468 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 1, 1912. 



contributed most successfully to the valuable work of the 

 London conferences will be in attendance, and, in addi- 

 tion, many who did not take part in London will be 

 present and participate actively in New York. Many of 

 the best-known rubber men abroad will be present and 

 will bring important and valuable contributions, and 

 many of the recognized leaders in the rubber world of 

 America have expressed their willingness to address the 

 conference. 



It might be thought, possibly, that men who are 

 engaged in experimental work would hesitate to give 

 publicity in this way to the result of their researches 

 and discoveries. Of course, there are always a few 

 men who think they are the losers if they impart any 

 information of value that has come to them through 

 their own experience, but these men are in the 

 minority. It is safe to say that most of the leading 

 men in the rubber industry take a very broad view of this 

 great department of human activity, and are very glad 

 to contribute to its general advancement in any way 

 they can. Rubber men who attend the New York Rub- 

 ber Exposition may rest assured that they will not only 

 see the most interesting collection of the physical prod- 

 ucts of the rubber world, but will be able, by attending 

 the conferences, to carry away with them a great fund 

 of new and valuable rubber knowledge. 



CAN RUBBER BE 



PRODUCED 

 STATES? 



IN THE UNITED 



npHE story of "Trinidad and Its Rubber,"' Tvhich ap- 

 ■■• pears on another page of this issue, written by the 

 editor of The India Rubber World^ during his recent 

 visit to the West Indies, speaks particularly of the 

 awakening among the rubber planters of that island to 

 the fact that quite a number of their trees, which thev 

 believed were pure Hevea Brasilicnsis, have proved to be 

 hybrids. This has caused the planters not a little distress, 

 because these particular hybrids are much less produc- 

 tive of good rubber than the pure Hcvca; but it serves 

 once more to bring up the general subject of hybridiza- 

 tion with its natural suggestion of the possibility of such 

 hybridization, or cross fertilization, or grafting as will 

 enable some variety of the rubber-producing tree to be 

 grown in the more southerly sections of the United 

 States. 



It is doubtful if a botanically pure Hczra Brasiliensis 

 actually exists. There are 20 varieties of the Hevea along 

 the Amazon ; there are seven or eight varieties of Manihot 



in the more easterly part of Brazil ; and of Castilloas 

 there are, north of the Amazon, probably 20 different 

 varieties. Which of these many varieties represents the 

 pure parent stock — if any of them does — it is impossible 

 to tell. Hybridization seems to be the general law in the 

 rubber family, and if it could be directed in such a way 

 as to produce a rubber tree capable of withstanding such 

 temperatures as we have in our more southerly States, 

 a vast field for rubber planting would be opened at once. 



The advantages of such rubber planting are too obvious 

 to need enumeration. The most conspicuous may be re- 

 ferred to in a few words — the utilization of great tracts 

 of land now practically going to waste ; the easy solution 

 of the labor, provision and sanitation problems that are so 

 difficult in the Amazon country ; a great decrease in trans- 

 portation charges ; freedom from exacting duties. All 

 these and many other advantages point to the great de- 

 sirability, if practicable, of rubber growing in our own 

 country. 



On the face of it, it does not seem necessarily im- 

 practicable. There are several plants indigenous to the 

 L^nited States that are quite closely related to the varieties 

 of the rubber tree. Our ordinary milk weed, of which 

 there are some 50 different kinds in the United States, is 

 a cousin of the Hevea Brasilicnsis, and some of its varie- 

 ties, particularly those in Florida, that attain the size of 

 a tree, bear something of a family resemblance. The 

 mulberry tree, which grows readily in this country, is re- 

 lated to the Ficits elastica branch of the rubber family. 

 With these distant relationships already existing, it would 

 seem to be a not impossible task to establish a much closer 

 relationship. It is a well-known fact that both hybridiza- 

 tion and grafting produce a hardier plant than the 

 original. Tropical roses have been grafted on the com- 

 mon American rose, and have thriven under our often 

 frigid conditions. The peach, which grows so luxuriantly 

 in Delaware and Jersey, certainly a cold territory in 

 winter, was originally a tropical plant, coming probably 

 from the south of China. Tropical oaks have been grafted 

 on northern oaks and proved themselves able to with- 

 stand our rigorous climate. So why is it not possible 

 for the rubber tree, to be induced by either grafting or 

 by other means, to take up its home in Florida, Mississippi 

 or Texas? It might not — probably would not — be as 

 productive as along the banks of the Amazon, but if it 

 were only one-half as productive, it would prove a great 

 addition to our national wealth. 



It is assuredly a subject worthy of the attention of 

 the best minds connected with our government and State 

 agricultural departments. 



