224 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



when it becomes a large tree it is remarkable for a fan- 

 tastic development of deep buttressed roots. From 

 tropical Africa comes rubber obtained from various 

 creepers and called Congo rubber, and Madagascar rub- 

 ber. Rubber is found in a solid state in the fibers of 

 certain plants. The annual yield from young trees is 

 two and three pounds each, while from large old trees it 

 may exceed 40 pounds. Old trees also give a better 

 quality. 



The tapping of trees is an important matter in the 

 rubber industry; in the early days trees were cut down 

 to obtain the latex; even after tapping was substituted 

 for cutting down, millions of trees were destroyed by 

 reckless and destructive tapping. In South American 

 rubber lands tapping has long been done by making ver- 

 tical gashes in a tree with a hatchet. At the base of 

 every gash a small earthen cup is made to adhere by an 

 application of wet clay so that the latex enters the cup. 

 Several of such taps extend around the tree. The latex 

 is collected and another ring of taps is made daily. The 

 gash in the bark must not reach the wood of the tree or 

 a kind of insect will enter the wood at the tap and in a 

 few years utterly destroy the tree. In this way the care- 

 less, marauding hand of native tappers devastated vast 

 areas of valuable rubber territory in Brazil and other 

 countries in South America ; finally increasing value and 

 decreasing product brought about government protec- 

 tion. In the rubber jungles of the Amazon latex is gen- 

 erally collected in calabashes, and then placed in a large 

 vessel and allowed to simmer over a slow heat to expel 

 water and promote coagulation into marketable forms. 

 Another method of preparing the latex for the market 

 is to dip a paddle-shaped wooden instrument into the 

 latex and then hold the coated blade over a smoking 

 fire made of a certain kind of palm-nuts; this gives a 

 smoky color to the latex and hastens coagulation. This 

 process is repeated until a cake of required thickness is 

 made; this is slit from the blade in the form of a round 

 cake or chuse and is ready for the market. Scrap or 

 refuse is pressed by hand into black balls called nigger- 

 head rubber and is sold as second-grade. 



In the rubber plantations of Oriental countries there 

 are several methods of tapping the trees. There is the 

 V tap a number of incisions in the form of the letter V 

 with receptacles at the apexes of the Vs. The herring- 

 bone tap is much the same as the spiral tap. These sev- 

 eral taps begin about six feet from the ground. The 

 spiral groves are increased in width downward from 

 day to day in order to reach fresh-bark surface, and when 

 all the interspace has been covered the tree is allowed 

 from one to two years in which to recuperate its benevo- 

 lent cortex. This apparent girdling does not destroy the 

 tree because the tapping does not extend through the 

 inner bark. Trees are tapped at sunrise as it is sup- 

 posed the latex flows more freely in the early part of the 

 day. Plantation rubber is now often coagulated with 

 acetic acid, and trees will continue to yield copiously for 

 30 to 40 years if properly treated. Formerly the world's 



supply of rubber was from South American countries. 

 In 1915, 60,000 tons came to the United States, one-half 

 of which was plantation rubber from the Orient. Again, 

 in the rubber-tree, we have another generous friend 

 among our tree-folk. 



PHILIPPINE WOODS 



T^HE director of Forestry of the Philippine Islands 

 * writes that many inquiries are received at his office 

 from people in the United States who wish to know 

 where they can get supplies of Philippine woods, and in 

 order to facilitate handling such inquiries, requests that 

 all importers, dealers and users of Philippine woods in 

 the States supply his office with their addresses, to- 

 gether with information as to the character of their 

 business, whether importers, wholesalers, retailers or 

 users of any kind of Philippine woods. This will en- 

 able him to put inquirers into direct communication with 

 the best sources of supply in the States. All communi- 

 cations should be addressed to the Director of Forestry, 

 Manila, Philippine Islands. 



O HADE trees may be destroyed by leaky gas mains, 

 ^ which poison the roots, making it impossible for the 

 tree to secure nourishment from the ground. Gas killed 

 trees are often thought to have been killed by insects, 

 and weakened trees are often completely killed by borers 

 or by fungi, which watchfulness and care would save. 



SPRING 



The pussywillow's blooming, 



The fresh turned earth is brown; 



And blooms in apple orchards 

 Are softly fluttering down. 



The violets in the meadow 



Are blooming in the sun, 

 And dandelions so yellow 



Like bright gold newly spun. 



The happy birds are seeking 



Homes in each meadow nook ; 

 With phoebe by the old bridge, 



And black birds near the brook. 



The robins' calls at morning, 



In cheerful greetings rise; 

 At noon the bright spring sunshine, 



Greets myriad butterflies. 



And many fresh green tokens 



Show happy spring is here; 

 With promise of warm weather, 



And summer's blithesome cheer. 



/. Leland Fowler. 



