THE GUAYULE 



321 



rays and cortex (and certain others which we need not mention here) 

 contain rubber. There is no rubber in the canals, nor is there any 

 rubber, or rather latex, vessels. It is for this reason that, while it is 

 not possible to extract the rubber by tapping, it is possible, by com- 

 minution of tissues, to work together or agglomerate the minute par- 

 ticles of rubber set free by breaking the cells which hold them. It is 

 equally evident that chemical agents may be used for extraction by 

 solution, but this process is of less interest in this connection. We may 

 now pass on to examine the methods of handling the shrub and the 

 process of mechanical extraction. 



Collecting the Shrub 



The primary problem of collecting the shrub and transporting it to 

 the factory is a difficult one. The shrub, growing wild, being con- 

 tracted for, the purchaser is free to go and get it. This means that 



Fig. 10. Hauling Guayule in Mexico. 



peons must be hired to collect the plants in desert places often far re- 

 moved from water and other supplies. They and their burros find their 

 way into steep and rocky places unapproachable by other means. Hav- 

 ing pulled up by the roots a carga of shrub, it is loaded on a burro and 

 so off to a central camp, " campo de guayule/' placed so as to be ap- 

 proachable by wagon. Here the shrub is baled after the fashion of so 

 much hay. The bales are then hauled to the nearest railway station, 

 sometimes 100 kilometers away, to be shipped to the factory. 



Arrived there, the bales are weighed for comparison with the field 

 weight. A certain amount of shrinkage is of course expected, owing to 



