698 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September 1, 1917. 



Sea" l>y day and by night several times, and freely concede its 

 beauties, but after three trips through the inland sea of the 

 Philippine Islands, I think the latter by far the more beautiful. 

 The climate is such that one's time is spent on deck ; indeed, in 

 all of the small steamers, staterooms, though furnished with berths, 

 arc used only for dressing ; all sleep, eat and live in the open. 



The islands, big and lit- 

 tle, are forest clad to the 

 tops. Passing between 

 them in bright sunlight 

 over a sea rippled by gen- 

 tle breezes, close to cloud- 

 capped shores, glimpsing 

 native settlements of Nipa 

 houses, meeting fleets of 

 fishing boats with their 

 double bamboo outriggers, 

 watching for and seeing 

 flying fish, porpoises and 

 an occasional huge sea 

 turtle, interest is ever 

 kept alive. 



After leaving Manila 

 and coasting down by the provinces of Cavite and Batangas, it 

 is a good 12 hours to the entrance of the long \'erde Island 

 Passage between Luzon and the great forested island of Min- 

 doro. Possibly the boat stops at the little cement pier at Cala- 

 pan to send telegrams. If so, the picture of the native town 

 fringing the shore of the great shallow bay is one not soon 

 to be forgotten. Indeed, few see even as much as this of this 

 sparsely settled island. If one really visits the island for 

 scenery or sport, he takes a boat from Manila to Port Galera, 

 which will some day be a show place of the islands. The 



P.\R.\ Seedlings, "Chicago" Pl.^nt.\tion, Mindoro. 



A'lEW OF "Chicago" Headqu.vrters, Mindoro. 



scenery is marvelous, both on shore and beneath the waters of 

 the crystal-clear sea. Here a glass-bottomed boat would dis- 

 close marine growths and brilliantly tinted fishes that far out- 

 class those of the Bermudas or the Hawaiian Islands. There 

 are no hotels, not even rest houses, but safe camping places and 

 excellent sea bathing. This island is noted as the home of the 

 timarao, ;i small and exceedingly wild carabao. It is sometimes 

 killed by big-game hunters, and is a sport fully as arduous and 

 dangerous as tiger hunting. 



For those interested in rubber, it is a bit of a surprise to 

 know that on this island, only 100 miles from Manila, is a 

 Hevea plantation some six years old. It is situated but a few 

 miles from Calapan, and is locally known as "Chicago." At 

 the time of its beginnings the Americans in charge had little 



money and no experience in rubber planting. They sowed tlie 

 seeds thickly in rows, and let them come up as planted. The 

 result was a growth that looked like bamboo, so tall and slender 

 were the trees. Later, when they desired really to give them a 

 chance, the experts said they were too large for transplanting. 

 The head of the ai^ricultural department in Manila, however, 



advised digging trenches 

 along the rows, to pre- 

 serve laterals, and cutting 

 off all l)ut about two feet 

 of the tap roots. This 

 was done, and every tree 

 not only lived, but grew 

 amazingly. Some 3,000 

 were thus treated, and 

 they are now ready to 

 tap and apparently as 

 well off as they could be 

 in any part of the world. 

 A curious fact about this 

 jilantation is that it is so 

 far untouched by ty- 

 phoons, and likely to con- 

 tinue safe. This is undoubtedly due to its being in the shadow 

 of Mt. Halcon and the range that it dominates, which form a 

 very effective wind-break. 



I met one of the owners of "Chicago" at the Golf Club at 

 Caloocan. He is an attorney in Manila, and was not at all 

 sure as to what the future of the plantation would be, as it 

 seemed to him that so far Americans had taken but little in- 

 terest in Philippine rubber. Should such interest develop he 

 saw a future in it as a seed producer for those who planted, say 

 in Mindanao. As the trees have already begun to seed abun- 

 dantly, this is very far from being a dream. , 



An American friend long resident in the Philippines, and one 

 who tlioroughly believes in the future of Hevca there, was al- 

 most absurdly chagrined over this plantation. Said he: 



"I wish a 

 typhoon would 

 wipe it out to- 

 day ! The dan- 

 ger is that this, 

 which is really 

 in the typhoon 

 belt, because of 

 its wind-break, 

 will not be 

 harmed. Tak- 

 ing it as an ex- 

 ample, enthu- 

 siastic Ameri- 

 cans will rush 

 plantings into 

 other places in 

 the zone of big 

 winds, where 

 there are no 

 barriers, and 

 have their 

 whole planting 

 destroyed. 

 Then they and 



others will Repl.wted Seedlings, "Chic.vgo" Pl.\nt.\tion, 

 claim that rub- Mindoro. 



ber cannot be safely grown here. Until rubber growing on 

 a big scale is an accomplished fact, plantings in sections that 

 are not ideal should be prohibited." 



Curiously enough the nearer one gets to the country said to 

 be swept by big winds, the less one hears of their alleged 



