BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN 
Lectures for School Classes 
In Nature Study, Geography, and Botany 
Do not lose this Syllabus. Take it home to study. Paste it in your notebook. 
SYLLABUS No. 1 
RUBBER 
A milky juice, called Jatex, flows from certain trees, shrubs, and vines. 
In this juicy fatty globules float. These are raw rubber, or 
caoutchouc. 
Source: 
Where found: 
The rubber belt is a region extending 30 degrees north and south of 
the equator. Commercial rubber comes from a belt extending only 10 
degrees north and south of the equator. 
Rubber Countries: 
Brazil i in South America; Africa; Malay Peninsula; Ceylon; and the 
East 
Original Method of Collection: 
A diagonal or horizontal cut is made in the bark. The latex is col- 
lected in a cup. A fire is built of palm nuts. A wooden paddle dipped 
into the latex is held over the fire. The raw rubber hardens on the 
ddle. This process is ccntinued until a big rubber biscuit is formed. 
The biscuit, cut from the paddle is dried in the sun. 
Origin of Modern Rubber Plantations: 
In 1876, 70,000 seeds of the Brazilian rubber tree (Hevea) were 
shipped by an Englishman to London and there planted in hot houses. 
Only 4 in each 100 germinated. About 2,000 of the seedlings were 
distributed to Ceylon, Malay and the islands of the East Indies. These 
plants are the ancestors of all the trees in the rubber plantations of 
the world, outside of Brazil. 
Great Discoveries: 
Columbus, during his second voyage to the new world, saw children 
vee with crude rubber balls on the Island of Hayti. 
A scotchman made waterproof cloth by spreading rubber dissolved in 
ue between two sheets of cloth. His name was Charles McIntosh, 
hence the name “ mackintosh” for raincoats 
