it has proved less
satisfactory than the "ceara" tree
which is native to the southern part
Of Brazil The ceara, in fact. seems
likely to prove the successful rubber
plant for the little archipelago. Ex-
perience has shown that it flouriShes
best in a rocky, arid region, hot and
dry In Ceylon, where it has been
introduced, it does well up to an ele-
walton Of 5000 feet above the sea-
Many Kinds of Rubber Trees.
There are in the world hundreds Of
different species of trees and other
plants which yield rubber-that is to
say. a sap which holds the precious
material in solution In Java and 9TH
er islands of the Malay archipelago the
market supply is obtained in large part
from a gigantic creeper which in five
years attains a length Of 200 feet and
a diameter Of six to nine inches. One
such vine viii yield Is to so pounds of
rubber annually.
Another very important rubber pro-
ducing plant in that part of the world
is a kind of fig-a huge forest tree
with enormous roots which spread far
and wide over the surface of the
ground. Its botanical name is ficus
e,astica. and we ought to feel that we
are we'll acquainted with it, inasmuch
as, grown in pots, it is the familiar
rubber plant" of our draWingrooms
The forests of Brazil are as full Of
rubber producing plants as Of snakes
and fevers. There is no lack of them
in other tropical regions, both of the
new and old worlds. But the common
practice hitherto has been to destroy
the trees wholesale in the process of
ga thering their "nilk''-the result as
was inevitable, being that the supply
is now seriously threatened with ex-
haustion. In the meantime rubber Gas
already said) has become one of the
necessaries of civilizations: new uses
are being found for it almost every
cay and deprivation Of it would be
nothing short of a calamity to man
kind at large.
CuItivating Rubber Trees.
Hence the eager interest with which
efforts are being made to introduce va
rious rubber producing trees into cult
walton. Plantations of different species
lave already been established on a
large scale in Java. in Ceylon, in Brit
.sh Africa, in Trinidad. in Mexico, and
elsewhere. On the island Of Ceylon in
particular great sums are being invest
ed in this sort of enterprise. AS yet,
however, there has not been time 10
estimate results, inasmuch as trees Of
any kind require a good many years
10 attain large size. The first thing
necessary is to find out the species best
adapted to given region. We seem to
rave solved that part of the problem al
ready in Hawaii, and efforts in the
same direction are being made in Por-
to Rico. 1t has been suggested that
the Everglades of Florida vast area
of swamp covering thousands Of square