244 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



•ARy 1, 1919. 



Guayule Cultivation a Success.' 



In response to scores of requests the following article, written by the Editor of The India Rubber World, zsjhich appeared in 

 this paper in July last, is reprinted. The writer is well aware that the story is startling and almost unbelievable, but after further 

 examination of existing plantings, he discovers no reason to change the opinion first formed or in any zi'ay to modify the original 

 statements. 



OXE must go back at least ten years. Of all tlie luiiipanies 

 operating in Mexico, one was preeminent, in product, 

 processes, and in vast holdings of land. It was an .-Vmeri- 

 can concern, with ample capital, and unusual administrative talent. 

 To those in charge it was perfectly apparent that the time would 

 come when the wild guayule fields would be exhausted and the 

 business stop entirely or shut down until new plants matured. 

 ^^'hcther re.urowth could be induced or the shrub be raised from 

 seed or cuttings, none knew. Most of those who were asked con- 



and 



vork 



established laboratories and experimental plants 

 on a commercial scale actually commenced. 



Prior to the actual planting for commercial product, the plant 

 was practically remade to meet the necessities in the case. 

 AS TO SEED SUPPLY. 



The seed of the guayule is very minute, and if one examines 

 the desert plant, very unsatisfactory. In the heads that should 

 hold good seeds will be found half-developed dried husks of 

 seeds and very few good ones. As vital seed, and plenty of it, 



Gu.wuLE Seed Beds 



cerning this were positive in their declarations that it would 

 never yield to profitable cultivation. The actual head of the com- 

 pany, a man of broad vision, although careful and conservative, 

 believed that with sufficient effort the impossible could be done. 

 Under his direction, therefore, the work was begun. 



MEXICAN PRELIMINARIES. 



The first thing was the selection of a crop of chemists, botanists, 

 plant physiologists, and experts in desert plants. For this they 

 drew men from agricultural colleges, desert laboratories and 

 experiment stations, arranging to send their notes and conclu- 

 sions to these seats of botanical learning, receiving from them 

 knowledge in return. This body of men, which was added to 

 from time to time, embraced such well-known names as Dr. 

 Francis E. Lloyd, Dr. Theodore Whittelsey, Dr. J. E. Kirkwood, 

 Professor C. L. Hare, Professor J. P. C. Southall, Dr. W. B. 

 McCallum and half a score of others. 



These scientists took up the following subjects and exploited 

 them most thoroughly. Geographical and altitudinal distribution, 

 climate, air and soil temperatures, rainfall, soil moisture, and 

 relative humidity, analysis of soils and of plants under all con- 

 ditions, diseases, effects of drouth, rain and of irrigation; seeds, 

 leaves, flowers, stems and roots were subjected to the closest 

 scrutiny, under a multiplicity of conditions, and the results all 

 tabulated. 



In time their work begun in Mexico was transferred to the 

 United States, notably to California and Arizona. Here were 



Henry C. Pear 



Com- 



is an essential, the guayule trainers took hold of the shrub, 

 planted it under varying conditions, fed, watered, starved, and 

 petted it until it was learned positively just what conditions were 

 necessary to full seed pods. In time the barren seed vessels be- 

 came full ones, and the treatment necessary to get this result 

 became a matter of record. 



GERMINATION. 



It may not be generally known, but seeds of some plants, seeds 

 that are vital, and that should germinate without difficulty, refuse 

 to do so. This seems to be particularly true of certain desert 

 growths. For example, there is a cactus distributed very gen- 

 erally through the southwest that bears seeds in abundance. So 

 far, Irowever, no one has been able to get these seeds to ger- 

 minate. It was not on the cards that guayule should prove to 

 be in this class. It promised so many other disabilities that it 

 did not seem possible that it had this also. Nevertheless when 

 the first bushel of seeds was carefully sown not one germinated. 

 And so it was with succeeding lots. There was nothing to do 

 but sow smaller lots under every condition that could be thought 

 of. and learn just what was required. For a long time only 

 failure resulted and gloom settled on the experimenters. Then 

 an accident pointed the way and soon this problem, too, was 

 solved. 



SPEEDING UP THE GROWTH. 



The problem of speeding up the growth of the plant was one 

 of the most interesting and vexing of all. Left to itself in its 

 desert home under normal conditions, a guayule seedling takes 

 some twenty years to arrive at maturity, that is, as a rubber- 

 bearing proposition. It grew a little at a favorable season each 



