TORREYA 



Vol. 42 July-August No. 4 



Collecting Chicle in the American Tropics 

 (Part 3) 



John S. Karling 



Evils of the Present Methods of Collecting Chicle 



It is quite obvious from the above description that the collection 

 of raw chicle is still in a very crude state. The sapodilla trees are 

 bled in a manner to secure the maximum yield at one time and at a 

 minimum of expense without much attention to conservation. No 

 extensive selection, planting, crossing, and grafting or budding of 

 high-yielding trees have been made, and no systematic production of 

 chicle on a large scale has been attempted. Practically all of the large 

 and important chicle areas in tropical America are controlled by the 

 governments and by large land-owning concerns and allotted to 

 chewing gum companies and individual contractors as concessions. 

 The general policy in the beginning was to grant only short-time 

 leases, and as a consequence the holders attempted to extract as 

 much chicle as possible while the concession was in their possession. 

 The granting of short time leases, the growth habits of the sapodilla 

 tree, and the nature of the countries in which it occurs have hindered 

 development of systematic chicle production in the virgin sapodilla 

 forests and the establishment of permanent centralized coagulating, 

 cooking, and supply camps. Furthermore, the fact that Achras 

 sapota can be profitably tapped only once within five to ten years has 

 contributed much to this condition of affairs and often made it un- 

 desirable and unprofitable for the small contractors at least to retain 

 their concessions for long periods of time. 



In addition, the present basis of remuneration for tapping is a 

 great handicap to conservation and systematic production of chicle. 

 The chicleros are paid on the basis of the amount of gum extracted, 

 and as long as this system is in vogue, it is unlikely that they will 

 tap judiciously. However, experience has shown that this is the most 

 and perhaps the only practical basis of remuneration under the pres- 



ToRREYA for July-August (Vol. 42, 105-120) was issued November 12, 1942, 



105 



