January 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



165 



evidence is forthcoming, these interested must needs be on their 

 guard. 



The evidence which they should require for the statement that 

 herbaceous and ligneous cuttings can be made to grow readily 

 or at all, should be the kind which a competent botanist would 

 require. It is necessary to show that roots are actually pro- 

 duced from stem tissue from other regions than those from 

 which I have already shown that roots may be produced. The 

 strength of the evidence, moreover, should be greater or less 

 according to the experience in the field of scientific botany he 

 has had who makes any claims in regard to the matter at issue. 

 It is, finally, of equal importance from the practical point of 

 view, that the facts relating to the percentage of successful cut- 



ings be giz'cn. 



Alabama Poly- 

 technic Institute, 

 Auburn, Ala- 

 bama. 



Francis Ernest Llovd. 



extraction of it have to carry with them water for the men en- 

 gaged in the work, and also for the animals necessary to freight 

 the cut shrub to railroad stations. For that reason, much of the 

 shrub growing long distances from the railroad remains uncut, 

 and will be cut only when a sufficient high price for guayule 

 rubber will justify the large expense necessary to procure the 

 raw material. An advance to eighty cents per pound would bring 

 some of this shrub to the factories. 



Of great interest is the question of cultivating the shrub. Up 

 to this time, no results have been obtained showing that this can 

 be done at a profit ; we know we can cultivate guayule, but at 

 too high a cost for it to become an industry. 



The next possible source of a supply of shrub is from the 

 natural re-growth. On this point, we have had great encourage- 



ment, as expert 

 Photograph Showing the Growth of Guayule, Without Seeding or Cultivation, on 

 Cut-0\tr Ground in the First, Second and Third Years. 



THE PRES- 

 ENT STATUS 

 OF 

 GUAYULE. 



"T^H E present 

 ■'■ status of 

 guayule shrub 

 (the raw mate- 

 rial from which 

 guayule rubber is 

 obtained) is of 

 great interest to 

 the rubber manu- 

 facturers of the 

 United States, as 

 this rubber has 

 been an import- 

 ant factor in the 

 trade for the past 

 six years, grow- 

 ing in demand 

 from a few hun- 

 dred tons in 1905 

 to a total of over 

 fourteen thous- 

 and tons in 1910. 

 The total product 

 for 1911, up to 

 the end of Octo- 

 ber, was seven 

 thousand four 

 hundred an d 

 forty tons. To 

 this will be added 

 the product of 

 November and 

 December of ap- 

 proximately eight hundred tons, making the entire production 

 for this year eighty-five hundred tons. The drop in the produc- 

 tion for 1911 may be attributed to two causes, first, the depletion 

 of the shrub supply adjacent to the railroads, second, the inter- 

 ference with the industry arising from the disturbed condition of 

 Mexico, due to the revolution. 



The guayule shrub, as many of your readers know, is a desert 

 plant of extremely slow growth under natural conditions. The 

 arid country which is its habitat is seldom visited by rains, and 

 not only does this aflfect the growth of the plant, but surrounds 

 the cutting of it with great difficulties, as those engaged in the 



Growth of 



Guayule 

 Over in 



ON Ground 

 1908. 



CUT- 



ments made from 

 territory cut over 

 some years ago 

 show that there 

 will be a "second 

 cut" of some size, 

 and if the coun- 

 try is visited with 

 rains similar to 

 the past year, we 

 may count on a 

 steady though 

 slow growth of 

 this "second cut." 

 This can never 

 reach proportions 

 large enough to 

 warrant us in 

 expecting an out- 

 put of anywhere 

 near the yield of 

 1910, but it will 

 make it possible 

 for some of the 

 factories to main- 

 tain a constant if 

 diminished out- 

 put. From the 

 present outlook 

 and from the ex^ 

 periences gained 

 in the past, the 

 rubber trade 

 may count on the 

 yield of about 

 four thousand 

 five hundred tons 

 of guayule in 

 1912, and about 

 three thousand 

 five hundred tons 

 in 1913. From 

 that point on, there should be an annual production, indefinitely, 

 of somewhere over two thousand tons. These figures are based 

 on the supposition that the price of guayule will not go below 

 forty-five cents per pound nor above seventy-five cents. If the 

 price goes below forty-five cents, there will be less guayule 

 rubber produced than the above figures, and if it goes 

 above seventy-five cents, there will be an increase over these 

 figures, temporarily, with a consequent acceleration of the con- 

 sumption of the available shrub supply, and also with a conse- 

 quent destruction of the future source of supply. High prices 

 for rubber mean high prices for shrub, and a resultant "robbin"- 



Growth of Guayule 



ON Ground Cut- 



0\-er in 1909. 



Growth of Guayule 

 on Ground Cut- 

 Over IN 1910. 



