Caro1 Coiap age 10, of Philadelphia, PA.
Where does rubber come from?
Maple syrup is made from the sap of the sugar maple true.. Rubber is made from the sap of the hevea rubber tree. The tall, lanky hevea tree is a native of Brazil. There, not far from the equator, it, grew for countless ages before the Spaniards discovered the New World. It thrived in the tropical heat and sack year it was doused with at least 70 inches of steamy rain.
The Indians learned to tap the hevea tree and get its milky juice. They dipped their shoes and baskets into the milky sap and when it dried it formed a rubbery waterproof covering. They also learned to dry and wad the juice into a ball, Yes, the Indians of South America were the first people to enjoy the fun of bouncing a rubber ball,
South America was the homeland of the hevea rubber tree. But nowadays, most of the worlds rubber supply domes from Indonesia and Malaya. Ceylon, Thailand, Bur ma, Borneo and Indo China also produce enough rubber to sell. Brazil, the native lard of the hevea tree, grows only enough rubber for home use,
Rubber trees must have a hot climate and a vast quantity of tropical rain. The trees are planted in rows, about 150 of them to an acre. Several acres of trees make a rubber plantation. A large plantation is usually run by a European. But the field work is done by natives because they are used to being outdoors in the tropical climate, Many of the natives have small plantations which they own and work for themselves.
Each hevsa tree starts life as a seedling. But when the little tree is a. few feet tall it is cut down and grafted. The shoot which is grafted into the stem of the seedling is taken from a grown tree which has already proved to be a good rubber producer. It soon grows to be the main trunk of the tree but it uses the root system of the sturdy seedling.
The leaves of the hevea tree are large and oval, thick and glossy danörk, They are like the leaves of the rubber house plant, which is not surprising since the two plants are related. When the hevea 3s six years old, it is ready t o yield its first harvest. A man comes with a sharp tool shaped like a letter U. He cuts a narrow, sloping groove half way around the tree, just a few feet above the ground. The sap he wants is formed in a system of veins just below the outer bark. It is called latex. The milky fluid drips down the cut and into a bucket;
A good hevea tree yields about 10 pounds of latex each year for 25 years. It takes three pounds of latex to make one pound of rubber, The latex teems with tiny pear shaped globules of rubber. The trick is to bunch them together to form solid sheets of rubber. This is done by adding acid to the latex. The solid rubber is then rolled into sheets and prepared for market.