OCR Text |
Show I ' ' . r.- '- - ' ' v : $ I- , ; - v . i r - - - i , j. , i - - ' ' ' - -i f . ! , l if , - - I - v',A ' ' ' - '- v ' f A. i &k ' w -1 v s h" 1 k " . - 4 f J " "4 - r 1 GROWING RUBBER IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE To make us less dependent on Far Eastern rubber, the U. S. Government has appropriated $500,000 for research in Central and South America. It requires seven to nine years to produce a rubber tree. Tapping needs a sharp knife, a deft touch, much practice and a skill that holds the steel point to within 125 of an inch of the wood. This picture was taken on the Ford plantation, 600 miles up the Amazon, where in 1929 the Ford Motor Company began to invest upwards of $21,000,000 in the development of plantation rubber in Brazil. Latex now comes from this plantation to the company's rubber plant in Dearborn. |