RUBBER 



407 



RUBBER PLANTATIONS 



Prior to the year 1900 oractically all rubber was of the " wild " 

 variety and largely produced in Brazil. Owing largely to the enhancing 

 cost of rubber, due to its ever-increasing inaccessibility and remoteness, 

 the cost of transportation to market, the lack of good labor in the upper 

 Amazon districts and the restriction of production to the dry season 

 of six months in each year, many attempts were made to grow several 

 varieties of the rubber trees in artificial plantations. 



In 1873 an Englishman, H. A. Wickham, was commissioned by the 

 Government India Office, to attempt the introduction of rubber trees in 

 India. In June, 1876, there were 70,000 young seedlings growing in the 



CovUTioht bu U. S. Kubber Company. 



Fig. 109. — Method of tapping rubber trees in plantation in Sumatra. The most successful 

 tree for planting and the only one now being planted is the Hevea braziliensis , which has 

 been the main source of wild rubber known as Para rubber. 



Botanic Gardens of England. In the same year 2000 young plants were 

 sent to Ceylon, but the trees did not flower until 1884. 



The year 1888 was a turning point in the attempt to grow rubber in 

 plantations, as the plants were introduced in Malaya, particularly in the 

 region r.bout Singapore, where the rubber plants were found to do much 

 better than in Ceylon or India. Tapping experiments were also begun 

 in 1888 and it was learned that the trees could be tapped every day 

 except when they shed their leaves in February and March. Rubber 



