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Show AGRIGUITUKE IN Hm TROPICS. CMitivaiioukfdf the Rubber Tree in Tabasco, Mexico. AB-MEXICAN RUBBER COMPANY. re . . eighty Thousand Acres of jungIo to boiConvcrtcd Into Rubber p Plantation. I! Ico anduamlno tl.esouthern part of the repullc he wUl Ond there the province of Tabasco. It Is In this province that the Utah-Mexican Rbber Company has secured about 80,000 acres of land, out of whiclnthey have selni.1,.,1 mm acres of ideaftrubber lapd; that Is, land that has the Uipal combination of soil, moisture and'elimato for the production of rubber. To superintend the cultiya-Hon cultiya-Hon of this plantation, Benjamin CluiT, former president of thu B. Y. Academy, now the B. Y, Uuiverslty, has gone in-to in-to that country. The cultivation of rubber is a new departure in the realm of agriculture, and it is not yet two years since the Utah company went Into In-to the business. With thu exception of a few people who are Hying in what is known as the rubber belt in Mexico, it has been tho Impression that the plants or trees from which rubber Is manufactured manufac-tured were not susceptible of cultivation. cultiva-tion. It has, however, been demonstrated demon-strated that'such Is not the case, and that where fallnre has followed tho attempt at-tempt It has been the result of an Improper Im-proper couceptlon of tho requirements of the trees. There aro a number of varieties of trees unil plants that are used In the indtuff-Miro of rubber; but only one vatletjjMJkpjiltesAiW0 of which "speclw is In tho lowlands 6t Mexico. Thu conditions for Hit; growth of the rubber ijeo are rich, black soil, an annual ralfiall of not less than 150 inches and altemperalure that will range from GOUo 00 degrees tho year round. Thejminfull should be distrib uted as evenlyfts possible throughout the year. Although moisture is so essential, es-sential, swauijfland will not do; trees planted therein thrive for a time, but as 6oon "us thojoots btrlkes the water which underlies the burfaee the trees die. f As our readers aro doubtloss awaro tho rubber hvmado fioiu the milky fluid that Is vii from the rubber tree, and not as used to be supposed, from the bap of tho trees, which is another an-other fluid altogether to that from which the rubber is made. By the time the cultivated tree Is five years old It has reached a helghth of about forty feet aud a diameter of over twelve Inches. At this age It begins to blosbom aud is then old enough to begin be-gin to be tapped. This Is done by mak-lugagash mak-lugagash In tho bailtof tho tree ut a sutUcient helghth from the ground to allow a pall to stand under the cut. Into this cut a leaf Is Inserted which serves as a spout to conduct the milk or cream, for that is what it looks like, Into In-to the pail which stands ready to receive re-ceive it. 'From the cut extending upwards up-wards on tho tree to the branches, arc mado by V shaped grooves which convey the milk down to tho spout. After the milk Is gathered in tho pall It Is poured on a cement lloor to a depth of about an Inch where H Is allowed to dry, which it does very quickly, after which it Is cut Into strlns and baled for mar ket, 2.2 pounds Of milk mako 1 pound of rubber. Tho cultivation of tho rubber tree has been forced upon the, world through the wholesale destruction that has come upon tho wild trees, which, owing to the unskillful manuer In which they hayo been tapped, has resulted In tho destruction of Immense numbers of them, so that the rubber crop, In spite of the moio extended efforts that havo been made to securo a bupply sufllelunt to meet the demand, has fallen otf In the last twenty years two pr three hundred hun-dred per cent, while tho demand hns Increased in neurly nsgrc.t proportion. Tho icswlt is that prices have gone up. Tho Mexican rubber tren Castllloa Is ouo of, the hardiest trees In that scctlou and can bo propogated either from the seed rjf rom cuttings) TJ10 plan thai Is r It |