HARVARD \ 
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BOTANICAL ‘MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
OL. 12, No. 9 
Campnipoe, “Massacuuserrs, December R 27, 1946 y 
RUBBER PRODUCTION IN CEARA, BRAZIL 
BY 
Hueu C. Cutter’ 
ALTHOUGH Various commissions of the American gov- 
ernment have been investigating rubber sources in the 
Americas for many years, especially after measures were 
taken by foreign governments to control rubber produc- 
tion and prices, there still were rubber yielding plants, 
as late as 1943, which had not been adequately studied. 
Most of these, to be sure, had been tapped during the 
rubber boom years, but the rubber buyer often did not 
know which type of plant yielded a particular grade of 
rubber, or from what district it had come. In one north- 
eastern Brazilian state alone, Ceard, nine types of trees 
were being tapped by the end of 1948; in many areas it 
was impossible to find a rubber producing tree which was 
not being utilized. However, little was known about the 
production methods which were being used or whether 
or not they could be improved upon. Studies of these 
rubber yielding plants and the methods of extraction and 
preparation of their rubber had been made earlier (Ule 
1908, Zehntner 1914), but these were out of date by 
1948. 
Investigations carried on during 1943-1945 in Ceara 
'The data for this paper was gathered during 1943-45 while the 
author was employed as Field Technician for the Rubber Develop- 
ment Corporation, 
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