The Grantville Gazette Volumn VI by Eric Flint
Collecting Wild Hevea Rubber
In our timeline, Brazil was not an important source of rubber after 1920. That is because the British successfully transplanted Hevea brasiliensis to Asia. The wild Brazilian rubber was unable to compete with the plantation rubber because its collection was too labor intensive.
There are limits to how much rubber can be collected from wild Hevea trees. They are widely dispersed in the rainforest, usually only two or three trees per hectare (Dean 10). The trees had to be found, and then connecting paths had to be created by hacking through the dense rainforest vegetation with a machete. Usually, a single tapper would clear two or three trails of 60 to 150 trees each. (Dean, 36-37) The tapper traversed one trail each day. In contrast, on a Hevea plantation, one tapper might process 400 trees in a single day (EA).
Large-scale collection of wild rubber was limited by the labor supply. The Amazon jungles were thinly settled, so workers had to be brought in from elsewhere. These strangers were vulnerable to the many diseases and other pitfalls of life in the Amazon, and labor turnover was high. Even in 1907, "each ton cost five lives" (Dean, 44).
In the lower Amazon, and on the coast, where rubber trees were more accessible, yields declined substantially (from ten to two pounds of rubber per tree per year), as a result of overtapping (Brown, 104). The overtapping was evident by 1853, just eight years after the vulcanization process expanded the rubber market (Coates, 58-9). This forced collectors to go deeper into the Amazon, increasing provisioning costs.
In southeast Asia, plantations reduced labor costs, because a single worker could tap more trees in a day. Logically, the Brazilians should have started their own plantations. Unfortunately, even though it is native to the region, and hence well adapted to the local soil and climate, Hevea brasiliensis cannot be successfully cultivated in plantations in Latin America. The Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia on CD in its "rubber" essay contains these fateful words: "About 99 percent of plantation rubber comes from southeastern Asia. Attempts to establish significant rubber plantations in the tropical zone of the western hemisphere have failed because of widespread tree loss as a result of a leaf blight." (More information about the attempts to establish Hevea plantations in Latin America appears in Appendix 3.)
Even without the South American Leaf Blight, it is doubtful that Brazilian plantations would be competitive with southeast Asian ones. In the early 1900's, the daily cost of labor and provisions in the Orient was perhaps one eighth of that in Brazil (Akers).
Once the demand for rubber outstrips the level that can be produced by wild Hevea brasiliensis trees, it will be essential to establish Hevea plantations elsewhere, to produce rubber from other botanical sources, or to manufacture rubber synthetically.
The Transplantation of Hevea to Asia
Wickham collected about 70,000 seeds in Brazil in 1876. These were planted at Kew Gardens, but only 2,600 germinated. The seedlings were forwarded to Ceylon and thence distributed elsewhere in Asia.
Some of the sites chosen, such as Calcutta, were poorly suited for Hevea. Fortunately, we have the benefit of hindsight; we know roughly where Hevea plantations were successful. For example, that map in CE also shows the major producing areas for plantation rubber in India, Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, and the Malaysian-Indonesian region.
It is also extremely important that all attempts to transplant Hevea be made strictly with seeds, not with cuttings that might carry abroad the deadly fungus.
Moreover, speed is of the essence. EB11 warns that "the seeds readily lose their vitality," and suggests that they should be "loosely packed in dry soil or charcoal." According to Polhamus (273), in the open, the seeds are only viable for seven to ten days, but packed in charcoal or sawdust, they can be expected to germinate if planted within four to six weeks.
Collecting Other Wild Rubbers
Information is limited (and unavailable in 1632), but Treadwell says that in the British Honduras in the twenties, one man working eleven days in fifty acres of jungle could collect 700 pounds of Castilla rubber.
Rubber Plantation Management
Most of Grantville's information concerning rubber tree cultivation relates to Hevea. EA suggests that the Hevea trees be raised in a nursery for one year, then planted outside in rows about 15 to 20 feet apart. It says that, after casualties from disease, accident, and so forth, there are about 150 trees per acre (see also Brown 104). The trees are mature enough to be tapped when they are five to seven years old; tapping can continue for another thirty to forty years. The older trees are more productive.
It will be found that the trees vary in productivity. This variation can be exploited in a number of ways, including cross-breeding and bud grafting. According to CE, "Bud grafting consists of grafting a dormant bud from a proved high-yielding tree to a seedling one to two years old. After several months the bud forms a healthy bud shoot termed a scion, which grows to form the new tree. The seedling is then cut off just above the bud patch." A photograph shows how the foreign bud has been inserted into a "bark flap."
Hevea has been grown in African and Asian plantations alongside other crops, notably cassava, sesame, ground-nuts, tea, coffee, cocoa and tobacco. The EB11 advises against this interplanting, except in the case of cocoa.
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The first rubber plantation in southeast Asia raised Ficus elastica (first planted in 1872), because at that time, before Ridley devised his improved tapping scheme, it yielded more rubber than did Hevea brasiliensis (Joshi). The most successful Ficus elastica plantations have been in Asia, in the mountainous districts of Assam, Ceylon and Java. (EB11)
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The "Angiosperms" article in the modern EB claims that Funtumia elastica has the advantage that it will grow in parts of tropical Africa which are too dry for Hevea. It nonetheless discourages the cultivation of Funtumia elastica, declaring that it must be grown for twenty years before commercial yields become obtainable. However, this source is plainly in error; Christy's African Rubber provides ample data that Funtumia yields rubber even when it is just five years old, although he recommends that tapping not commence until the next year. It is regrettable that this specialist knowledge will not be available in Grantville, and hence the development of Funtumia plantations in the new timeline may be delayed.
