THE CULTIVATION AND PREPARATION 

 OF PARA RUBBER. 



CHAPTER I. 

 INTROD UCTOR Y. 



RUBBER, or caoutchouc, is obtained from the latex, or milky 

 juice, present in the tissues of a large variety of plants peculiar 

 to tropical and subtropical regions. The word caoutchouc is 

 apparently corrupted from the native word caaocho or caaochu, 

 derived from caa, meaning wood, and o-cho or o-chu, to run or 

 weep hence, timber that runs or weeps. It is supposed to have 

 been first discovered in South America more than four hundred 

 years ago. In 1770 Priestly recommended it for erasing lead- 

 pencil marks. More than fifty years later, Macintosh estab- 

 lished the industry for manufacturing waterproof garments, 

 some of which are known by his name to the present day. In 

 1836 Thomas Hancock discovered that crude rubber, when cut 

 up, pressed, and submitted to heat, could be converted into a 

 condition capable of being transferred to practically any shape 

 or form. It was not, however, employed extensively in com- 

 merce until after 1874, when the method of vulcanising rubber, 

 by heating and treating it with sulphur, was discovered. The 

 imports of rubber into England at that time amounted to about 

 7,500 tons per annum. From then onwards they steadily rose, 

 until in 1896 they amounted to nearly 20,000 tons. But the 

 extensive use of rubber in the manufacture of cycle, carriage, 

 and motor tyres and electrical appliances has of late years 

 caused the demand to increase to an enormous extent, and the 

 imports of rubber have risen by leaps and bounds. 



A 



