468 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June 1, 1913. 



The venture was not successful. The ruins of the plantation 

 with its dwarfed, straggling trees still remain. The trees are 

 now 15 to 20 feet high and 6 inches in diameter. Some of these 

 trees were tapped in April, 1910. \ery little latex was secured 

 and this was of poor quality. When grown on the mainland, in 

 the deep, fertile and moist soil near Miami, it becomes a large 

 tree. 



There is a native fig (Ficus aurea) found growing abundantly 

 throughout southern Florida. Large trees, 60 feet high and 2 

 feet in diameter, of this species, are to be seen on the grounds of 

 Fort Dallas, once the prison home of the defiant Seminole chief- 

 tain, Osceola. 



Mr. Flagler, the founder of Palm Reach, planted this species 

 along tlie shores of Lake Worth for ornamental purposes. The 

 tree gives an abundance of latex containing rubber, of quality 



Ch.vrles p. Fox. 



probably as good as the .\mate rubber of Mexico. The tree will 

 flourish in almost any situation found in South Florida. 



That portion of Florida south of Homestead is a vast stretch 

 of saw grass, with swampy clay of doubtful value for agricultural 

 purposes, even after the "Everglade Reclamation" has been com- 

 pleted. The F'lorida fig will grow there. Considering the large 

 area suitable, the rapid growth of the tree, and the possibilities 

 of the yield of rubber, the proposition is not the worst one. 



In the sandy and drier portions of the South, we have several 

 species of Bumclia. Tropical relatives of the Bumelias are pro- 

 ducers of gutta i)ercha. Texas "stretchberry" (Bumelia 

 lanuginosa) contains ruliber. The "stretchberry" is a shrub of 

 wide distribution suitable for much of the waste land along the 

 Pecos. 



In the arid portions of the South, especially on the Florida 

 Keys, the hedge spurge (Euphorbia triangufolia) does entirely 

 too well. Planted out originally for fencing, it has. in many 

 localities, spread into the fields. This plant produces a small 

 amount of rubber. Recently, it has been strongly advertised as 

 "Cuban Rubber." Value of the plant as a rubber producer has 

 been over-estimated. 



Of the several i)lants mentioned for the possible production of 

 rubber in the Temperate Zone, only two of them, guayule and 

 pingue, have been found to contain enough rubber to insure a 

 profitable working. The balance must be improved by careful 

 "Burbanking." This work of selection and improvement lies 

 within the scope of our experiment stations. .■Mready the uni- 



versities of New Mexico and .\rizuna ha\e work in progress 

 along these lines. 



In the possible production of rubber in the Temperate Zone, 

 the arid West has the better chance, with the South a close 

 second. While the Temperate Zone may never do much in the 

 way of producing first class rubber, the firm believer may find 

 consolation in the prophecy that, if necessity demands, it can 

 produce enough masticatory to keep busy a hundred million 

 maxillae. 



CHARLES P. FOX, 



OxE of the most fascinating studies connected with the botany 

 of the L'nited States is the possibility of cultivating, on a com- 

 mercial scale, soiTie rubber-producing plant. Probably nobody 

 has given more attention to this matter than Mr. Charles 

 P. F^ox, whose interesting paper, "Possible Rubber Producers in 

 the Temperate Zone," appears above. Mr. Fox has studied the 

 question of rubber producing plants in the United States for the 

 last fourteen years, and studied it in a thoroughly scientific way. 

 He is an Ohioan by birth, graduated from the Ohio State Uni- 

 versity in 1890. and very soon thereafter became Professor of 

 .Agriculture in the University of Idaho. From 1899 to 1912 he 

 was chemist with the Diamond Rubber Co., and since the mer- 

 ger of that company with the Goodrich company has acted as 

 chemist for the larger corporation. 



He has devoted a great deal of time to investigating the source 

 and preparation of Guayule, Jelutong, Colorado rubber weed, 

 Castilloa. the Cuban cactus and Florida fig rubbers. 



He is a member of a number of scientific societies, including 

 the American Chemical Society, Society of Chemical Industry 

 and tlie National Geographical Society ; and he has published 

 many pamphlets and articles relating to agricultural and rubber 

 industries. 



RUBBER SEED GIL. 



Until recently the demand for seeds for planting purposes has 

 absorbed a considerable portion of the supply, but as the "Malay 

 Mail" remarks, this is no longer the case, and every year will 

 see a larger quantity produced. In order to make the industry 

 remunerative, it would probably be necessary to extract the oil 

 from the seeds in Malaya, which would involve the putting in of 

 costly and delicate machinery. As the quantity of seeds on even 

 a large estate would be relatively small, and as it would possibly 

 not pay individual companies to buy and work the necessary 

 plant, it is suggested that .groups of estates, or a syndicate, might 

 carry out the idea profitably. 



CONGO CONDITIONS VASTLY IMPROVED. 



The Congo Reform Association of London has recently pre- 

 sented a memorandum to the effect that the conditions in the 

 Congo, barring one district, are greatly improved over those 

 which prevailed under the administration of the late Leopold. 

 The memorandum states that there is still one district where 

 many barbarities are practised, and suggests that the present 

 Belgian administration should send an official of experience and 

 character to work in conjunction with the British Consul, to 

 ameliorate the conditions in that district. The following para- 

 graph taken from the report will be pleasant reading to all those 

 whose sensibilities in the past have been so keenly aroused by 

 the reports from the Congo : 



"Systematized, officially directed and inspired enslavement of 

 the people, accompanied by brutalities, violence and torture as a 

 fixed, definite policy for purposes alike of public revenue and 

 private profit, has disappeared from five-si.xths of the Congo. 



"That these results are due to the leading part played by his 

 majesty's government and by the people of this country, in a 

 wholly unselfish effort to restore to the unrepresented races of 

 the Congo the liberties and rights of which they had been de- 

 prived, history will bear witness." 



