PLANTATION LIFE


The moist but very hot climate which rubber trees require is found
only in a zone around the world between the parallels of latitude
thirty degrees north to thirty degrees south of the equator.
Within this zone there have been found more than 350 rubber
bearing trees, shrubs and vines. For this reason this zone is
called the Rubber Belt. As most of the rubber used commercially is
gathered from trees growing within a zone extending from ten
degrees north to ten degrees south of the equator, this latter
zone is sometimes called the Inner Rubber Belt.

If you will trace this belt on a map of the world you will see
that it includes the Amazon region which produces more than three-
quarters of the wild rubber used in manufacturing. Most of South
America's wild rubber is obtained from Brazil, the remainder from
Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela. Now continue the belt across the
Atlantic Ocean to Africa, where you will strike the Belgian Congo
which produces a small quantity of wild rubber. Partly owing to
the careless manner of gathering and partly to the fact that it is
not originally of as good quality as Brazilian rubber, Congo
rubber is not as valuable for manufacturing as Brazilian. Then
complete the circle by following the belt across the Indian Ocean
to Ceylon and the East Indies which contain the great rubber
plantations where most of the rubber used to-day comes from.

To establish a rubber plantation requires very careful planning.
The choice of a site is of first importance, for the planter must