ARBORICULTURE 



a bi-monthly journal 



Published in the Interest of the 

 International Society of Arboriculture 



Subscription $1.00 per annuin John P. Bkown, Editor and Publisher, Connersville, Indiana 



Entered as Second Class Matter April 16, 1906 



Volume V 



Connersville, Indiana, October, 1906 



Number 6 



The Production of India Rubber 



'T'HE phenomenal increase in the 

 * demand for rubber,' the variety of 

 uses in the manufacture of electrical 

 apparatus, automobile and carriage tires, 

 and innumerable articles in which this 

 material is now employed, has incited 

 many people to attempt its production. 



The Ubero Plantation and other ques- 

 tionable schemes devised by sharpers, 

 has served to warn the public against 

 investing in wildcat schemes, but there 

 are many regions where legitimate invest- 

 ments may be made with excellent pros- 

 pects of profitable results in the growing 

 of rubber trees and the production of 

 this valuable material. 



There are some varieties of the Ficus 

 family native to southern Florida, grow- 

 ing in the edge of the Everglades, and it 

 would doubtless be a practical under- 

 taking to engage in the growing of rubber 

 trees in the vicinity of Miami, and after 

 a system of drainage has been put in 

 operation, within the Everglades and 

 adjoining swamps. 



In Arboriculture for February, 1905, 

 we gave a brief account of the manner 

 of growth of the Ficus, and produced a 

 photograph which we reproduce here. 

 The Insidious Rubber Tree, of a tree at 

 Miami, Florida. 



The seed of the Ficus, lodging in the 

 scales *of the palm, and the branches of 

 other trees, send their roots out into the 

 air, mere threads apparently, which in 

 time reach the earth and quickly gain a 

 foothold, eventually becoming the prin- 

 cipal tree, but having its support from 

 the tree which it has robbed. 



Mr. E. M. Coventry, Deputy Conser- 

 vator of Forests for the Government of 

 India, has recently compiled a work on 



Ficus Elastica, Its Natural Growth and 

 Artificial Propagation, which is timely, 

 and from which we take the following 

 notes, and also reproduce two photo- 

 graphs from Mr. Coventry's pamphlet. 



Ficus Elastica is found in the foot-hills 

 of the Himalayas, from Nepal eastward. 

 In Assam are the greatest numbers grow- 

 ing among other forest trees. 



It is found in regions having excessive 

 humidity of atmosphere. In India, a hot 

 country, the altitude preferred is from 

 2,500 to 3,500 feet above sea level, but 

 farther north, as in south Florida, sea 

 level would give similar temperature to 

 the mountains of India. 



Severe winter frosts occur here, and 

 upon rare occasions the Ficus and many 

 other trees have been killed. 



The Ficus demands light, and if sur- 

 rounded by trees giving dense shade, it 

 escapes by growing to an enormous 

 height, towering above every other tree. 



Seedlings grow in the crevices in the 

 bark of other trees, at a great height 

 from the ground, and the plant remains 

 an epiphyte for 3'ears, until its aerial 

 roots touch the ground, when the little 

 epiphyte roots gradually envelop the 

 tree on which it first began life. Seed- 

 lings growing on the ground are 

 extremely rare. 



The roots of several trees become self 

 grafted or anastomosed, so that a planta- 

 tion has become one huge tree. 



The seed is contained in a fig-shaped 

 fruit, the size of a pea, many seeds the 

 size of a pin-head being contained in 

 one fig. 



propagation 



The requirements of young trees are, 

 perfect drainage, and looseness of soil; 



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