292 



"< Estimates of the Guayule supply in large areas vary from 500 

 to 800 kilograms per hectare, but the distance between the 

 different places where the plants are found is often considerable, 

 and must be taken into consideration.' 



" The Guayule shrub is about two feet high, with knotted, 

 spreading branches and sparse, greyish leaves. The whole plant 

 contains rubber, with the exception of shoots bearing leaves and 

 flowers. Consequently the whole plant is gathered and the 

 supply is rapidly exhausted on the area where gathering is done. 

 Even the roots are in most cases pulled up by the collector, and 

 the opportunity for re-growth is reduced to a minimum. 



"The rate of growth is very slow, so that a plant 20 inches high 

 is three to four years old, while plants five years old are not more 

 than .'50 inches high. Such a plant would weigh about four pounds. 

 In view of these facts it seems more than illusionary to speak 

 of growing the Guayule plant for commercial purposes. Brought 

 under domestication the plant could naturally be made to grow 

 much faster, but there are still other factors to be taken into 

 consideration. The dry country in which the Guavule plant 

 grows, has a very scanty and irregular rainfall. For an agricul- 

 tural crop that kind of land can hardly be expected to supply the 

 necessary requirements, and the uncertainty about the germination 

 of the seed brings in such an element of chance, that indeed very 

 much faith in Providence must be present to undertake the 

 growing of Guayule without any provision for occasional artificial 

 irrigation. The price paid has been as high as $43 per ton of dry 

 plants, pressed into bales, and delivered at railroad station. With 

 that price, and the slow growth of the plant, it is difficult to see 

 how anyone can in earnest consider the cultivation of Guayule. 

 factories operating a large area should naturally take some steps 

 tor re-covering the ground with Guayule, but beyond sowing the 

 seeds and taking the chance of their germinating and growing in 



a tew years to a size that can be utilized, it is hardly possible to do 

 anything. * r 



"As for the fear of Guayule filling the market to the exclusion 

 ot crude rubber from previous sources of wild tropical rubber and 

 trom present and future plantations, such an idea is hardly worth 

 retuting If we remember that the requirements at present of 



t>u,UUO,000 lbs. annually, a simple mathematical calculation, based 

 on the most exaggerated expectations of the output of Guayule 

 rubber trom the entire territory where it is growing, will show 

 tne role this product could have in the world's market, even 

 supposing that the supply was inexhaustible and as large 

 claimed by Guayule enthusiasts. 



" It may be added that the quality of Guayule rubber is very 

 interior, the rubber being very stick v and rapidly deteriorating. 



.lol 111 ^ V ^ lue . is very low in comparison with that of first 

 ™™i rubber8 > but !* , still leaves a wide margin for profit, and the 

 ««? t™ i ^ • . plantB i8 apparently enough for a few factories, 

 ?°lt° v ! los « 1 y situated. As a special product the Guayule has 



L^STi? v.°^ ° Wn ' and if cultivation of this plant can be 

 theS ! T J Profitable basis, it will prove a great boon to 

 the sterile parts of Northern Mexico. 



as 



