The mirror., 1922-01-05

it lacked speed. The horse and wagon
travelled faster, and naturally this sounded
the death knell of that early type of car.
1t was only when pneumatic tires were
applied to the motor car that it achieved
the necessary speed to make it CONNER
cially practicable. Hence it is not over
drawing the picture to say that one of the
largest industries in the world is depen-
dent upon rubber for its being.
Thomas A. Edison, writes that:
"The recent discovery of the English
chemist Peachey of method of vulcaniz-
ing with inexpensive steam heat permits
its use in hundreds of directions which
were not possible until this discovery was
made.
with the Peachey process we can mix
fibres and material of all kinds with the
rubber without the fbres, ETC., being at
tackled or changed in the slightest.
"It is now commercially possible to
cover streets with rubber as well as the
tires on the vehicles which pass over the
streets. The linoleum industry will be
able greatly to increase the beauty and
quality of their products. In fact the
rubber field is now immense by reason of
the cheap production in rubber planta-
tons and chemical discoveries"
For many years well-known London,
Eng, street has been paved with rubber,
and there is an important company in
Great Britain organized to lay down rub
Der streets.
Rubber heels have been proved to be
more lasting than leather, and for their
noiselessness and resiliency are coming
more and more into common use.
"The other day." says E. S. Babson in
The Outlook, "a rubber man showed me a
piece of hard, solid rubber compound to
be used as inside. sheeting or wainscoting
for rooms. Rubber gasoline tanks for air
planes, lately patented, though punctured
fifty times by bullets, do not leak! ALI
rubber bathing suits are being worn. In
Vulnerable new rubber toys are shown.
Shaving-mugs, teapot spouts, umbrella
covering, acid carboys, lathing floor
covering, and furniture made of rubber
are being projected"
In 1870, in Brazil, Henry A. Wickham,
an Englishman, conceived the idea of
transplanting rubber trees from the Far
East and cultivating them in orderly plan
tation fashion. His idea was to organize
rubber production-to get away from the
tropical weather, jungle, and fevers. The
little plants were set out at Kew Gardens,
London, in June, 1876. In August thirty
eight cases were shipped to Ceylon.
The first tree lowered at Heveratgoda
in 1881, and tapping began. In 1884, after
the thinning-out process, there were one
thousand bearing trees. In 1898 seeds
were distributed to Ceylon planters.
Malaga, unlike Ceylon fostered rubber,
while Ceylon grew tea.
Cultivation and planting continued, and
in 1900 four tons of plantation rubber
was produced. In 1905 there were 116,-
500 acres of trees, in 1919 about 2,910,750
acres, and last year the output was 343,73l
tons of rubber.
England controls the rubber-plantation
industry and claims investments aggregat-
ing $90o,oOO,oOo.
The future is full of interesting proba-
bilities. Already we have rubber travel
ing bags, suit-cases, and portfolios; we
may look for rubber to replace leather in
many fields. Yet less than forty years ago
a rubber pioneer was jeered by the Fire
Department of Cincinnati for suggesting
rubber hose to replace the then universally
used leather fre-hose!
The automobile industry is, however, the
great waster of rubber in peace time, and
that by the friction of our stone roadways