| Show South American Jungles Throb With New Rubber Boom Scientific Methods Are Used to Protect Native Harvesters f i Old fOld Industry Revived in Neighboring Tropics Transportation Biggest Problem as Countries Lack Rails and Roads U. U S. S Grows Rubber in Miami In this crucial year of 1943 Latin America will have con con- contributed contributed contributed more than tons of natural rubber to the United I. I States war industry stockpile according to estimates com com- compiled compiled compiled piled from official sources In 1944 natural rubber production tion south of the Rio Grande will have doubled or perhaps exceed 1 OOOO tons At the same time U. U S. S S horticulturists announced success in the growing growing the Hevea Revea rubber ru ber tree in the experimental station at Miami Fla y Fourteen American republics besides British Guiana and Trinidad have signed agreements with the United States c calling for a substantial increase in the cultivation and col col- collection colf collection f lection of natural rubber These nations are Bolivia Brazil Colombia Costa Rica Ecuador El EI Salvador Guatemala Haiti Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Panama Peru P ru and J Venezuela In Brazil alone about workers have been recruited for the purpose of extracting the milky sap from wild rubber trees In order to get natural rubber out our of trackless jungles and remote places new transportation systems making makin use of donkeys canoes steamboats airplanes human buman car car- carriers carriers carriers etc have been organized Medical stations along the routes have lessened but not eliminated the hazards which threaten every everyman everyman man who works in the jungles The natural rubber needed by United States tanks airplanes Jeeps artillery etc must be ex ex- extracted extracted extracted from wild and cultivated trees scattered over an area en en- encompassing encompassing encompassing compassing hundreds of thousands of square miles In order to protect rubber har har- harvesters harvesters harvesters vesters against fevers animals and Insects the Latin American coun coun- countries countries tries aided by United States govern govern- government government government ment health officials have created modem modern sanitary centers where pre pre- preventive preventive preventive medicine is taught and treat treat- treatment treatment treatment ment given to rubber collectors colle tors and their families f Once Rubber Center Brazil forests of course yield most of this hemispheres hemisphere's present supply of natural rubber There in inthe inthe inthe the Amazon valley natives first found the gummy substance that plays such an important part in modern war Before seedlings of Hevea had been ex ex- exported exported exported ported from Brazil and exploited commercially in the Dutch East In In- Indies Indies Indies dies and the British Malay Straits Settlements the Brazilian industry enjoyed a heyday In order to mar mar- market market market ket their natural rubber Brazilian promoters had built the costliest railroad in the world When rubber was a Brazilian monopoly it fetched as high as three dollars per pound However not even in its balmy days did Brazil produce as much rubber tons as it is con con- contributing contributing contributing in 1943 to a United Na Na- Nations Nations Nations victory According to the co co- coordinator coordinator co- co coordinator of Brazilian economy Joao Alberto Lins de Barros Brazil in 1943 will produce tons of natural rubber and 19 estimates call for tons The future holds even greater promise for rubber from South Americas America's largest country That is because commercial plantations similar to those In the Orient are well on their way to production and It is anticipated that by 1945 these plantations will yield more rubber than the millions of wild rubber trees in the Amazon valley produce at present Some Brazilian rubber Is trans trans- transported transported transported ported by airplane from Jungle de de- depots depots de- de depots pots to the Atlantic port of ot Belem whence it is shipped northward With the exception of ot eight or ten thousand tons which Brazil requires for domestic industry the entire production is exported to the United States Among South American rubber- rubber producing nations Ecuador ranks second The figures figur s of 1942 pro pro- production production have not been announced but in 1941 when Brazil produced tons Ecuador yielded 1500 tons Indians Want Beads The Yumbo Indians a source of ot rubber workers in the Ecuadorian forest ferest are not attracted by money In any an form On the other hand they covet colored beads and ma ma- The Develop Develop- Development ment meat corporation understands native tastes and Is u now supplying the with trinkets and useful ar ar- articles Ucles like scissors razors salt mir mir- mirrors mirrors mirrors and even rifles ri es Colombian forests are already yielding two tons of ot rubber dally daily all aU trans shipped by the same air air- airplanes airplanes airplanes planes which supply the workers with their needs In Colombia rubber exploitation Is supervised by a committee made up of representatives of ot the Colom Colom- Colombian Colombian bian government the United States embassy and the Rubber Reserve corporation A service of floating hospitals and dispensaries has been organized to look after the rubber workers in the Colombian jungles This is in co co- cooperation cooperation co- co cooperation operation with the Institute of Inter- Inter American Affairs in Washington which aids local authorities in the work of hygiene and sanitation The same procedure has been followed in other countries Last February an agreement be be- between between between tween the United States and Peru provided that South American re re- republic republic re- re republic public with an airway system for I transporting rubber from the forests to river and seaports By the end of 1944 it