Evening star., 1921-12-11

duce a food OR fiber available for use
within year or at most two. and OF
such nature that its product can be
extracted cheaply. It must mature in
such a way that there will be a gen.
eral harvest time. If wheat matured
irregularly. each head would need to
be collected separately. Most wild
plants do mature irregularIy, but
there are many species now wild
which might be grown to serve very
necessary food purposes and to ma
ture in restricted harvesting periods
IF we should destroy all our pres
ent starch producing plants. science
would suggest thousand others
which might be developed to replace
the supply. This might take time,
which would be serious, but it could
be done. so the disaster would not be
fatal. The same would be true II our
present textile plants should all die
suddenly. The Colorado river valley
hemp plant is an example OF unde-
veloped vegetable possibilities. Which
brings US to the newly discovered or
developed source of rubber
x x Il i.
ssT'HE expanding use Of rubber fol-
lowing the discovery of treat
ments of the raw material which
made it available for many useful
purposes threatened the supply of the
available wild plants
cultivation in plantations then
began in the Far East, Mexico and
| elsewhere, and the boom following
TINS was accompanied by various un-
desirable financial developments with
which newspaper readers are familiar.
But this rubber cultivation did
little toward the utilization of those
regions which, through their aridity.
were unavailable for other things.
This meant that rubber was demand
ing land which might be utilized for
other purposes fact not serious.
but not an ideal circumstance. That.
however. bids fair soon not to be the
| case. Rubber. like other staples. now
| is known to be available in a variety
| Of climates. and perhaps hundreds of
plant species.
'One of these is the Mexican plant.
| guayule datin Parthonium Arsen-
! tatum) of the Chihuahua desert. its
habitat extending into the Pecos re-
/ gion of Texas. This plant contains a
caoutchouc which long has been
marketed in limited quantities as
taken from the wild plant.
But there is no purely wild plant
| in the world producing any general
article of commerce which, if left in
| its wild state, eventually will not be
Use of wild plants means their ex-
tinction; continued use necessitates
, their cultivation. And the cultiva-
| ton Of guayule never was ATTEMPTED
until recently.
"Dr. w. b. MacCullum. scientist
widely known for his skill in manip-
ulation with living plants, selected
an experimental location. comprising
| several hundred acres, on the arid
| hills near the sea and Santiago, Calf.
i The first important result was the
detection of several hundred varieties
of the wild plant. Then selection for
the best began. a task Of magnitude,
| for these varieties were as wide in
! their difference as are different va
! rieties, for instance, OF apples, the
differences pertaining not only 10 the
| exterior appearance Of the plants, but
to the quantity and quality of rubber
yield.
"The next step. with the methods
of our ancestors or their lack of
methods, might have occupied thou
sand years. Under expert modern
scientific guidance and devotion it has
! taken only a short time. The selec-
ton of small number of varieties.
omising, by reason Of the quantity
and quality OF their product. from the
many thousands of plants grown from
the wild seeds, was the first neces-
sity. The next was the development
of methods Of cultivation which would
bring plants simultaneously to ma
turity. making the establishment OF
a harvest period a possibility.
r y y +
<<rHE stage for this second act was
L set on a great rapching prop
| erty near Tucson, Ariz.. where the
| desert laboratory Of the Carnegie
institution is located. There the field
expert conducted his experiments in
collecting and ripening seeds. their
| termination and transportation and
cultivation in helds. all Of which had
| to be worked out through the ex-
| penditure Of an enormous effort and
much time. Details at this stage