118 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January i, 1910. 



New Gkowth from Tap Root. 



(The illustration ihows a retoiio or shoot developed in one year from the 



root of a guayule plant cut off at the ground. The scale of 5 



centimeters lat the left) gives an idea of the height of 



the new growth.] 



increase the oncoming shrub very materially, though to the 

 precise extent may only be guessed at in view of unequal con- 

 ditions. The number of new growths following cutting may, 

 however, amount to 40 per cent, of the original number of plants, 

 and doubtless, under favorable conditions, an even greater per- 

 centage may be expected. But, it must be understood also that 

 much lower results may ensue if the conditions are less favorable. 

 In the light of the probable material reduction of the natural 

 supply of guayule, a result not unexpected for some years, at- 

 tempts have been made, doubtless by many persons, to see what 

 could be done in the way of cultivating the plant. I have 

 personal acquaintance with one hacicndado whose repeated 

 trials to germinate the seed resulted only in failure, and this ex- 

 perience is typical of most of these attempts. Success in ger- 

 mination has been reported in the pages of The India Rubber 

 World on one occasion, coupled with statements of the content 



of rubber in the resulting irrigated plants which seem to be not 

 wholly warranted by my own observations. 



I have already spoken of the result of irrigation on the plant. 

 As to the possibility of germination it may be said that the 

 seedlings of guayule are very small and delicate, and for a some- 

 what lengthy period succumb very easily to unfavorable con- 

 ditions. They do not, for this period, have any of the resistant 

 qualities usually attributed to desert plants. Moreover, the per- 

 centage of germination is very low. With proper conditions of 

 temperature and moisture, however, it is possible to get all 

 the seedlings desired, assuming a sufficient quantity of seed. 

 To obtain this at the present time is expensive, though it will 

 be possible to circumvent this difficulty. Here again the funda- 

 mental question is one of costs, and while these doubtless may 

 be reduced, I desire particularly to avoid the implication that 

 more than the experimental aspect of the problem from the 

 scientific point of view has been solved. 



The transplanting of both seedlings and of mature stocks is 

 attended by more or less failure, and as this is necessary in 

 order to get cultivated areas started, there is thus introduced 

 another element of difficulty. Experience will enable us to 

 reduce the loss, I think, but here is perhaps the greatest diffi- 

 culty, to which again the cost problem attaches. The character 

 of the soil too must be thought of. Whether the guayule will 

 do without a distinctly limestone soil is doubtful. 



Reproduction. 



The cultivation of guayule in a broad sense will, aside from the 

 question of cost, be carried out in two directions, employing on 

 one hand the methods of forestry, and on the other, those of 

 agriculture. The methods of forestry will be largely restricted 

 to the harvesting and partial modification of the habitat so as 

 to better conditions for the guayule. The value of reseeding 

 or transplanting in original fields is extremely doubtful because 

 of the impossible nature of the soil, as we may call it by courtesy. 

 The natural habitat of the plant is found in the footslopes of 

 the mountain ranges of the mesa central of Mexico and its topo- 

 graphical continuation in the Big Bend country of Texas, the 

 hard and rocky soil of which is seldom deep and homogeneous 

 enough to render planting operations of sufficient ease to make 

 them practicable. Agricultural operation, on the other hand, in- 

 volves the use of both water and workable soil areas, and these at 

 once make demands on the purse strings. Whether the use of 

 catch crops will offset this difficulty remains to be tried. 



The problem, therefore, is not an easy one, and is certainly 

 not one for the pessimist. Here, however, is an extremely 

 useful desert plant and one which may be made the source of 

 much wealth even though it be granted that it may not be 

 able to acquire the economic proportions which the cultivation 

 of Hevea in the hitherto unconquered regions of the Amazon 

 may attain to when the natural supply demands this expedient. 

 We understand from the writing of Dr. Ross, that the Germans 

 have not been blind to this possibility, and are experimenting 

 with the guayule in desert Africa. It is therefore a matter of 

 gratification that some Americans, on their personal account, 

 have not disregarded it. It is to be expected that at no distant 

 date the results of the work which has been done at their 

 instance will be published. 



NEW USE OF RUBBER IN SURGERY. 



An Irrigated Guayule Plant. 



[Two years' growth. 



Compare the habit of this plant 

 preceding page.] 



with the cut on a 



TN a new applicance for use in operations on the thorax the 

 * head of the patient is placed in a compartment supplied 

 with compressed air, in order to obtain a greater pressure than 

 that of the atmosphere. Means are employed for supplying 

 this air to the lungs, so that respiration does not cease when 

 the cavity of the thorax is opened, as might otherwise happen, 

 with fatal results. The operating chamber is rubber lined, 

 and the apparatus embraces various rubber tubes. 



