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Show BEAVER PRESS South American Jungles Throb With What Camera's Eye Registered New Rubber Boom; Scientific Methods Are Used to Protect Native Harvesters on Tunisian Front Old Industry Revived in Neighboring Tropics; Transportation Biggest Problem as Countries Lack Rails and Roads; U. S. Grows Rubber in Miami. In this crucial year of 1943, Latin America will have contributed more than 50,000 tons of natural rubber to the United States war industry stockpile, according to estimates compiled from official sources. In 1944, natural rubber production south of the Rio Grande will have doubled, or perhaps exceed 100,000 tons. At the same time U. S. horticulturists announced success in growing the Hevea rubber tree in the experimental station at Miami, Fla. Fourteen American republics, besides British Guiana and ,Trinidad, have signed agreements with the United States, calling for a substantial increase in the cultivation and collection of natural. rubber. These nations are Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. In Brazil alone, about 50,000 workers have been recruited for the purpose of extracting the milky sap from wild rubber trees. In order to get natural rubber outof trackless jungles and remote places, new transportation systems making use of donkeys, canoes, steamboats, airplanes, human car riers, etc., have been organized. Medical stations along the routes have lessened, but not eliminated, the hazards which threaten every man who works In the jungles. The natural rubber needed by United States tanks, airplanes, jeeps, artillery, etc., must be extracted from wild and cultivated trees scattered over an area encompassing hundreds of thousands of square miles. In order to protect rubber harvesters against fevers, animals, and insects, the Latin American countries, aided by United States government health officials, have created modern sanitary centers, where preventive medicine Is taught and treatment given to rubber collectors and their families. Once Rubber Center. Brazil forests, of course, yield most of this hemisphere's present supply of natural rubber. There, in the Amazon valley, natives first found the gummy substance that plays such an important part in modern war. Before seedlings of "Hevea Braziliensis" had been exported from Brazil and exploited commercially in the Dutch East Indies and the British Malay Straits Settlements, the Brazilian industry enjoyed a heyday. In order to market 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 (42,400 tons) as it is contributing in 1943 to a United Nations victory. According to the coordinator of Brazilian economy, Joao Alberto Lins de Barros, Brazil in 1943 will produce 45,000 tons of natural rubber; and 1944's estimates call for 75,000 tons. The future holds even greater promise for rubber from South 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 transported by airplane from jungle depots to the Atlantic port of Belem, whence it is shipped northward. With the exception of eight or ten thousand tons which Brazil requires for domestic industry, the entire production is exported to the United States. g Among South American nations, Ecuador ranks second. The figures of 1942 production have not been announced, but in 1941, when Brazil produced 17.500 tons, Ecuador yielded 1,500 tons. Indians Want Beads. The Yumbo Indians, a source of rubber workers in the Ecuadorian forest, are not attracted by money in any form. On the other hand, they covet colored beads and machetes. The Ecuadorean Development corporation understands native tastes and is now supplying the Yumbos with trinkets and useful articles, like scissors, razors, salt, mirrors, and even rifles. Colombian forests are already yielding two tons of rubber daily, d all by the same airplanes which supply the workers with their needs. In Colombia, rubber exploitation is supervised by a committee made up of representatives of the Colombian government, the United States embassy, and the Rubber Reserve corporation. rubber-producin- trans-shippe- A service of floating hospitals and dispensaries has been organized to look after the rubber workers in the Colombian jungles. This is in cooperation with the Institute of 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 between the United States and Peru provided that South American republic with an airway system for transporting rubber from the forests to river and seaports. By the end of 1944 it is expected that Haiti will be producing 10,000 tons of natural rubber per annum, which will be marketed by SHADA e de (Societe Agricole), an organization set up by the governments of the United States and Haiti. One hundred thousand acres have been g sown with "cryptostegia," a plant that grows very rapidly. Thousands of Haitians have Inter-Americ- Haitiano-Americain- rubber-producin- ft :v , Proof that progress has been made was demonstrated recently by the Bureau of Standards in Washing' ton, D. C, which produced a pair of rubber heels from the latex of "Hevea Brasiliensis" trees growing in Florida. The experiment cost the department of agriculture 17 years of research and thousands of dollars but government chemists reported the quality of the latex com pared favorably with East Indian. In this promising test-tub- e rubber plantation are growing more than 2,000 Hevea from Haiti, Puerto Rico, Mexico and the East Indies. It is the only rubber project on planta tion scale ever attempted outside the tropics. Some of the trees are 35 feet high and ten inches in diameter. Tree Survives Florida Clime. For a tree whose natural habitat is in the region of the eq'uator, the Hevea's endurance and adaptability 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, 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 d to making it particularly 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-tabl-e so the tap roots could find permanent 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 3 These pictures, taken in Tunisia, show various Top, left: A buck private enjoys his morning shave rman soldier gives a light to the private who captured ing out of the turret of his tank to peer into the shell Patton (left) studies progress made by U. S. tank forces. ( phases of the struggle in this bitterly contested terrain, close to his slit trench. Top, center: A wounded Gehim. Top, right: This Nazi soldier