Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 May 1886 — India-Rubber Gathered in Colombia. [ARTICLE]

India-Rubber Gathered in Colombia.

When the hunter has found a rubber tree, he first clears away a space from the roots, and then moves on in search of others, returning to commence operation as soon as he has marked all the trees in the vicinity. He first of all digs a hole in the ground hard by, and then cuts in the tree a V-shaped incision with a machete, as high as he can reach. The milk is caught as it exudes and flows into the hole. As soon as the flow from the cut has cease'd the tree is chopped down, and the trunk raised from the ground by means of an improvised trestle. After placing large leaves to catch the sap, gashes are cut throughout the entire length, and the milk carefully collected. When it first exudes, the sap is of the whiteness and consistence of cream, but it turns black on exposure to the air. When the hole is filled with rubber, it is coagulated by adding hard soap or the roots of the mechvacan, which have a most rapid action, and prevent the escape of the water that is always present in the fresh sap. When coagulated sufficiently, the rubber is secured by bark thongs, carried on the back of the hunter to the bank of the river, and floated down on rafts. The annual destruction of rubber trees in Colombia is very great, and the industry must soon disappear altogether. unless the government puts in force a law that already exists, which compels the hunters to tap the trees without cutting them down. If this law were strictly canied out, there would be a good opening for commercial enterprise, for rubber trees will grow from 8 to 10 inches in diameter in three or four years from seed. The trees require but little attention, and they begin to yield returns sooner than any other. Those that yield the greatest amount of rubber flourish on the banks of the Simu and Aslato Rivers.