174 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



March i, 1907. 



In 1905 there were issued fifty-two patents for extraction, and 

 to very many of them are appended the names of to-day's leaders 

 in the guayule business. In addition to those named above, who 

 also appear as inventors in this year, are Salvador Madero, F. H. 

 Hunicke, Mauro de la Pena, Francisco F. del Hoyo, Oton Kat- 

 terfeldt, and others. 



It was in this year also that a factory in Germany, backed by 

 large financial interests, for the extraction of rubber from guayule 

 experienced its most profitable run. The shrub was bought, baled, 

 and shipped by Mr. Oton Katterfeldt, who traversed most of the 

 territory where guayule was known to grow, and who secured 

 many thousand tons at prices that look ridiculously low at the 

 present time. This German enterprise was kept very quiet and 

 must have made much money until in September the Mexican 

 government put an export duty of 15 pc^n? a ton on the shrub, 



Rear of FArroRV \o, t — CiA. Exn.oTAnoRA deCaucho Mexicana, 

 AT Saltillo. 



which, with the freight rates, made furtlier shipments unprofitable. 



Then came the incorporation of L'Anglo-Mexicana, the erec- 

 tion of a factory for the Maderos, and a half score of others, and 

 the fruition of the Lawrence experiments in the formation of the 

 Continental Rubber Co. 



During the year past, 1906, more progress was made than in 

 all the years previously. There were forty-three patents issued. 

 most of them to names already given as patentees, but it is in- 

 teresting to note the addition of such names as Edward B. Aid- 

 rich, Arthur H. Marks, and Frederick C. Hood 



For the first time, in this year, the rubber manufacturers of 

 the world awoke to the fact that guayule rubber was of great 

 value to them, and began to use it in large quantities. This, of 

 course, greatly stimulated its production and the Mexican com- 

 panies began to cast an eye to the windward to see how much 

 shrub was in sight. No one claimed an inexhaustible supply, but 

 estimates varied, and the result was that by contract or purchase 

 of the great ranches upon which it grows most of the shrub that 

 is anywhere near profitable transportation was tied up. This has 

 meant the purchase of many great estates, and often the erection 

 of extraction plants in little known sections of the republic. 



GUAYTTLE BOTANICALLT CONSIDERED. 



B.\CK in 1876 Mr. Fernando Altimarano described the guayule 

 shrub as of the genus Cynanchmn, of the natural order .-Isclc- 

 piaderr. Later it was often referred to as the Syiia'ttlicrca-as Mc.r- 

 icanas. It was. however, finally identified as the Parihemum ar- 

 gentatiim (A. Gray.) 



It is the only rubber producer known so far belonging to the 

 compositae. It has no latex, the rubber being chiefly in the cell« 

 of the bark, a little in the wood, and none at all in the new shoots 

 or leaves. The bark also contains balsam like resins, which are 

 extracted with the rubber and are the cause of its softness and 

 stickiness as compared with fine Para, for example. A shrub so 



similar to the genuine guayule that it is often mistaken for it is 

 called by the natives "mariola," and by the botanists Parthenium 

 incanum. This is three times as plentiful as guayule, and while 

 it possibly contains i per cent, of rubber, will not at the present 

 state of the art pay for extraction. Guayule gatherers recognize 

 the plant that they seek by its invariable habit of coming up as a 

 single stalk and then branching, while the mariola branches at the 

 roots under the ground. 



The guayule blossoms normally in September- or October, but 

 has a curious habit, so it is said, of putting ofif efflorescence until 

 a shower comes, and then bloonnng and seeding. The rains are 

 very infrequent and the rainfall measures only 3 or 4 inches 

 annually in the sections where the plant grows, so that the seed 

 crop often fails. 



The shrub grows in extreme cases to the height of 3 feet, with 

 many branches, these plants weighing as much as 3 or 4 pounds. 

 The average height, however, is about a foot, .ind a pound weight 

 per plant is generous. In cutting or pulling, the gatherers are not 

 allowed to take any shrub that has a stalk less than ^ inch in 

 diameter at the base. 



The shrub grows at an altitude of from 3.000 to 6.000 feet, and 

 seems to flourish on sloping ground among the foothills of the 

 mountains, and almost invariably where lime is present in the 

 arid soil. It is a slow grower, the shrub now being treated show- 

 ing an age of from 10 to 20 years, as nearly as can be estimated. 



The name guayule (pronounced y-u-le) is, according to Dr. 

 Endlich, derived from a Spanish word, hay (there is), and the 

 Indian word for rubber, hide. 



The best Mexican shrub contains from 8 to 10 per cent, of rub- 

 lier. while th.-i.t from Texas is said to contain from 5 to 8 per cent. 



Beginni.ni, Fai.tory Xo. 2 — Cia. Explotadora de Caucho 

 Mexicana, at Saltillo. 



Described in brief, guayule is really a dwarf tree, and where it 

 is abundant averages about iVz feet in height. The wood is very 

 hard, of a yellow-green color, and the bark gray on the outside 

 and quite thick. The shrub has a thick, stubby trunk, which 

 throws out many branches, the leaves being lanceolate, toothed at 

 the edges, and of a silver gray color. The light yellow buds are 

 at the end of the long stems, and as the plant belongs to the 

 composiia the talk about male and female plants wliicli some 

 prospectors indulge in is not worth considering. 



WHERE GUAYTLE GROWS. 



The home of guayule. that is nhere it is known to grow in 

 greatest abundance, is in the states of Zacatecas. Xuevo Leon, 

 Coahuila, Durango, and Chihuahua. It is also known to 

 exist in Sonora and in the parts of Texas adjacent to that 

 state. The report that it was found on the slopes of the Andes 

 south of the equator is denied by a gentleman whom I met in 



