366 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



IMay 1, 1912. 



RUBBER TREES IN TIMES OF DROUGHT. 



THE UNHAPPY SITUATION IN MEXICO. 



A N exceedingly interesting demonstration has been 

 ■* *■ given during the past season in the West Indies 

 and the Guianas, of the conduct of rubber trees under 

 conditions of severe drought. It cannot be claimed 

 that this has been a free demonstration, for, as a matter 

 of fact, it has been in a general way extremely ex- 

 pensive, but it has afforded much valuable informa- 

 tion to rubber planters. 



There has been a very severe drought, continuing for 

 many months, throughout all the Southern group of 

 the West Indian Islands, and covering the Northern 

 part of the continent of South America. Some idea 

 of its severity may be gained from the fact that for 

 the first three months of this year the rainfall in Brit- 

 ish Guiana was less than l^A inches, as compared with 

 over 20 inches for the same period last year. In the 

 islands the cacao and banana crops have been prac- 

 tically ruined; in fact all vegetation seems to have 

 suffered severely — with the one exception of rubber. 

 The rubber trees in Trinidad and the adjacent islands 

 appear to have gone through the drought in prac- 

 tically their normal condition, giving fully, or at least 

 approximately, the same yield as in former years. In 

 Trinidad, for instance, there are two large trees, 

 planted many years ago, which for some time have 

 produced an annual yield of ten pounds each ; they 

 were ready this year, each with its ten pounds of 

 rubber, just as if the rainfall had been frequent and 

 copious. 



The exports of balata from British Guiana for the 

 first three months of the year dropped to 23,000 

 pounds from nearly 73,000 pounds, the production for 

 the same three months last year. This marked shrink- 

 age was not because of the decreased yield of the trees, 

 but almost wholly because the drying up of the rivers 

 — the only means of communication between the balata 

 forests and the export point — had rendered it impos- 

 sible in many instances, and difficult in all, to send 

 the usual expeditions to the balata camps, or to bring 

 the rubber down to port after it had been secured. 



While the meagreness of the rainfall during the last 

 eight months has played havoc with many of the 

 plantation activities in the West Indies and adjacent 

 shores of South America, it certainly has given strong 

 encouragement to rubber planters in that section, for 

 it has proved,, Jhat in rubber, they have a tree that will 

 weather, unimpaired in condition and in yield, a season 

 of marked disaster to -other planting industries. 



■\Y7'I1I'",X the long Diaz regime, which towards its 

 * ' end grew sadly weak and incompetent, came 

 to a close, and Madero succeeded to the presidency of 

 the republic, the hope was entertained that at last 

 ]\Iexico would enjoy immunity, or at least a respite 

 from the internal disturbances that had so long inter- 

 fered with its prosperity and its good name. 



But this hope — which it must be admitted was not 

 unattended by grave misgivings — was not destined 

 to enjoy immediate fulfilment, for conditions have not 

 materially improved under the new administration. In 

 many parts of the republic lawlessness is rampant and 

 the Federal authority treated with open contempt. 



This unhappy situation is a matter for profound 

 regret to Americans, not only because of the neigh- 

 borly amity which we should feel, and which we do 

 feel, towards the countries that touch our borders, but 

 because of the fact that thousands of Americans are 

 personally interested in the commercial welfare of 

 j\Iexico. Millions of American money have been in- 

 vested in the southern republic, in every conceivable 

 kind of enterprise — conspicuous among them the in- 

 dustry of producing rubber. For the last fifteen or 

 twenty years Americans have been investing their 

 money in rubber plantations in Mexico, and during the 

 last five or six years the production of guayule has 

 assumed very large proportions. Naturally, in the 

 chaotic condition of that country during the last two 

 years — and particularly during the last few months — 

 all business enterprises have languished, if they have 

 not come utterly to a standstill ; and a great many 

 Americans have thought it the better part of discretion 

 to abandon — temporarily at least — their property and 

 their enterprises, and to return to this country for 

 personal safety. We have only an inadequate idea of 

 the condition of panic, not to say of terror, that has 

 obtained in many sections; but enough has reached 

 us to show that foreigners — and particularly Americans 

 — in many parts of Mexico have done wisely to 

 abandon their interests there for the time being. A 

 refugee, who recently reached Galveston, stated that in 

 the little settlement at Sanborn, where there had been 

 a colony of eleven American families, all of them had left 

 because, as he said, "they were afraid to remain longer, 

 knowing that they would all be killed or tortured." 

 There are several notable rubber plantations' in the 

 neighborhood of this little abandoned American 

 colony, and rubber planting is subject, of course, to 



