20 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October 1, 1911. 



THE FUTURE OF GUAYULE. 



tti^UAYULE GUM," as it is officially called, has appeared in 

 VJ the United States statistics since 1909, among the "Im- 

 ports for Consumption," though it is for the first time separately 

 shown in the "Imports of Merchandise'' for the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1911. Grouping the two returns, the following result is 

 obtained : 



UNITED STATES IMPORTS. 



Guayulc. 



Fiscal years Average 



to Tunc 30. Pounds. Value. per lb. 



"l909 10,096,549 $3,186,376 $.315 



1910 19,768,424 8,951,441 .452 



1911 19,749,.S22 10,443,157 .530 



Other India-ruhbcr. 



Fiscal years Average 

 to June 30. Pounds. Value. per lb. 



1909 79,183,245 $58,451,500 $.739 



1910 79,411,844 91,419,990 1.150 



1911 72,046,260 77,204,603 1.071 



Thus in 1910 and again in 1911, the imports of guayule gum 

 were almost double those for 1909 ; the average price meanwhile 

 increasing from 31 J^ to respectively 45 and S3 cents; equalling a 

 total advance of almost 70 per cent., while the average advance 

 for other descriptions of india-rubber has only represented about 

 45 per cent., for 1911 as compared with 1909. 



The enhanced importance thus demonstrated of guayule, as an 

 element in future rubber supplies, gives special interest to the 

 work on the subject, by Dr. Francis Ernest Lloyd,* briefly re- 

 viewed in the September issue of The India Rubber World. 



PROPERTIES OF GUAYULE. 



When some time ago it became more generally known tliat 

 the guayule plant, which grew in abundance in the desert coun- 

 try of northern Mexico, contained an economically valuable 

 amount of rubber, investigations of a minute character resulted 

 in the discovery of the fact, that guayule yields about 10 per cent, 

 of its weight, of "bone dry" marketable rubber. 



In 1888 a quantity of 100,000 pounds of the entire shrub was 

 shipped to New York, apparently under some misunderstanding 

 of instructions. Although freight had of course to be paid on 

 the wood, and the commercial result was thus evidently unsatis- 

 factory, the yield of 18 per cent, of rubber, the quality of which 

 was described as equal to the best grade of Centrals, was regarded 

 as a proof of the industrial value of the plant. Its treatment in 

 Mexico itself was evidently necessary, and in 1901 that industry 

 was started on a small scale by German experts who had settled 

 in that country. 



GUAYULE A COJIMERCIAL SUCCESS. 

 The beginning of commercial success in the extraction of rub- 

 ber from the guayule shrub by the mechanical method, dates from 

 the building about 1905 of a large factory at Torreon by the Con- 

 tinental-Mexican Rubber Company, where the results of earlier 

 experiments were utilized and further developed. From that 

 time forward considerable capital (chiefly American) was in- 

 vested in the new industry, extracting plants having been estab- 

 lished at San Luis Potosi, Saltillo, Monterey and Gomez Palacio, 

 as well as at Torreon and Jimulco. 



EARLIER MEXICAN EXPORTS OF GUAYULE. 

 , As shown by the United States statistics already quoted, the 

 imports of guayule gum in the fiscal year 1909 amounted to about 

 10,000,000 pounds. Dr. Lloyd's estimate of the total Mexican ex- 

 ports for the four fiscal years ending June 30, 1909, is 20,000 tons, 



*Guaynle. .t Rubber-Plant of the Chihuahuan Desert. By Francis Ernest 

 Lloyd. 1011. 



or 40,000,000 pounds, of which he states 80 per cent, went to the 

 United States ; the last-named quantity corresponding approxi- 

 mately with the American figures of 1909. 



YIELD OF GUAYULE. 



It is at this point that Dr. Lloyd's reference to the amount of 

 guayule rubber exported, renders specially interesting the con- 

 nection he establishes between the quantity of rubber produced 

 and the estimated supply of guayule shrub. On the basis of a 

 7 per cent, yield these 20,000 tons of rubber exported in the four 

 years ending June, 1909, would have represented 286,000 tons of 

 guayule shrub. As, however, the yield was in some cases higher, 

 Dr. Lloyd considers 225,000 tons of guayule shrub as representing 

 the quantity disposed of up to June, 1909. The American im- 

 ports of guayule for each of the years 1910 and 1911 having been 

 double those of 1909, it is evident as much shrub was consumed 

 in their manufacture during the last two years as had been 

 used in the preceding four years. 



This difference has to some extent been compensated by the 

 increased rate of yield now being attained, of 12 per cent., as 

 compared with 9 per cent., on which is based the above named 

 estimate of 225,000 tons of guayule shrub as having been con- 

 sumed within the four years — 1905-1909. On the higher basis of 

 12 per cent, yield, the 10,000 tons imported by the United States 

 in the fiscal year 1910 will have represented about 83,300 tons of 

 shrub used during that period. Assuming that other countries 

 will have continued to take one-fourth of the quantity imported 

 by the United States, there would be : 



For four years, 1905-1909, total about 225,000 ton* 



For two years, 1910-1911, total about 200,000 " 



Estimated consumption of shrub in six years. 



425,000 



Three questions present themselves for discussion : 



1. What proportion does the above-named consumption bear 

 to estimated supply of guayule? 



2. What steps are being taken to renew the supply? 



3. What improved methods are likely to increase the yield and 

 consequently reduce the quantity of guayule shrub consumed. 



THE SUPPLY OF GUAYULE SHRUB. 



According to Endlich's estimate quoted by Dr. Lloyd, the 

 original quanity of guayule shrub represented 375,000 tons ; this 

 figure being based on a yield in virgin fields of half a ton per 

 hectare (2.47 acres) from 750,000 hectares, at which the shrub- 

 bearing area in Mexico was estimated. This shrub-bearing area 

 represents 10 per cent, of the 7,500,000 hectares which the gen- 

 eral Mexican guayule region was calculated to contain. 



Dr. Lloyd allowing for the guayule still remaining on fields 

 which had been gone over, places the original quantity (instead 

 of 375,000 tons) at 500,000 tons; of which it would seem that 

 four-fifths had been used up to the present time. 



CULTIVATION OF GUAYULE. 

 FoRESTAL Operations. 



The operations in the cultivation of guayule may be either 

 forestal or cultural, in the narrower sense. Field operations have 

 up to the present been mainly confined to the collection of shrub 

 in the greatest possible quantity, and in the easiest way, for the 

 sake of the immediate monetary return. The small plants left 

 for this reason in many places will, it is remarked, serve to re- 

 populate the areas thus treated. Pulling up the plant by hand 

 has been the method usually employed, while had it been cut or 

 twisted off (as has been done in some cases), the ground would 

 in time display a replenished product. 



It is recommended at the first cutting to take only plants 16 

 inches or more in height. Five years later there should normally 

 be a new crop of 16-inch plants, which may then be taken. 

 Between 12 and 16 inches the maximum economic efficiency of 



