58 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[November i, iqoR 



GUAYULE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



■ I 'HE production of giiayule rubber in Texas is the subject 

 •*■ of a recent report made bj- the German consul in Galveston, 

 from which we quote : "The experiments made with the produc- 

 tion of rubber from the guayule plant have proved so successful 

 that a corporation known as The Big Bend Manufacturing Q). 

 has closed a contract with the state government of Texas, by 

 which it has acquired the right to utilize the guayule plants grow- 

 ing on all the so called school lands which are at the present 

 time still owned by the state. The guayule producing areas thus 

 leased comprise millions of acres of land in western Texas. The 

 territory in which the guayule plant thrives especially well, ex- 

 tends from Langtry, in Val Verde county, to Cerro Blanco in 

 El Paso county, and comprises an area measuring 250 miles in 

 length by 75 to 100 miles in width. The present term of the 

 contract of lease is four years, and the amount paid the state 

 for rental is $61,000. In order to prevent the destruction of the 

 species, a special provision has been incorporated in the con- 

 tract prohibiting the cutting of plants before they have reached 

 a certain age and attained a stated height." 



.Some details regarding the contract referred to in tlie German 

 consular report appe.ired in The Indv.v Rubber World October 

 I, 1907 (page 21), including the provision of the act of the 

 Texas legislature authorizing the contract, that no bid would 

 be accepted from any party or a member of any trust, monopoly, 

 or combination in restraint of trade. The act became effective on 

 July II, 1907, after a hasty passage, section 2 declaring the exist- 

 ence of such "an emergency and imperative public necessity 

 that the constitutional rules requiring bills to be read on three 

 days be suspended." Neither the act, however, nor the regula- 

 tions for carrying it into effect, called for haste in the utiliza- 

 tion of the guayule on the school lands, and it would not be 

 surprising if the Texas supply controlled by the "Big Bend Man- 

 ufacturing Co." should be held in reserve until rich.er fields jn 

 Mexico are exhausted. 



* * * 



All the guayule shrub in Texas is not on the school lands, 

 however. The India Rubber World August i, 1907 (page 

 332), reported the incorporation of the Texas Rubber Co., 

 for the purpose of extracting rubber from guayule, stating that 

 it had already purchased all the guayule shrub in three large 

 Texas counties. No report has been had of action by this 

 company, and it is possible that nothing will be done while the 

 interests in control are busy in developing work in Mexico, 

 which was begun at an earlier date. Texas has thus far con- 

 tributed no guayule rubber to the market. 



* * * 



It may be of some interest to note that the guayule shrub first 

 became the subject of scientific attention in what is now United 

 States territory. Texas was formerly a part of Mexico, and 

 upon its annexation to the United States a formal establishment 

 of the boundary line between the two countries became necessary. 

 The "Report on United States and Mexican Boundary Sur- 

 vey" made on behalf of the former country by Major William 

 H. Emory (Washington, 1859"), in a series of sumptuous quarto 

 volumes, embraces a number of scientific reports, that on Botany 

 (Volume II) being the work of the afterward famous John 

 Torrey. On page 86 the plant now known as "guayule" is 

 described by Asa Gray, an assistant in the work and also des- 

 tined to become famous, and by him given the designation Par- 

 thenium argentatum, which it has still retained. The specimen 

 reported on was gathered "near Escondido creek, Texas [a 

 region which the present writer cannot identify], in rocky places, 

 September, 1852," by Dr. Bigelow. Gray does not appear to 

 have observed that the shrub contained rubber. The report 

 referred to lists as occurring in the same general region the 



already named Parthenium icanuin, H. B. K., a plant now known 

 in Mexico as "mariola," and often mistaken for guayule, though 

 of no value as a rubber producer. [See The Indi.\ Rubber 

 World, July i, 1905— page 335.] 



The later and more notable scientific work, "Biologia Centrali- 

 Americana," embraces 4 quarto volumes on Botany edited by 

 William Botting Hemsley (London, 1879-1881). Parthenium 

 argentatum. Gray, is mentioned (Volume II, page 148) as oc- 

 curring in Texas and in northern Mexico from San Luis to 

 San Antonio. Referring to the specimen in the Kevv herbarium 

 it is said : "We are not certain whether this was collected within 

 our limits," meaning south of the Rio Grande. 

 * * * 



A LETTER from the United States department of agriculture 

 (bureau of plant industry) to The India Rubber World says: 

 "Representatives of this department have visited the section of 

 Texas which was reported as having guayule, with a view to its 

 exploitation, but they nowhere found it in sufficient quantities to 

 warrant the attempt. The possibility of establishing a successful 

 culture of this plant seems too remote to justify experiments." 



LARGE ORDERS FOR ELECTRICAL PLANT. 



""PHE General Electric Co. (Schenectady, New York), through 

 •*■ their Brazilian agents, have secured a contract for the 

 electrification of the Central Railway of Brazil, in the neighbor- 

 hood of Rio de Janeiro, an important government enterprise. 

 The system embraces 700 miles of track, 303 locomotives, and 

 about 3,000 cars. The General Electric Co.'s contract will entitle 

 them to sell light and power in Rio de Janeiro and Nichtheroy. 

 The General Electric Co.'s agents have also been granted a con- 

 cession covering the supply of light and power to the cit.v of 

 Sao Paulo, Brazil, a city of 300,000 inhabitants and the largest 

 coffee market in the world. 



Siemens-Schuckert Werke G. m. b. H., of Berlin, are reported 

 to have secured, through their branch in Mexico City, the order 

 for the machinery and installation of the hydro-electric works 

 on the lake of Chapala, near Guadalajara. It is estimated that 

 the total expenditure on the works will amount to about 15,000,000 

 marks [=$3,357,000]. 



It was reported to the Coventry city council [says Londo!i 

 Financial News, September 23] that the contract for electric light 

 cable had been placed with a German firm, the reasons being 

 that the prices obtained from English firms were time after time 

 almost identical, and that there seemed to be an arrangement 

 as to which of the home tenders was to get the Coventry con- 

 tract. It was further stated that the cable was the same, whether 

 obtained from abroad or from English makers ; yet as copper 

 went up enormously in price and had now fallen, manufacturers 

 must be getting a very large "pull." The Council confirmed the 

 action of the committee making the contract with the German 

 company. 



Allgemcine Elektricitats Gesellshaft (Uie General Electric 

 Co. of Berlin) were reported lately to have opened at Constanti- 

 nople a special agency for the sale of their products. 



VULCANINA. 



AN Eastern contemporary, the name of which has been mislaid, 

 contains the following from a correspondent : "It is stated 

 in a Brazilian paper that a company has been organized for the 

 exploitation of a Brazilian invention known as 'Vulcanina,' which 

 is a preparation of rubber to be used for road paving and other 

 purposes. It is further stated that the building in which the 

 company will establish its offices has been acquired. In this 

 connection I read in an account of the new premises of John 

 Dewar & Son, Limited, in the Haymarket, London, that 'the floor 

 of the main hall is laid with rubber tiles such as are now used in 

 the best offices in America.' " 



