The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-05-09
HAS GUM CHEWING HABIT.
Takes 3O,OOO,OOO Sticks Year to Sup
ply the Demands of Americans.

Gum chewing in the United States
appears to be a general habit, as it
would take quite a few gum chewers
to use up what is manufactured. More
than 100000 sticks of gum is the
annual output of American factories.
All this stuff is made of chicle, which
comes from a gum tree in the tropics
the importation of chicle into the
United States figuring up 100000
a year. The chicle business has be-
come a big industry in the republics
to the south. The gum tree is tapped
very much the same as the rubber
tree.
Spanish explorers found the Indians
of this hemisphere chewing gum to
quench their thirst away back in the
fifteenth century, and they reported
that it relieved exhaustion; but it was
1876 before gum chewing became
habit among the nations, so at least
the gum makers says, being guided in
their opinions by the statistical rec
ords. Still, the Oldest inhabitants say
they always had gum. Resin or
something else must have been chewed
before the modern gum factory
brought out substitute that was bet
ter liked.
Since that time the demand for this
commodity has increased to such an
extent that importing firms have been
obliged to search the markets and ex-
plot the growing of the tree i'll or
der to obtain supply sufficient to
meet existing requirements.
Prior to 1883 chicle sold for from z
cents to cents a pound. Now it is
selling for 50 a pound. The chlcle
tree is Indigenous to northern South
American countries, Central America
and the Mexican states of Yucatan,
Campeche. Tabasco. Chiapas, Vera
Cruz Oaxaca, Pueb1a, Jalisca, San
Luis Potosi and the territories of the
Topic and Quintana Roo.
Experiments have shown that trees
planted at distance of ten feet apart,
or 400 to the acre. will yield from five
to six pounds of chicle gum when from
s to 10 years old. In their wild state
the trees are usually found in groups.
frequently growing. to height of
from 40 to SO feet. Lands we'll
adapted to the growing of the tree,
once thought valueless unless the tim
Der could be cut and transported, are
now worth SIS in gold an acre. and
are being largely sought
The wood is of reddish color. closely
resembling mahogany, is quite hard,
heavy, compact in texture and fine
grained. Prehistoric door frames and
rafters of this wood are found among
the Mexican ruins, and are still in eN-
cellent state of preservation. This
wood is today greatly in demand by
cabinet makers, who employ it in the
manufacture of high-grade furniture
and household fittings. 1t is called
sapota.
For many years the sapodilla pear
which also comes from the sapota tree,
was q popular variety of fruit among
the natives. but now, on account of the
great demand for chicle gum and the
attractive rewards offered, the 1rult Is
seldom marketed.
The operation of gathering chicle
and preparing it for market is similar
to that employed in the maple sugar
industry in the United States.
Throughout the rainy season and while
the sap is up the tapping is done. The
pieces of rope and a machete. By
means of this rope, which is fastened
about the waist and slipped around the
tree the gatherer is enabled to hold
any desired position and WELD the ma
chete in cutting the incisions.
Great care must be exercised, as eX-
cessive bleeding of sap will cause the
rapid decay of the tree. It is possible
for one man to gather properly from
10 to Is pounds of sap a day, for
which he is paid. in most cases. a con-
tract price of from 10 to Is cents a
pound: but on many of the large eS
tates an effort is now being made to
effect payments for the labor by the
day. week or month. and in this way
frequently caused by a greedy desire
on the part of the piece worker to
obtain as much sap as possible. with
out regard to injury to the trees.
In granting concessions to gather
chicle in the national forest reserva-
demand that natives shall be properly
instructed in the gathering and pre-
paration of the gum.
In some instances trees have been