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Show South American Jungles Throb With New Rubber Boom; Scientific Methods Are Used to Protect Native Harvesters Old Industry Revived in Neighboring Tropics; Transportation Biggest Problem as Countries Lack Rails and Roads; U. S. Groivs Rubber in Miami. In this crucial year of 1943, Latin America will have contributed con-tributed more than 50,000 tons of natural rubber to the United States war industry stockpile, according to estimates compiled com-piled from official sources. In 1944, natural rubber production produc-tion 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 col-lection 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 out1 of trackless jungles and remote places, new transportation systems making use of donkeys, canoes, steamboats, airplanes, human carriers, car-riers, etc., hive 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, airplunes, Jeeps, artillery, etc., must be extracted ex-tracted from wild and cultivated trees scattered over an area encompassing en-compassing hundreds of thousands of square miles. i In order to protect rubber harvesters har-vesters against fevers, animals, and Insects, the Latin American countries, coun-tries, aided by United States government govern-ment health officials, have created modern sanitary centers, where preventive pre-ventive medicine is taught and treatment treat-ment given to rubber collectors and their families. Onre Rubber Center. Brazil forests, of course, yield most of this hemisphere's present uppiy oi natural ruuDcr. mere, 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 ex-ported from Brazil and exploited commercially in the Dutch East Indies In-dies and the British Malay Straits Settlements, the Brazilian industry enjoyed a heyday. In order to market mar-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 (42,400 tons) as It is contributing con-tributing in 1943 to a United Nations Na-tions victory. According to the coordinator co-ordinator 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 trans-ported by airplane from Jungle depots de-pots to the Atlantic port of Bclcm, 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. Among South American rubber-producing rubber-producing nations, Ecuador ranks second. The figures of 1942 production pro-duction have not been announced, but in 1941, when Brazil produced 17,500 tons, Ecuador yielded 1,500 tons. Indiana Want Beads. The Yumbo Indians, 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. ma-chetes. The Ecuadorean Development Develop-ment corporation understands native tastes and is now supplying the Yumbos with trinkets and useful articles, ar-ticles, like scissors, razors, salt, mirrors, mir-rors, and even rifles. Colombian forests are already yielding two tons of rubber daily, all trans-shipped by the same airplanes air-planes which supply the workers with their needs. In Colombia, rubber exploitation Is supervised by a committee made up of representatives of the Colombian Colom-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 cooperation co-operation with the Institute of Inter-American 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 between be-tween the United States and Peru provided that South American republic re-public 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 SUA DA (Socicte Haitiano-Americaine de De-veloppement De-veloppement Agricole), an organization organiza-tion set up by the governments of the United States and Haiti. One hundred thousand acres have been sown with "cryptostegia," a rubber-producing rubber-producing plant that grows very rapidly. Thousands of Haitians have Proof that progress has been made was demonstrated recently by the Bureau of Standards in Washington, 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 re-ported the quality of the latex compared com-pared favorably with East Indian. In this promising test-tube 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 plantation planta-tion scale ever attempted outside the tropics. Some of the trees are 35 feet high and ten inches in diameter. di-ameter. Tree Survives Florida Clime. For a tree whose natural habitat is in the region of the equator, the Hcvea's endurance and adaptability adaptabili-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, surviving sur-viving 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-table so the tap roots could find permanent per-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 If d' I I Workers tap the Hevea rubber tree at the U. 8. agricultural experimental experi-mental station at Miami, Fla. The U. 8. has experimented with 2,000 species, and satisfactory results have been obtained. been engaged to attend the plantations. planta-tions. Combat Leaf Blight. Dr. E. W. Brandes of the U. S. department of agriculture Is enthusiastic enthu-siastic about the progress made by the Americas In combating rubber plant diseases. The South American leaf blight, he said, is being conquered con-quered by development of disease-resistant disease-resistant trees. These hardy trees In turn are being crossed by hand pollination with high-yielding Oriental Orien-tal rubber trees further to improve yields. Victory over the leaf disease is great forward step in the hemisphere's hemi-sphere's rubber expansion program, said Dr. Brandes. On one of the Ford plantations in Brazil, 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 pest-ridden neighbors. This meant that the blight, carried from tree to tree by wind blown spores, had not Infected them. They were Immune. Scientists then bud-grafted the immune im-mune tops to other trunks and produced pro-duced a high-yielding, disease-resistant 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 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 experimenting experiment-ing with "home-grown" rubber trees. grown from selected Kast Indian seeds in the Florida garden has produced pro-duced a higher yield of latex In general than miscellaneous Hevea from other tropical lands. Experiments Experi-ments in hand pollination have been tried with marked success to determine deter-mine 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 in-creased flow of latex is found toward to-ward 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 la-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-equipped well-equipped laboratory of the Introduction Introduc-tion 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 rub-ber shortage in the United States. Much publicity hat 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 rub-bery characteristics. And, of course, there Is the government's vast synthetic syn-thetic rubber program, utilizing oil and grain. |