March i, 1909.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



203 



crTTAi'KU'tiiA ri.Axrs ix a .\lrseky. 



Gutta-Percha Planting in Java. 



THE importance, to the world of commerce, of the work 

 that is being clone in Java in cultivating gutta-percha can 

 hardly be overestimated. Indeed, until the writer person- 

 ally met Dr. W. R. Tromp de Haas, the superintendent of the 

 government giitta plantations in Java, and went over the whole 

 subject step by step, he had but a vague idea of the subject. 



To begin with, only three of the many gutta-producing trees 

 produce gum fit for cable insulation, and at the same time adapted 

 for profitable propagation. Botanically. they are all species of the 

 genus Palaquium. being respectively P. oblongifoliiiin, P. 

 Borncense, and P. giitta. (This genus, by the way, is better 

 known to English readers as Dicliopsis.) The species referred to 

 grow chiefly in the Dutch possessions in Java, Sumatra, and 

 Borneo. The natives, whom it is impossible to control, always 

 destroy the tree when extracting the gum. Hence the supply 

 from wild sources is sure to 

 cease ere long. Then, too, 

 as the tree matures slowly, 

 not reaching a tapable size 

 under fifteen years, planters 

 arc not interested in it. 



As far back as 1856 a 

 small plantation of gutta- 

 percha trees was started in 

 Banjoemas, Java, but it was 

 not until 1885 that Profes- 

 sor Treub really laid' the 

 founilation for work on a 

 large scale by starting the 

 plantation at Tjipetir, on 

 the same island. Then, in 

 1900, when it was decided to 

 do the work on a large 

 scale, there was at hand an 

 abundance of seed. As the 

 seed perish within four 

 weeks after maturity, and as 

 the bats carry oft much of 

 the fruit, which they con- 

 sume on the wing, the diffi- 

 culties in getting sufficient 

 fresh seed are obvious. 



The time will come, how- 

 ever, when every mile of the 

 247,888 miles or more, of 

 submarine cable now exist- 

 ing, must be renewed, to say 

 nothing of the need for new 

 cable lines. And in view of 

 this the Dutch government 

 took hold of the problem in 

 a manner that assures its 

 solution. 



The great plantation at 

 Tjipetir is situated in a 

 healthy country in the up- 

 lands not far from Buiten- 

 zorg. The rainfall is abun- 

 dant, the soil good, and 

 cheap labor plentiful. The 

 seeds are first planted in 

 nurseries. When about a 

 year old they are taken up, 

 the tap root and young stem 

 is shortened and they are 

 planted about 4 feet apart. 

 After the third year the 

 plants have closed up so 

 that they need thinning out. 

 Almost from the first Dr. Tromp de Haas planned to 

 make use of the leaf and the bark of the plants that were de- 

 stroyed in thinning. He even went further and extracted gutta 

 from the fallen leaves that littered the ground in the older plant- 

 ings. All of this extraction is by chemical means, and the product 

 is not the green gutta once on the market, but a high-grade gutta 

 as good as the best. This will be seen to be practical when it is 

 remembered that the bark contains 5 per cent, of gutta-percha 

 (made up of 85 per cent, gutta and 15 per cent, resinous matter) 

 and fresh leaves contain 10 per cent, of gutta-percha (made up 

 of 90 per cent, gutta and 10 per cent, resinous matter). The 

 yield from fallen leaves is smaller, but worth considering. 



In tliis manner the plantation begins to produce when the trees 

 arc three years old. By pruning and thinning they have got 

 for the third year about 8go kilograms [=1958 pounds of fresh 



GUTTA-PERCHA IT.A.NTS <j,;4 YEAR.S OLD) .\T PAX.IIN'DANGAN. 



