Rubber in the Philippine typhoon belt

Title

Language

English

Source

The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume 6 (No. 7) July 1926

Year

1926

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

32 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 following morning, Sunday, as well. Don Alonso consulted his closest friends, who re ferred him to the learned clergy. But the clergy could explain nothing, nor allay his fears. Consensus of opinion among them was that Don Alonso had committed some ter rible sin, and that this was a divine visita tion in consequence of it: the cross sinister only appeared after he had been to mass, outwardly in a state of grace but inwardly bearing rancor in his heart. Truth was that Don Alonso was old. Worry quickly led him to fear. When Dona Saturnina perceived it, she intimated that the black cross might be a warning from heaven itself for him to withdraw his opposition to Don Ricardo. Again her husband’s anger overcame him, but next morning the cross sinister reappeared and the lamentations of the family were re newed. Don Alonso’s neighbors, knowing nothing of the strategem, began making their own conjectures; even his old military cronies began shunning his company; no longer could he visit them, and over a gen erous glass of Valdepenas or Rioja review the old campaigns. It was too much. Don Alonso abandoned his custom of a daily paseo and became low in spirit. At length he capitulated out right: he walked in constant fear and had quite lost his appetite. Don Ricardo, apprised quickly enough of all that happened, now renewed his seranades, and his adored Inez was no longer forbidden to drop a rose or sampaguita blossom from the window and breathe her love in sweet whispers over its grilled case ment. The wedding soon came and all went happily with the young couple; the eyes of the jovial father confessor twinkled as he blessed them. The great bells of San Agustin chimed their merriest, sounding out the glad tidings to all Manila. There was a banquet and a ball at Don Alonso’s house on Santa Lucia. Fandangos and jotas and carinos as were danced with all vivaciousness and grace in honor of the groom in his braided tight garments and the bride in her rustling silks and gorgeous mantilla. Toasts were drunk without num ber; the fiddle, the guitar and the hautboy made the day noisy if not precisely har monious, and long into the tranquil night the revelry lasted. The guests divided into groups: those who had memories and those who had hopes were equally gay, what with the wine and the music and the beaming countenance of the father confessor. The secret of the happy ending was that Don Ricardo in his study of chemistry had learned certain of the properties of nitrate of silver. It was this that Dona Saturnina touched to her fingers, and when she dam pened them in the font and gave her hand to Don Alonso, of course the cross he made on his forehead was outlined in black. It may not have been quite ethical, but Inez loved Don Ricardo no whit less for having the wit to think of it; and it was never gossiped about until Don Alonso had gone to a brave soldier’s just reward in another and less quizzical world, where, if there are windmills, they need not be contended against. Rubber In The Philippine Typhoon Belt. A. II. Muzzall In order to get more data on the con troversy as to whether or not rubber can be grown in the typhoon regions of the Philippines, a party was organized, com posed of several technical men from the bureau of forestry and the Bureau of agriculture, accompanied by me, to go to Sorsogon to study conditions on the plan tation of the Alkazar Rubber Company. The rubber plantation of the Alkazar Rubber Company is situated about 20 kilo meters from Legaspi, on the road to Sor sogon. This plantation was established in 1912 by a German by the name of Frank Hoclzl. The land was cleared of secondary jungle and planted in rubber. Part of the area was interplanted with rice for two years. The seeds were obtained from Sin gapore and planted in seed beds on the property. When the trees were about six months old, they were transplanted in the field at distances varying from four to six meters. After about two years, due to the death of Mr. Hoclzl, the plantation was abandoned and the secondary jungle again took possession. The present owner, Mr. Alkazar, has started to clear up the property and bring the trees into tap pingDue to the continuous rainfall during the month of January while the party was on the property, no records of yields could be made, but over 350 trees were marked and prepared for tapping and a study made of their present condition. It is estimated that there are about 5000 trees now living in an area of approximately 20 hectares. Naturally, these trees vary greatly in size due to the lack of care which they received. None of the trees show a size which is expected of a 12 year old tree. The soil is very patchy. There are places where the growth is very good and the soil is deep. In other places, the soil is very shallow, being un derlaid sometimes with a layer of adobe and sometimes with basalt. Among trees planted on the shallow soil where the tap root was not allowed to develop, we found many windfalls. The fact that these trees were blown over and still living instead of being broken off is evidence that the strong winds are not as much responsible for the damage done, as the poor soil con ditions. The general topography of this country is rolling and good sized trees were noted on tops of knolls where they were exposed to the wind, but had not been blown over because of the well formed tap root. The present owner has begun tapping operations and plans to make plain sheet which will be marketed in Singapore for the present. The crop is already contract ed for at Singapore market prices. There are several other small groves of rubber in this region and a great many people in the locality have started additional plan tations of their own. The Alkazar Rubber Company has sold during the last few months over 80,000 seedlings to various people. The principal drawback to large plan tations in this district is the continual rain fall, which lasts for several weeks at a time. The individual plantation, or a plantation which requires only a few laborers, will not be seriously hindered by this continual rainfall because owners can tap heavier during the periods of good weather and rest the trees during the rainy weather. It would not be practicable to handle a large labor force along these lines. Alsu, due to the variation in the soil, this coun try is better suited to small areas planted and operated by individuals. The persistent propaganda by the enemies of Philippine rubber development alleg.ng the destructiveness of typhoons, should, re ceive a definite setback by the fact that rub ber is growing successfully in the heart of the typhoon belt. It has already been defin itely proved that there are hundreds of thousands of acres outside of the typhoon belt. The probability is, no region in the Philippines should be eliminated from the potential rubber land due to typhoons. That is, plantations operated by individ uals or where a small labor force is re quired. The fact is that the crowns of these trees growing at Sorsogon showed prac tically no damage from wind and that the trees were not broken off. These that were uprooted showed defective root systems, due to the underlying rock, and would undoub tedly be broken off in any of the rubber producing countries. The people in this district should not hesitate to plant up small areas of rubber where the soil is fertile and deep for they will be assured of a good return on their rubber. The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Occupies a distinctive field and puts its advertisers in touch with the best clientele in the islands. This clientele has— 1. Big Buying Power 2. The Buying Habit 3. The Custom of Buying Advertised and Depen dable Goods—the kind of goods worth adver tising. Think about this a little. We shall have more to say upon it. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL

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