Evening star., 1941-03-29
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henrv.

by 1nOnlQS n. Henrv.
The outstanding obstacle to successful
rubber cultivation in the New World
ease-has been largely overcome by
American plant breeders.
ut has absolutely no terrors for us"
says DR.. E. w. Brandeis of the Depart
ment of Agriculture's Bureau of Plant
Industry, who is directing the half
million dollar project of bringing back
home to the Amazon jungles where it
worlds rubber crop.
Long before the present move got
under way rubber specialists were work.
ing to this end, DR.. Brandeis says. It
long had been known that some trees
were more resistant than others to the
air-carried fungous although 1t was
doubtful if any were entirely immune,
or would remain so very long. The pro-
cedure has been to pick out the most
immune trees and from them breed the
root stock upon which high-yielding va
rieties could be budded. Dutch and
British growers in the Orient, where the
leaf disease was non-eXistent, never had
been bothered with this problem.
The present cooperative project of 13
nations, probably the most gigantic in
the history of agriculture, got under
way at a Pan-American scientific con-
gress in Washington last May. Follow
ing the revelations at this congress,
President Roosevelt and Vice President
Wallace, then Secretary of Agriculture,
took the lead in the campaign to bring
rubber back home. Plant scientists both
in the United States and Latin America
were ready to move almost instantly
with the most perplexing problem al
ready behind them
They got under way about six months
ago with some of the foremost rubber
and plant disease specialists in the
United States volunteering as a patri-
otic duty to take charge of the work,
set up test stations and explore thous-
ands of square miles of jungle to find
the best plantation areas. Two parties
of these scientists are still in South and
Central America. A third, headed by
DR.. E. C. Stakman of the University of
Minnesota, has just returned after
muleback and railroad handcar explora-
ton of vast area of the upper Amazon
and its tributaries.
He found the growth of wild rubber
trees extremely prolific, Dr. Stakman
says. Some trees grew 100 feet high and
were 100 inches in circumference Some
seemed to be entirely free of the leaf dis
ease, although this could not be ascer-
tanned beyond doubt Everywhere he
went. he says, he found the fungous
present. 1t Is still possible, however,
that in its native land where the plant
has become acclimated through almost
countless thousands of years some stock
will be found which is entirely resistant.
DR.. Stakman and his associates picked
up two propagation station sites in Peru
and one each in Colombia and Ecuador.
Bringing rubber home" Dr. Brandeis
says, will take several years. A stock of
millions of trees must be built up. 1t
is five years before a tree can be tapped
safely and seven before it comes into
full production. The work of clearing
land, planting and nursing the trees will
be costly and laborious. The project
cannot be expected to supply rubber for
the present emergency.
Tapping the Para rubber tree, say the
Department of Agriculture specialists, is
by far the cheapest means of producing
rubber in spite of the various synthetic
processes for making substances with
most of the qualities of rubber which
have been developed in the past few
years. With the leaf disease under con-
troll 1t will utilize land Of little value for
any other form of agriculture. 1t re-
qulres, however, a tropical climate and
a rainfall of at least 70 inches evenly
distributed throughout the year. 1t can
be grown cheaply and prof1tably both in
large plantations and on small holdings.
Once plantation is established trees
can be tapped every few days for years
without any apparent damage.
Had it not been for this great CO.
operative project between the United
States and 13 South American govern
ments, DR.. Stakman points out, it would
have required at least 80 years for grow
ers in the rubber producing countries
to have built up disease-resistant base
stock by process of selections from
their own wild native trees.
All the countries involved, he saws
are working in the closest cooperation.
For Northwestern South America it
promises to be one of the biggest eco
d