Evening star., 1921-12-11

WHO MAKES THE FIRST ANNOUl
RUBBER.
lies in his ability to overcome those
is raising reindeer for meat up in the
arctic. Man is the only animal which
can live In all environments. Exactly
that man does.
And now the challenge OF the
desert may be said to have been an
Coal and oil were known at first SIM
ply as fuel materials. Now a mere
list of the many different articles
manufactured from these raw mate
rials would fill hundreds Of pages.
when ] was born coal was coal
and oil went into lamps. Now. passed
along through the laboratories OF the
chemists. both influence in many ways
the daily lives Of all OF us. When the
white man came to America the In
dians were raising corn and eating
it when boiled or roasted. Today corn
prepared as food in many other ways.
and. besides. produces oil and great
number of other useful by-products.
"All these new uses for coal. oil,
corn and a thousand other things
have been due to the work of the
research man. ..- -.-
THE utilization Of the desert for
the production of rubber and for
many other things will come from
similar effort. That is what will save
US from disasters of exhausted re-
sources.
We can And more than one thing
available for any given use. A COM
plete list of the plants from which
we derive our foods and textiles must
seem pitifully small to any botanist
with even limited expert knowledge
OF the flora of the world. He knows
that there are hundreds other than
those on which man now depends
could be made available If all or any
Of these, through tragic magic, should
become extinct.
x ssxs
DoMESTIcATION Of wild plants is
- not simple or quick matter
but is possible. Our principal cror
plants have reached their present
stage of development after thousands
Of years of guidance. 1t is only re-
Gently that this work has been sure
and even reasonably fast. With mans
advancing knowledge of heredity and
evolution in plant life. we now should
be able to take wild plant Gas We
I should be and are able to take almost
any new mineraD and in a decade
make more advance with it than pre-
viously would have been possible in
a thousand years.
'In his conquest of the desert one
of mans most notable achievements
! is progressing. In this conquered
land man is able to control many
things which elsewhere are subject
,, to climatic uncertainties, for upon
! irrigated land there is a certainty OF
cropping which was unknown to old
time farmers. Thus plants which may
be grown in irrigated desert land are
of especial certainty. That is IA
| vorable circumstance with regard to
the new source of rubber supply.
cultivation up to now has been
principally Of those plants which have
been handed down as useful by ouI
ancestors. Now a keener scientific
! attitude and deeper comprehension
has led in two new directions-agri-
cultural exploration and development
| Of that which is discovered.
Tho principal civilized countries
have sent scientific men to the re.
-motest regions Of the earth to ex-
amino native agricultural practices In
the effort to bring to light new plants
Of possible use. Especially such ef-
fort has been devoted to the search
for plants which might prosper in
spite of a restricted water supply.
Results considered important have
been accomplished. From dry regions
| of western Asia have been obtained
strains of alfalfa needing less water
than the varieties usually known
here. To some extent, similar accom-
plishments have been achieved with
wheat and corn. But we are begin
ming to realize that while we may
get something from a search Of the
| world for cultivated plants. it will
| not be enough nor good enough. Sc
modern agricultural experiment more
nique of increasing efficiency by
studying wild plants with the thought
of their domestications
"A plant to be Of any agricultural
use must be capable Of being grown
dsussly In fields Of restricted area,
u,nsf snafs,re mot teo elowly. and pro-