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The World's Commercial Products 



Photo by,W. H. Johnson, Esq., F.L.S. 



ROLLING RUBBER 



seedling high up on another 

 tree, the seeds having been 

 deposited by a bird in a 

 hollow or in a fork. The 

 young plant puts down its 

 aerial roots, gradually envel- 

 oping and finally killing the 

 supporting tree. The botan- 

 ical name of the plant is 

 Ficus elastica. It is a very 

 close relation of the edible 

 fig, but its fruits are small 

 and are not good to eat. 

 The large leaves as seen in 

 plants grown in England are 

 also characteristic of young 

 plants growing wild ; on old 

 trees the leaves are only 

 three or four inches long, 

 but of the same leathery 

 character and equally glossy. 



The Assam rubber tree will grow in many, tropical and sub-tropical lands, but to attain its 

 full development it requires a hot climate with a high rainfall, and thrives best in damp, 

 tropical forests. The home of the Assam rubber tree is on the lower slopes of the great mountain 

 ranges of northern India, in Darjeeling, Sikkim, Bhotan, Assam, and Burma. It also occurs 

 in Java, Sumatra, and probably some of the other islands of the Malayan Archipelago. In 

 the north of India the temperature in the coldest season of the year is too low to allow of the 

 successful cultivation of the Para or Central American rubber trees, and experiments with 

 those plants have not met with success. Large plantations have, however, been formed by 

 the Indian Government in Assam with Ficus elastica, and from those of the wild plants in the 

 forests of this region much of the rubber obtained from India is won. It is worthy of note 

 that the common name " india-rubber " commemorates the first production of rubber from this 

 tree in the early years of the nineteepth century. 



The native method of collecting the rubber is exceedingly crude and, moreover, is destruc- 

 tive. Large wounds are made in the trunks by chopping out great pieces of the bark and 

 wood;- and the latex is caught as it exudes. By this method many trees are permanently 

 injured, but, as is often the case in other parts of the world also when dealing with wild 

 plants, each collector only strives to obtain the greatest amount of rubber in the easiest way, 

 and takes no thought for the future, so that trees are often killed. 1 



A method practised in the Government plantations is to make cuts with a V-shaped chisel 

 or gauge halfway round the stem or branch. The latex or milk at first flows freely and that 

 which drips is collected on mats made of bamboo strips, which little boys shift about on the 

 ground from point to point as necessary. This latex coagulates, and within forty-eight hours 

 or less can be removed from the mat and dried. Much of the latex coagulates on the tree and 

 remains. in the cuts whence it has to be pulled out as thick elastic strings. These have to be 

 gone over and pieces of bark, etc., removed, and subsequently dried. Finally they are forced, 

 by the agency of a screw-press, into cubes of about 1 cwt. each, wrapped up, and are then 

 ready to be exported. ' The mat rubber is similarly cleaned, dried, and packed in boxes. 



The "returns of the yield of rubber are very variable. Under the method of reckless tapping 

 40 lb. per tree was frequently obtained, whilst yields of over 350 lb. of rubber from single 

 trees are reported from Burma. On plantations the yields appear small. In Assam on the 