is expected that Haiti will be producing tons of natural rubber per annum which will be marketed by SHADA de De- De Agricole an organization tion set up by the governments of the United States and Haiti One Onehundred Onehundred Onehundred hundred thousand acres have been sown with a rubber- rubber producing plant that grows very rapidly Thousands of Haitians have 1 r r r 1 i r c I. I x jv i i iJ iJ J J 1 Q Qt t Workers tap lap the Hevea rubber tree at the U. U S. S agricultural experimental experimental mental station at Miami Fla The U. U S. S has experimented with 2000 species and satisfactory results have been obtained been engaged to attend the planta planta- Combat Leaf Blight Dr E. E W. W Brandes of ot the U. U U S S. S. S department of ot agriculture is enthusiastic enthusiastic enthusiastic about the progress made by bythe bythe bythe the Americas in combating rubber plant diseases The South American leaf blight he said Is being con con- conquered conquered conquered by development of disease- disease resistant trees These hardy trees In turn are arc being crossed by hand pollination with yielding high-yielding Oriental Orien Orien- Oriental Oriental tal rubber trees further to improve yields Victory over the leaf disease is a great forward step in the hemi hemi- hemispheres hemisphere's hemispheres hemisphere's hemispheres hemisphere's spheres sphere's rubber expansion program said Dr Brandes On one one of of the Ford plantations in Brazil a million trees fell victim to its ravages but it was observed that a few full tull leafy leaty canopies of ot healthy trees stood out sharply against a background of ridden pest neighbors This meant that the blight carried from tree to tree by wind blown spores had not infected them They were Immune Scientists then grafted bud the im Im- immune Immune im- im immune mune tops to other trunks and pro pro- produced produced a yielding high resist disease ant plant The work of ot developing the resistant tree by the system of cross pollination is an arduous task but it Is ultimately the best solution to the problem It is being done doge on ona ona a large scale in Brazil where lies the hemispheres hemisphere's greatest potential supply of ot latex Meanwhile horticulturists at the Federal Plant Introduction Garden Miami Fla have been experiment- experiment experimentIng Ing with home grown rubber trees Proof that progress has been made was demonstrated recently by bythe bythe bythe the Bureau of Standards in Washing Washing- Washington ton D. D C c. which produced a pair of rubber heels from the latex of Hevea trees growing in Florida The experiment cost the thc department of ot agriculture 17 years of ot research and thousands of ot dollars but government chemists re re- reported reported re- re reported ported the quality of the latex com com- compared compared compared pared favorably with East Indian In this promising tube test rubber plantation are growing more mort than 2000 Hevea Revea from Haiti Puerto Rico Mexico and the East Indies It is the only rubber project on planta planta- plantation plantation plantation tion scale ever e er attempted outside the tropics Some of the trees are 35 feet high and ten inches in di di- di- di ameter I Tree Survives Florida Clime For a tree whose natural habitat is in the region of the equator the Hevea's endurance and adaptability ty to temperate climate has amazed scientists Periodic measurements have shown that its early growth has been as rapid in Miami as in Haiti and Mexico Its resistance to cold weather has been incredible sur sur- surviving surviving surviving temperatures as low as 28 degrees Like many northern trees it has been found to shed its leaves in winter reducing frost danger and making it particularly well suited to Florida cultivation The entire rubber reserve has sprung from seeds many of which were sown nearly two decades ago After sprouting from seedbeds the young trees were transplanted into deep depressions near the water ta ble so the tap roots could find per per- permanent permanent permanent manent moisture The creamy white latex tapped recently was a welcome sight to the botanists who had cared for them so long Experts have found that trees grown from selected East Indian seeds in the Florida garden has pro pro- produced produced a higher yield of ot latex in general than miscellaneous Hevea from other tropical lands ments in hand pollination have been tried with marked success to deter deter- determine determine determine mine its possibilities Two methods of ot tapping have been tried tried the the half hall spiral every other day and the full spiral every three or four days The half hall spiral has proved most desirable enabling workers to over the old scars every seventh year As in most rubber trees a purer and slightly in increased In- In Increased increased I creased flow of ot latex is found to to- toward toward toward ward the lower trunk Technicians do the tapping here Two grooves are cut Into the tree with a regulation tapping knife knife knife-an an oblique cut to start the flow of la latex la- la latex latex tex and a vertical channel cut to guide it to the spout which empties into a glass receptacle held to the tree by a wire holder In the well well- equipped laboratory of the Introduction Introduction tion Garden the chemist coagulates the latex with ascetic acid It is then rolled washed and dried and the samples sent to Washington for fol study Operation of ot the station at Miami has been generally overshadowed by other steps taken to relieve the rub rub- rubber rubber rubber ber shortage in the United States Much publicity has been given to the effort to bring the guayule shrub into cultivation in the Southwest A variety of chemical compositions have been exploited for their rub rub- rubbery rubbery rubbery bery characteristics And of ot course there is the governments government's vast syn syn- synthetic synthetic synthetic rubber program utilizing oil and ane grain |
