September i, 1901.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



369 



PROPAGATING RUBBER TREES IN EUROPE. 



BELGIUM long has enjoyed a period of ever increasing 

 prosperity, and it is but natural that a liberal share of her 

 accumulated capital should have been devoted to the de- 

 velopment of her recently acquired possessions in Africa. 

 Along with explorers, traders, and government administrators 

 have gone botanists, horticulturists, and planters, and not 

 only is the fiora of the immense Congo country studied scien- 

 tifically, but the economic value of the growths of the various 

 districts closely investigated and experiments made with im- 

 ported plants. Since the begmning of Belgian interests in 

 Africa the study of India-rubber plants has received careful 

 attention, and, besides the native species, several others have 

 been demonstrated to be capable of cultivation there on a 

 profitable basis. 



Closely related to all progress in this direction is a very large 

 and in many ways an ideal greenhouse establishment near 

 Brussels, " L'Horticole Coloniale." Through the members of 

 this establishment it is closely 

 allied to the government of 

 the Congo Free State and to 

 the more important planta- 

 tion companies there. For a 

 quarter of a century or more 

 a number of explorers have 

 been traveling for L'Horticole 

 Coloniale, or its predecessor 

 (Etablissements Linden), and 

 collecting plants of economic 

 value. All the principal rubber 

 producing plants have thus 

 been united into an interest- 

 ing collection, each studied 

 and tested as to cultural re- 

 quirements, productiveness, 

 and the commercial value of 

 its rubber. This arduous work, 

 carried out under the super- 

 vision of the eminent horticul- 

 turist, Lucien Linden, has led 

 to highly interesting and im- 

 port ant results. These re- 

 searches, which are still in 

 progress, have demonstrated that the various rubber species 

 have widely different characteristics and requirements. But 

 not only is it one object of L'Horticole Coloniale to dissem- 

 inate the kind of knowledge here alluded to, but it has the 

 more important purpose of serving as a great nursery for the 

 colonial plantations. 



Seeds gathered from carefully selected rubber trees are here 

 germinated by hundreds of thousands, and the plants grown for 

 one, two, or three years. They are then thoroughly hardened 

 and finally sent to the country of their destination. In this 

 way the ultimate success of the plantations is as fully assured 

 as it is possible to do. The young plants, already well estab- 

 lished in pots, are able to take care of themselves, with a little 

 cultural aid which it is possible to give them in the unde- 

 veloped tropical countries. Experience has taught that these 

 nursery grown plants give much better results than those 

 grown on the spot, and though a preparatory cultivation in 

 Europe may seem to be a complication, it really facilitates the 



YOUNG PLANTS OF " HEVEA BRASILIENSIS. ' 

 [The engraving represents the general appearance and the relative size nf plants 

 grown fr,>m seeds ol the Paril rubber tree, by L'Horticole Coloniale, at Hrussels, 

 for forming plantations in the colooies. The three specimens are four, eight, and 

 twelve months old. respectively The view is reproduced from La Semaine Hor- 

 ticoie, of Brussels.] 



planters' work. Without such a basis of supply from which at 

 a moment's notice large numbers of well prepared plants can 

 be bought, it would indeed often be a life work to establish a 

 plantation. Otherwise, each planter would have to import his 

 own seeds, often from a great distance, as when Brazilian rub- 

 ber species are to be planted in the Congo valley ; it would be 

 tedious work to grow a sufficient number of plants to form a 

 plantation ; and when all was done there would be the uncer- 

 tainty as to whether the seeds were true, or whether the varie- 

 ties were good, or whether any particular variety was suited to 

 the locality selected for the plantation. All these elements of 

 risk are minimized by the existence of this great nursery at 

 Brussels, from which guaranteed plants may be obtained just 

 when wanted, and when the plantation is ready to receive 

 them. Within the past two years large numbers of rubber and 

 other colonial plants have been shipped to distant countries 

 from Brussels, and with a great degree of success. [The de- 

 tails above are derived from 

 an article by Theodore Eck- 

 ardt, a landscape architect of 

 Baltimore, in The Sun news- 

 paper of that city.] 



In this connection may be 

 quoted the following, from a 

 report by the British consul at 

 St. Paul de Loando regarding 

 the efforts to conserve the 

 sources of rubber in the Congo 

 Free State : 



" It is now ordained by a 

 decree of the government that 

 each firm exporting rubber 

 from its territories shall plant 

 a certain number of fresh 

 trees, in proportion to its ship- 

 ments of that article. . . . 

 In addition to legislation for 

 preventing the destruction and 

 insuring the reproduction of 

 rubber giving plants, the 

 Congo government has itself 

 caused fresh varieties of rub- 

 ber plants to be imported, and is, through its own agents, 

 paying attention to their distribution and cultivation. Among 

 such plants may be mentioned the Ficus elastica, the Ceara or 

 Manthot Glaziovii, and the Htvea Brasiliensis.'vi\\\c\\. furnishes 

 the celebrated Para rubber." The source from which these 

 plants are obtained is, as already indicated, the horticultural 

 establishment at Brussels. 



The latest edition of the " Catalogue des Plantes Economl- 

 ques pour les Colonies " issued by "L'Horticole Coloniale" 

 societe anony me, is a substantial book of 157 pages, of which 

 25 are devoted to descriptions of the Caoutchouc and Gutta- 

 percha species of which plants can be supplied. There are 

 listed no fewer than 26 species of Caoutchouc, and 5 of Gutta- 

 percha, and also Balata and Chicle. There are included some 

 interesting notes on plantations of some of these species al- 

 ready formed. Seeds of many or all of these species are also 

 supplied. In addition there are full page photogravures show- 

 ing the appearance of rubber plants in the nurseries. 



