November 1. 1916. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



/o 



The Ocotillo Rubber of Arizona. 



ACCORDING to report, a San Francisco chemist has dis- 

 covered that the candlewood shrub, or ocotillo, which 

 abounds in the arid plains of Arizona and New Mexico, 

 contains large quantities of a rubber-like or gutta-like gum, and 

 a company has been incorporated in Arizona for the purpose of 

 extracting this gum and placing it upon the market. The com- 

 pany is to lease nearly a million acres of land in Texas and is 

 attempting to lease State lands in Arizona where the shrub is 

 abundant. As to value of the gum commercially, one story is 

 that it is suitable for the manufacture of chewing gum ; another 

 is that automobile tires have been made from it, and so on. Of 

 course there are the usual statements to the efifect that this dis- 

 covery is to revolutionize the rubber industry. The possibility 

 that the gum may have even a minor value leads us to give its 

 pedigree. 



The Ocotillo (Pouquirria s/'tcndcns) . 

 a, chalice and pistil; /;. corolla; c, stamen. 



The ocotillo (Fouquicria spU'iidens) grows wild from north- 

 west Texas, through New Mexico and Arizona to Southern Cal- 

 ifornia, thence south to Lower California and the Mexican States 

 of Coahuila, Chihuahua and Sonora. It is variously known as 

 the vine cactus, coach whip, Jacoli's stafif and candlewood. In 

 its wild state the shrub grows from 6 to 20 feet high, sparing]) 

 branched from the base, the branches up to an inch in diameter, 

 branchless and apparently leafless, their swaying tips brilliant 

 with scarlet blossoms — the flame of the "candle." 



The branches are covered with thorns or spines. These ar. 

 the petioles of the leaves. Like many other desert plants tin 

 candlewood has but few leaves, which soon dry and shrivel, 

 and finally fall away, leaving only sharp thorns about an inch 

 long, thus incorrectly classing it as a cactus. It is easily propa- 

 gated from cuttings, and is much used in Mexico to form an im- 

 penetrable he<Ige. The long, slender stems are used as the sub- 

 stratum over the beams which hold up the grass and clay roofs 

 of adobe houses. It is stated that as much as 400 tons of shrub 



can be taken from an acre, and that new growth on that acre 

 will reach maturity in three to five years. It has been known 

 that the^ocotillo (to use its Mexican name) yields a resin, a 

 wax and a gum. It is this latter which is now pronounced 

 valuable in the chewing gum business and the rubber industry. A 

 company has been organized for the purpose of extracting it 

 from the bark of the plant by a patented process 



Of much local interest in the city of Phoenix, Arizona, was 

 the "Arizona Tire, a Product of Ocotillo Gum." This was manu- 

 factured by the W. C. Hendrie Rubber Co., Torrance, Cali- 

 fornia, and displayed in the show window of a local dealer. That 

 doubters may be forestalled in their unbelief E. W. Snyder, super- 

 intendent and chemist of the Sunset Rubber & Supply Co.. Los 

 Angeles. California, subscribes and swears before a notary pub- 

 lic that: 



The tread in this tire is scientifically compounded from 

 ocotillo gum, smoked sheet rubber, sulphur, zinc, white lead, 

 litharge and other compound ingredients commonly used in the 

 manufacturing of automobile tire treads. 



As to the great general usefulness of the gum he writes, ad- 

 dressing the Arizona Chicle Gum Co., Mesa, Arizona : 



After carefully testing out ocotillo gum, I find that it has a 

 commercial value in the greatest of all industries — the tire busi- 



The OcoTiLi.u 



iJiL.^tuT Home. 



ness. It is a very valuable ingredient for hose, belting and tire 

 frictions, immense quantities of which are manufactured through- 

 out the world. The guayulc industry has become one of the 

 leading industries of the ruliber business and has proven to be 

 very profitable. The ocotillo gum has a greater field because it 



