MANY OR SPECIAL PURPOSES 357 



people get excited on the subject of rubber planta- 

 tions, and invest recklessly in shares in such 

 schemes, for the suave "promoter" can easily 

 prove that there is money made in the rubber 

 business. 



From Brazil, rubber culture has spread and 

 become established in all important countries in 

 the Tropics. Investigations have determined 

 just the trees and other plants that produce 

 rubber in paying quantities. The best methods 

 of harvesting the crop have been tested, and are 

 being established to replace worn-out, wasteful 

 methods. 



Crude rubber is the coagulated milky juice of 

 several trees, chiefly of the Euphorbia tribe, or 

 family. It is produced in a network of passages 

 that lie in the bark, near the cambium, or liv- 

 ing layer, that separates wood and bark. To get 

 the fluid, the trees are tapped, and the flow led 

 into cups that are emptied at regular times, and 

 the sap treated, without delay, to hasten the coag- 

 ulation of the caoutchouc, and to evaporate the 

 watery part. 



The harvesting of rubber has in late years inter- 

 ested even the uncivilized tribes, now the slaves of 

 the Rubber Companies; for they realized that it 

 was bad business to abuse or kill the tree that 



