1 1 8 India-rubber How obtained and used. 



89. The cultivation of flax and the manufacture of 

 linen are carried on extensively, also, in Great Britain, 

 Germany, Holland, France, Belgium, Russia, and several 

 States of the Union. 



90. The city of Belfast, in Ireland, manufactures 

 more" linen goods than any other city in the world. 



91. You have learned something about the 

 two plants which are celebrated for furnishing 

 materials for clothing cotton and linen. There 

 is another plant, or rather a large tree, which 

 yields a very useful substance ; not fruit, nor its 

 seeds, nor its bark, nor its roots, but its sap. 

 In that respect it resembles the sugar maple 

 tree, but we cannot eat any part of the tree. 

 We wear articles made from it, yet it cannot be 

 spun or woven like cotton or linen. Do you 

 know what tree it is ? The India-rubber tree. 



92. India-rubber, or Caoutchouc (pronounced 

 koo-chook 7 ), is the milky sap of that tree. Cuts 

 or gashes are made in the bark, into which 

 cups are inserted for collecting the sap. This 

 is afterwards hardened by heat, the smoke giving 

 it a dark color. It is further hardened by 

 sulphur. 



93. Boots, shoes, car-springs, and a great variety of 

 articles are made of it in Connecticut, Massachu- 

 setts, New York, and New Jersey. 



94. The India-rubber brought to the United States is 

 mostly from Brazil and Central America. 



