Vol. XVII No. 430. 



THE AGRICULTURAL XEWS. 



resorted to, That would only kad back again to com- 

 pulsorv instruction. At that stage of mental develop- 

 ment children would not be capable of assimilating 

 a mass of technical details, nor would they be sufficient- 

 ly grounded in essential knowledge of facts to do so. But 

 if the system of education should have, from the outset, 

 the aim of interescing children, whose future life 

 and work will be mainly rural, in rural matters, by 

 getting them to see that agricultural work and life 

 have a dignity (juite as great as any other kind of 

 tmployinent, and that there is a divine joy in causing 

 the earth to bring forth fruit, along step will have 

 been taken in the direction of a well educated popula- 

 tion. Hitherto the education in country schools has 

 been divorced to too large an extent from the realities 

 and pleasures and duties of the ordinary life of country 

 children. 



' It is well to cease thinking of education in terms 

 of school, and to learn to think of it in terms of labour, 

 remembering that labour is the common raw material 

 of all human life, and giving to the word a meaning 

 sufficiently broad to cover every rna,n who has a definite 

 status and occupation in the social fabric. The aim 

 of education is that every man shall be trained to 

 enjoy his day's work, and to produce a good article, 

 whatever the article may be, from a picture to a brick, 

 at the end of the day. 



VENEZUELAN PRODUCTION OF BALATA. 



Balata, the gum similar to guttapercha, and largely 

 used in the manufacture of belting, is obtained froni the sap 

 of jJ/i/misti/'sxM'OSc, A tree reaching 100 feet or more in height, 

 which is widely di.stributed over f^astern Venezuela and the 

 Guianas. The latex it- stated to be secreted between the bark 

 and the wood of the tree; it contains nearly equal pro[)ortions 

 of resin and gutta, the latter being identical with true gutta- 

 percha. Notes on the commercial e.xploitation of this tree in 

 Venezuela are given in the June number of the Monthly 

 Biil/ifiri (if Agi-!iii//i<ra/ In/e/tigeiia' and Plant Disenses 

 (191S), from whicli the following interesting inforniatinn is 

 abstracted. 



The word 'balata' is of Uarib origin, and is used by the 

 natives of British, Dutch, and French Guiana, as well as by 

 those of Venezuela, but it is applied .solely to the gum, the 

 tree being known as the 'purgun'. On the coast between 

 Puerto Cabello and Cape Codera the tree is called the 

 'nisperillo'. 



The commercial exploitation ot this tree in Venezuela 

 began near Maturin, where by 1^94 it had been already exter- 

 minated. Sap collecting was then begun near San Felix in the 

 State of Bolivar, and. a- the tree became .scarcer, the area of 



operations was extended eastward to the bo^indary of Britisk 

 Guiana, and southward along the Orinoco and its tributaries, 

 to all accessible region.s. In Venezuela the custom is to cut 

 down the trees in order to obtain the sap, and the indu.stry 

 has thus been progressively desirr)ying itself. A govern- 

 mental commission estimates that in the last ten years alone 

 the 10,000 collectors have destroyed .36,000,000 '[.urguo' 

 trees, and that the direct loss to the nation from this cause 

 amounts to more than half a billion dollars. In spite of the 

 fact that in British Guiana and Dutch Guiana fellini! is 

 prohibited, and that regular production of latex is obtained 

 by tappings that do not kill the trees, the merchants of 

 Ciudad Bolivar have opposed any governmental prohibition 

 of the cutting down of trees, arguing that in whatever- 

 manner the tree is cut it will die, and that there is no better 

 method of obtaining the latex than telling. 



The 'purguo' is of slow growth, the period required for 

 a tree to reach the productive stage being more than ten 

 years, and full development not being attained for thirty 

 years or more. The fruits, being agreeable in taste, are 

 nearly all eaten by wild animals, .so that natural reproduction 

 is slow. The trees usually grow at the foot of hills where 

 the .soil is fertile and moist, but not water-logged, always 

 scattered among other species, and never densely. Land on 

 which there are sixteen 'purguos' to the acre is considered 

 rich. 



The balata harvest begins in May and ends in August, 

 but in years of continuous rains work may be carried on at 

 all times, except when the tree is in flower, the sap being: 

 then so poor as not to be worth gathering. The collector 

 leaves his camp at 5 a.m., fells the first tree he finds, and 

 makes four cuts on each side of the fallen trunk, to each 

 of which he attaches a tin receptacle to catch the How of 

 latex. Having worked two tree.s, he returns to his camp 

 about noon, carrying the product of his toil in a bag, water- 

 proofed with the same sap. The contents of the bag are 

 emptied into a large receptacle. On Saturday all the collec- 

 tion of the entire week is coagulated by cooking, and after- 

 ward.- the gum is pres.sed in wooden moulds into slabs 

 weighing from .50 to 10(i Iti. 



I'nder present niethodc, the average production per tree 

 is 3 gallons of latex, yielding 1^ lb. of balata worth froic\ 

 l.')c. to -iOc. a B). By tapping properly it is estimated 

 that each tree would produce latex worth ^i each year for 

 thirty years or more. 



For a number of years balata, ranking immediately after 

 cotlee and cacao, was third in importance among Venezuelan 

 exports. 



The war has caused great changes in the course of tlu- 

 trade in Venezuelan balata. During 191.S Germany led 

 among the buyers cf the gum on the Ciudad Bolivar market. 

 France ranked second, the LTnited States third, an<l (ireat 

 Britain fourth. In 1914 the United States ro.^e to first place, 

 followed by France, (Jermany, and Great Britain in the order 

 named. In 191-5 Great Britain occupied first place, the 

 United States was second, and France wa- a poor thir<l, 

 Germany disappearing from the list. In .January-.Tune 191 fi. 

 Great Britain and the Inited States aeain ranked first and 

 second, respectively, ami France and r;ermany wcrr both 

 missing from the list. 



In 1916 the price ot balata in Ciudad Bolivar reached 

 the then high mark ot .3.5c. a lb., the average price is betweer\ 

 14 and Jlc. The best price in 191.5 was iWlc. but the latent 

 official tariff' of es|>ortable prolucts, issued by tie Ciudad 

 Bolivar Custom House, fixed the official valuation of balata ac 

 5 bolivares per kilo, or l3-8c. [.er ft. 



