August, 1909.] 



107 



Saps and Exudations. 



Java, and went through the whole sub- 

 ject step by step, he had but a vague 

 idea of the subject. 



To begin with, only three of the many 

 gutta-producing trees produce gum fit 

 for cable insulation, and at the same 

 time adapted for profitable propagation. 

 Botanically, they are all species of the 

 g6nus Palaquium, being respectively P. 

 oblongifolium, P. Bomeense, and P. 

 guttci. (This genus, by the way, is better 

 known to Euglish readers as Dichopsis.) 

 The species referred to grow chiefly in 

 the Dutch possessions in Java, Sumatra, 

 and Borneo. The natives, whom it is 

 impossible to control, always destroy the 

 tree when extracting the gum. Hence 

 the supply from wild sources is sure to 

 cease ere long. Then, too, as the tree 

 matures slowly, not reaching a tapable 

 size under fifteen years, planters are not 

 interested in it. 



As far back as 1856 a small plantation 

 of gutta-percha trees was started in 

 Banjoemas, Java, but it was not until 

 1885 that Professor Treub really laid the 

 foundation for work on a large scale by 

 starting the plantation at Tjipetir, on 

 the same island. Then, in 1900, when it 

 was decided to do the work on a large 

 scale, there was at hand an abundance 

 of seed. As the seeds perish within four 

 weeks after maturity, and as the bats 

 carry off much of the fruit, which they 

 consume on the wing, the difficulties in 

 getting sufficient fresh seed are obvious. 



The time will come, however, Avhen 

 every mile of the 247,888 miles or more of 

 submarine cable now existing must be 

 renewed, to say nothing of the need for 

 new cable lines. And in view of this the 

 Dutch Government took hold of the 

 problem in a manner that assures its 

 solution. 



The great plantation at Tjipetir is 

 situated in a healthy country in the up- 

 lands not far from Buitenzorg. The 

 rainfall is abundant, the soil good, and 

 cheap labour plentiful. The seeds are 

 first planted in nurseries. When about 

 a year old they are taken up, the tap 

 root and young stem is shortened, and 

 they are planted about 4 feet apart. 

 After the third year the plants have 

 closed up so that they need thinning out. 



Almost from the first Dr. Tromp de 

 Haas planned to make use of the leaf 

 and the bark of the plants that were 

 destroyed in thinning. He even went 

 further and extracted gutta from the 

 fallen leaves that littered the ground in 

 the older plantings. All of this extrac- 

 tion is by chemical means, and the pro- 

 duct is not the green gutta once on the 

 market, but a high-grade gutta as good 

 as the best, This will be seen to be 



practical when it is remembered that 

 the bark contains 5 per cent, of gutta- 

 percha (made up of 85 per cent, gutta 

 and 15 per cent, resinous matter), and 

 fresh leaves contain 10 per cent, of 

 gutta-percha (made up of 90 per cent, 

 gutta and 10 per cent, resinous matter). 

 The yield from fallen leaves is smaller, 

 but worth considering. 



In this manner the plantation begins 

 to produce when the trees are three years 

 old. By pruning and thinning they have 

 got for the third year about!890 kilograms 

 ( = 1,958 pounds of fresh leaf to the acre, 

 and the year following 2,744 kilos 

 (-6,037 pounds) of fresh leaf. From the 

 older trees they found that the fallen 

 leaves amounted to about 20 kilos ( = 55 

 pounds) a tree. These figures are of 

 course only approximate, as the experi- 

 ments are still going on, but they are 

 successful and show wonderful skill, 

 forethought, and thoroughness. Be- 

 yond all this the almond-shaped seed 

 has been found to produce a vegetable 

 fat with a high melting point which can 

 be used in the arts. It is planned that 

 the real tapping of trees shall begin in 

 1915. The planting now embraces 2,240 

 acres, and the estimate is made that it 

 will produce 11 kilos of dry gutta-percha 

 per acre, or a total of 26,810 kilos 

 ( = 59,048 pounds) a year. 



The amount of gutta-percha which 

 has gone into commercial use during the 

 last half century is evidence that a tre- 

 mendous number of trees yielding this 

 gum existed at the time when the 

 material first came to the notice of 

 manufacturers, but just as the largest 

 bank account will some time disappear 

 if constantly drawn upon without any 

 additions being made to it, the native 

 gutta-percha resources in the regions 

 which formerly supplied the world's 

 principal needs for this material have 

 become well nigh exhausted. It is 

 almost impossible now to find a native 

 specimen of the best gutta-percha spe- 

 cies. The practicability from a scienti- 

 fic standpoint of producing guttapercha 

 under cultivation having been estab- 

 lished, the owners of private capital 

 naturally hesitated to undertake plant- 

 ing, on account of the supposed length 

 of time which would be requisite for 

 returns, since the gutta-percha trees 

 felled by the collectors were commonly 

 supposed to be a century old. 



A well-established Government, how- 

 ever, such as that in the Dutch colonies, 

 accustomed to making investments for 

 the future as well as for the present, 

 aud particularly investments not ex- 

 pected to yield direct dividends, can 

 well afford to finance such an enterprise 

 as planting gutta-percha, regardless of 



