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CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN 



January-February, 19^5 



botanist knows pretty accurately at any 

 time just where he and the subject, the 

 plant, are "at," to put it colloquially. A 

 striking example of this was shown us in 

 some fields of guayule where now and then 

 a dwarf shrub was extremely conspicuous 

 by virtue of its small size. These poor 

 specimens can be eliminated because they 

 are now known to be the product of an 

 excessive number of chromosomes, usually 

 with a count of well over 100, instead of the 

 normal 72 common to the species. 



This comes about by the fertilization of a 

 non-reduced ovule. The occurrence is 

 natural, yet certain wild areas lack the forms 

 that may produce such undesirable indi- 

 viduals. The difficulty in this case is cir- 

 cumvented by the selection of plants which 

 do not "pile up" their chromosomes during 

 the process of seed production. 



GREAT POTENTIALITIES 



The government project, now being 

 gradually liquidated, has obviously not only 

 contributed importantly to the needs for 

 natural rubber, but has laid a basis for the 

 establishment of a new crop of great poten- 

 tial worth. There are two factors involved 

 that emphasize this: The first has to do 

 with its unique physical position as a farm 

 crop, and the second with its unique position 

 as a source of rubber. 



(1) Guayule succeeds in a climatic range 

 2,400 miles long, 100-150 miles wide, 

 roughly from Red Bluff, California to 

 Brownsville, Texas, and although native to 

 limestone soils it grows well in neutral ones 

 and is acid tolerant. This means that its 

 cultivation is economically feasible on idle 

 and insufficiently watered lands where it 

 may live for a known thirteen years and 

 probably much longer; irrigated it may 

 yield about one ton of rubber per acre in 

 four to five years. 



It would be ideal as a soil conserving 

 crop for its climatic area, and would be 

 harvestable, if desired, in two years. In 

 this way, it would take care of the quiet 

 period, now known to be necessary for 

 many lands with a minimum of water and 

 care. In Texas alone there are more than 

 3,000,000 acres suitable for it, much of it 

 uncleared brushland now used only for 

 grazing. The present project at its maxi- 

 mum totaled 32,000 acres. 



(2) Its usefulness as a source of a unique 

 rubber type, counsels earnestly for its 

 permanent introduction into our crop 

 economy. It is now known to improve the 

 workability of synthetic rubbers even more 

 than the addition of Hevea rubber because 

 it is more plastic. Addition of 25 per cent 

 guayule reduces mixing time as much as 

 25 per cent; in other words a considerably 

 greater output is possible by the addition 

 of a small amount of guayule rubber for 

 certain processing operations. It is even 

 used in admixture with Hevea rubber to 

 improve its plasticity and tack. The 



importance is emphasized when it is realized 

 that 30 per cent of natural rubber is re- 

 quired even now for the production of large 

 heavy duty tires. 



SIMPLIFIED CROPPING 



The government specialists have devised 

 and simplified cropping methods. The 

 large bracts and sterile florets which 

 normally adhere to the seeds are now 

 threshed away so that seed storage in a 

 reasonable space is no longer a problem. 

 Machines seed directly into the soil smoothly 

 and evenly, transplant seedlings, do a large 

 share of the weeding and harvest the end 

 product. Finally, there is good evidence 

 that the new guayule plant will be cropped 

 by mowing, for it has been discovered that 

 in one year the old root will produce new 

 growth, yielding rubber equal in amount 

 to a two-year-old seedling. 



For decades we have been seeking and 

 introducing new crops; guayule is one in 

 which we have invested some $30,000,000. 

 It seems obvious that we should encourage 

 its farm-growing by giving the farmer the 

 same protection he now has for his cattle, 

 sugar, wool and other products. It is 

 certainly economically sound to subsidize 

 in order to encourage production and crop 

 diversification where the product will 

 always be a potential need in the national 

 independence. 



The amazing job done to date on guayule 

 has entailed the close co-operation of as 

 many as one hundred and twenty-five 

 technicians from the Bureau of Agricultural 

 and Industrial Chemistry; Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, Soils and Agricultural Engineer- 

 ing; Forest Service, and Bureau of Ento- 

 miology and Plant Quarantine. Included in 

 the work have been foresters, plant pathol- 

 ogists, entomologists, physiologists, cytolo- 

 gists, geneticists, agronomists, and taxonom- 

 ists. The result is a dramatic achievement 

 by students of plants. May we have the 

 good sense, the vision, to give the encour- 

 agement necessary to perpetuate the bene- 

 fits already obtained. 



LEAFLET ON ALEUTIAN ISLANDERS 

 ISSUED BY MUSEUM 



Aleutian Islanders is the title of a new 

 anthropology leaflet published by the 

 Museum. The Aleutian Islanders, or Aleuts 

 as they were called by their Russian dis- 

 coverers, were Eskimos who had achieved a 

 rather spectacular culture or civilization. 

 The leaflet describes this civilization as it 

 existed before the Russian conquest in 1741. 



Before the coming of the White men, 

 there were about 16,000 Aleuts in the 

 Aleutian Islands and the Alaska Peninsula. 

 They spoke a divergent dialect of the 

 Eskimo language, but lacked many cultural 

 traits of northern Eskimos. For instance, 

 the relatively mild climate of the Aleutians 

 prohibited the use of dog-sled traction and 



the techniques of hunting and fishing on the 

 ice, all of which were very important to 

 Eskimos elsewhere. 



The Aleuts killed their whales by means 

 of poison, a method of hunting completely 

 foreign to northern Eskimos. Aleut whaling 

 lances were smeared with aconite poison 

 made from aconite root. Lone hunters in 

 their small, skin-covered kayaks would 



ALEUT MASKS 



Carved from wood, and used in various ceremonies. An 



illustration from the new leaflet "Aleutian Islanders," 



drawn by Helen Z. Quimby. 



approach a large whale, cast their poisoned 

 lances, and then return to their villages. 

 After several days the whale would die and 

 eventually drift ashore. By watching the 

 wind and tides the hunter could tell where 

 the whale would be washed ashore. Owner- 

 ship of the whale was determined by prop- 

 erty marks on the lance head in the wound. 



The social organization of the Aleuts was 

 strongly influenced by Indians of Alaska 

 and Canada. Their system of kinship and 

 some other customs were more Indian than 

 Eskimo. 



Aleut culture, then, is basically old 

 Eskimo with modifications produced by 

 adaptation to a sub-arctic climate and by 

 contact with peoples of northern Asia and 

 American Indians. These factors are in 

 part responsible for the unique culture of the 

 Aleuts which has been described in the new 

 56-page anthropology leaflet. 



The leaflet was written by George I. 

 Quimby, Curator of Exhibits in the Depart- 

 ment of Anthropology. It is illustrated 

 with many drawings by Helen Z. Quimby 

 and eight photographs from the Museum 

 collections. A striking new format, designed 

 by Lillian A. Ross, Associate Editor of 

 publications, has been used. (Price $ .35). 



Museum's First Librarian Dead 



Edward L. Burchard, Librarian and 

 Recorder of the Museum in its earliest days, 

 died November 29, at the age of 77. Mr. 

 Burchard left the Museum in 1898 to accept 

 an appointment as chief of the library and 

 archives division of the United States Coast 

 Guard and Geodetic Survey. Later he was 

 director of the school of social ssrvice admin- 

 istration at the University of Chicago. In 

 recent years he was consultant to and execu- 

 tive secretary of the Chicago Recreation 

 Commission. 