might just be leu. hole. But he's not. He Is dead. Lower left: General Lower right: Italian prisoners taken by U. S. Learning a Trade That Will Help Lick Japs and Nazis 7 W'mA ? ' M q - Today it is possible for almost any enlisted man to become a skilled mechanic or technician for Uncle Sam. These pictures, made at Chanute Field, 111., show some of the phases of training to qualify as hydraulic epilot seat with all the controls which operate the hxperts. Left: A hydraulic "mock up." This is a ydraulic system of the plane. Center: One of the important functions of hydraulics in a bomber is the opening and closing of bomb bays. Here Pvt. Willis Nord checks the operations. Right: Those huge wheeb used on the powerful planes are retracted by hydraulic power. Here a wheel is being lifted. A 15 Years for Fire Take Off for Land of Rising Sun -- iah..'k H S3..iMZ-JL- t, Jl1,mJm. Workers tap the Hevea rubber tree at the U. S. agricultural experimental station at Miami, Fla. The U. S. has experimented with 2,000 species, and satisfactory results have been obtained. been engaged to attend the plantations. Combat Leaf Blight. Dr. E. W. Brandes of the U. S. department of agriculture is enthusiastic about the progress made by the Americas in combating rubber plant diseases. The South American leaf blight, he said, is being conquered by development of disease-resistatrees. These hardy trees in turn are being crossed by hand Orienpollination with tal rubber trees further to improve yields. Victory over the leaf disease is a great forward step in the hemisphere's rubber expansion program, said Dr. Brandes. On one of the Ford plantations in Brazil, a million trees fell victim to its ravages, but it was observed that a few full, leafy canopies of healthy trees stood out sharply against a background of This meant that the neighbors. blight, carried from tree to tree by n spores, had not infected them. They were immune. the imScientists then mune tops to other trunks and prodisease-resistaduced a plant. The work of 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 on a large scale in Brazil, where lies the hemisphere's greatest potential supply of latex. Meanwhile horticulturists at the Federal Plant Introduction Garden, Miami, Fla., have been experimentrubber with "home-growning trees. high-yieldi- pest-ridde- n wind-blow- d high-yieldin- " grown from selected East Indian seeds in the Florida garden has produced a higher yield of latex in general than miscellaneous Hevea from other tropical lands. Experiments in hand pollination have been tried with marked success to determine its possibilities. Two methods of tapping have been tried the half spiral every other day, and the full spiral, every three or four days. The half spiral has proved most desirable, enabling workers to retap over the old scars every seventh year. As in most rubber trees a purer and slightly increased flow of latex is found toward the lower trunk. Technicians do the tapping here. Two grooves are cut into the tree with a regulation tapping knife an oblique cut to start the flow of latex 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 laboratory of the Introduction Garden the chemist coagulates the latex with ascetic acid. It is then rolled, washed and dried, and the samples sent to Washington for study. Operation of the station at Miami has been generally overshadowed by other steps taken to relieve the rubber 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 rubbery characteristics. And, of course, there is the government's vast synthetic rubber program, utilizing oil and grain. well-equipp- ed Gardener Should Only Cultivate to Kill Weeds Some of the grief in gardening can be escaped if the gardener realizes that cultivation is needed only to kill weeds, break soil crusts, and to permit water to enter the soil. If the garden is cultivated or hoed often enough to kill the weeds, the other two factors will be automatically accomplished. The weeding job can be done with less labor if cultivation begins when the weeds are srall. The ground should be disturbed little near the ? 4 a 1 well-suite- 4 i?5vVr- fy I plant rows, but the cultivation may go deeper between rows where tramping is likely to pack the soil. Pulling a garden rake lightly across plant rows will help eliminate weeds but some hand work will be required to get all of them. The frequency of cultivation required is determined by the rate of weed growth. In periods of frequent rains and in warm weather, more cultivation is needed. No result other than exercise is obtained from 1 1! - 'mjfL'm:;,. m xmmnmmmm 1 1 Wik) O Xyfl ';,,y .(1 Barnctt Wclansky, who was convicted for criminal neglect to tie Cocoanut Grove (Boston) fire trW. This photo was made as a 5 (Mitchell) bomber took to the air was sentenced to serve from 12 t from the pitching deck of the V. S. carrier Hornet, to give the people of 15 years in the state prison the rising sun a taste of war on their own islands. It shows the bomber Charlestown, Mass., on each of tie climbing into a gray sky. The raid, made from low altitude by Gen. 19 counts In the Indictment, the Jimmy Doolittle's men, caused large fires and great damage. Americans fences to be served concurrently-Wclanskeverywhere were aroused to overwhelming anger at the announcement is shown, left, with dtPnt' that the Japs executed some of the eight fliers captured after the bombing. sheriff, entering prison. B-2- y Back to Old Job They Captured Jap Position on Guadalcanal ;' 5 l MAW r 1j T stirring dry, weedless soil. Cultiva tion should not begin too soon after a rain because moisture will evaporate faster, and lack of water often V-- ' ' i is a limiting factor in plant growth. of one of several hoes Any types " --is satisfactory for garden work, and, Vi lint J,. .. . i4.u.2 sometimes it is an advantage to have Five IT. S. men In Guadalcanal went out Into glory when they capmore than one type. Heavy hoes are best for chopping weeds out of tured a hill, silenced a machine gun thus destroying a mortar point that heavy soil, and the pointed hoes held tip the American advance for two days. Their reward was a recare better adapted for opening fur- ommendation for the Congressional Medal of Honor for Captain Davis ' rows for planting seed. left, (now a major) and the DSC for the accompanying men. -- J- ' fl ' jI "if nun . 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