1 2 Guayule. 



As in all commercial enterprises depending upon the rate of growth 

 of the raw material, and more notably of lumber trees, the methods 

 were and still are conducted without relation to the future. When, 

 however, the capitalist began to see that nature had set a definite limit 

 to the rate of supply, it became a matter of moment to determine what 

 could be done to meet the demand. The method of obtaining the shrub, 

 when not owned outright, is by contract between the companies and the 

 hacendados whose lands support a growth of the desired plant. These 

 gentlemen at first signed contracts at a very low figure, but when they 

 saw the market stiffen and their acreage continually reduced, they very 

 naturally began to take thought for the morrow. I have conversed 

 with hacendados who had for some years endeavored to germinate the 

 seed, in the hope of solving the problem of cultivating the plant. Lack 

 of success, however, was the chief result of such effort, though a few 

 doubtless succeeded in getting plants to grow. Indeed, optimistic state- 

 ments as to the possibility of growing the plant profitably have been 

 made in some quarters, 1 and it has even been claimed that the whole 

 problem of cultivation at a profit has been solved. As will be seen, how- 

 ever, in what follows, as regards the secretion of rubber, which is the 

 all-important point, a very great deal of caution should, in view of the 

 lack of evidence, have qualified any statement of this kind. It seems 

 more consonant with the truth, as well as with business methods (a 

 not invidious juxtaposition, it is hoped), to take a skeptical attitude, 

 which, however, need not be unduly pessimistic. It is rash at best to 

 attempt to foretell what solution science may bring to any problem. 



ATTEMPTS AT CULTURE. 



That hope has been entertained that the cultivation of guayule on 

 a profitable basis may be possible is evident. In addition to private 

 owners, at least two companies have spent time and money in seeking 

 this end, if unauthoritative statements may be relied upon. Of these 

 the Continental-Mexican Rubber Company essayed to make a serious 

 trial, and employed a scientific corps to undertake research looking to 

 the final solution of the question. 2 



It is not surprising that so valuable a desert plant should have 

 attracted the attention of interested persons of other nations whose 

 authority extends over desert areas in other parts of the world. No 

 detailed statement on this score can be made, however, beyond that the 

 Germans 3 are said to be conducting experiments in the cultivation of 

 guayule in East Africa. The feeling properly exists that any effort 

 toward the subjugation of the desert is justified. The time will come 

 when not only those parts of arid regions which may be brought under 

 irrigation, but those also which remain unmodified in this regard, will 

 yield their possibilities to the hand of man, and we stand at this moment 

 at the serious beginning of this conquest. 



1 See India Rubber World, May i, 1908. 



2 This work has recently been taken up anew (September 1910). 



3 Ross, 1908. 