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There is only limited information available to Grantville on the cost of production and, of course, the old timeline data is of limited relevance to the hybrid economy created by the Ring of Fire. For what it is worth, EB11 reports that circa 1911, the cost of Ceylonese plantation production was about one shilling a pound, for a field planted at a density of 150 trees an acre. However, another source (unavailable in Grantville) pegs the Asian (Malaysian) plantation cost somewhat lower; just 0.75 shillings a pound. In contrast, the cost of Brazilian rubber was four shillings a pound. (Coates, 156)
The price of rubber was then about 2.5 shillings (US$1.25) per pound.
For Castilla plantation rubber harvesting in northern tropical America in the Twenties, Treadwell says that the cost of production was 25 U.S. cents a pound. (32)
The Geopolitics of Foreign Rubber
One of the problems of developing a post-Ring of Fire (RoF) rubber industry was expressed in an aside to readers by Mike Stearns: "the natural resources were halfway around the world under the political control of other nations . . ." (1633, Chap. 34)
Even the citizens of nations that are allies in Europe (the English and Dutch in the old time line, "OTL") may take advantage of each other elsewhere. This is an era in which the term "cutthroat competition" is taken literally, and there is "no peace beyond the line" defining the bounds of Europe.
Even if you didn't have to worry about the predatory habits of your fellow humans, there is the question of disease. Up-timers are perturbed enough by the public health conditions of down-time Europe, but the rest of the world is worse off. The mortality rates are three to four times higher in the Indian Ocean area, ten times higher in t
The New World
Let us first examine the situation in the New World. The Castilla Rubber Tree grows in "New Spain" (in Mexico and Central America) and in "New Castile" (which includes western South America). All of these regions are claimed by Spain. Legally, there is a ban on immigration, and even trade visits, by foreigners. All transatlantic trade leaves from Seville, takes cargoes of manufactured goods to specified colonial ports (Veracruz in Mexico, Portabello in Panama, and Cartagena in Columbia), and brings gold, silver and other American products back to Seville.
Only a Spaniard can buy a licencias de toneladas (the right to ship a certain number of tons of freight on a ship heading out to Spanish America). However, he could be acting as a front man (testaferro) for a foreign merchant. A particular kind of testaferro was the cargadore (the word now means a porter), who actually went on board with the cargo and made sure it was sold for a good price. A foreign merchant could also have a Spanish agent who was a resident of one of the American ports of call for the Spanish trade fleets. Another trick was to sell a foreign ship (with a cargo) to a Spanish figurehead, who would rename it, obtain a sailing license, include it in the Spanish trade fleet, and ultimately sell it back to the original owner (at a price which included a profit on the cargo). (Braudel II, 152-3; Solana) As early as 1608, two-thirds of the shipments to the Indies was of foreign goods (msu.edu).
These practices were geared toward moving foreign manufactures to the Americas, in return for gold and silver. However, a resident testaferro could in theory set up a rubber collection program on behalf of a USE customer. The catch, of course, is that there could be no direct supervision by a non-Spaniard.
Mexico, at least, has some degree of native trade in rubber, probably of Yucatan origin. In the sixteenth century, the Aztecs and Maya used it in making footgear, headgear, game balls, and incense (Shidrowitz, 2-5, 372-3). Hence, a local agent could put the word out that he was interested in rubber products, and expect to see some results. The rubber would have to be shipped overland or by "coaster" to Veracruz.
Of course, dealing with testaferros—not to mention Spanish officials—is going to cut into your profit margins, and it is conceivable that, once they recognize the military importance of rubber, the Spanish government will take pains to prevent the transfer of rubber from Spain to the USE. (Although Spain and the Netherlands happily traded with each other even while Spain was trying to reconquer the latter, and the special taxes which they imposed on trade with the enemy helped finance the war.)
You have the option of ignoring Spanish law and dealing directly with the Indians (or collecting the rubber yourself). If you are caught, you will likely to be tortured and put to death. So, my advice is, don't get caught.
The secret to success is to travel, preferably in fast, well-armed ships, to areas where the Spanish are weak, and where the natives, if any, are hostile to them.
One such area is the eastern half of the Yucatan peninsula.
Some of the Yucatec Maya have been in a state of revolt since 1610. Moreover, an independent Mayan state still exists in northern Guatemala (it wasn't conquered until 1697).
The southeast portion of the Yucatan is essentially uninhabited. Beginning in 1638, it was infiltrated by British logwood cutters. The Spanish attempted to expel the intruders, but in general were not successful, and the region ultimately became British Honduras (Belize).
Another weak point is the Meskito (Mosquito) Coast of Nicaragua. There are no significant Spanish towns or forts in-between Trujillo (Honduras) and the mouth of the San Juan River (which divides Nicaragua from Costa Rica). In fact, in our timeline, the English established a settlement at Cape Gracias a Dios in 1633, and went on to establish an informal alliance with the local Meskito Indians which endured for two centuries. (Perez-Brignoli, 13, 37, 53; Burns, 209, 362-5)
The USE could collect rubber from the Castilla trees in the Yucatan, British Honduras, northern Guatemala, Nicaragua and eastern Honduras. The Indians can be taught how to tap the rubber, and then we can visit them periodically to collect the material. If hostile forces compel us to engage in a quick in-and-out operation, we fell the trees and save seed for replanting in a more secure locale. We can increase our security by allying with the English Puritans on Providencia Island (about 150 miles off the coast of Nicaragua), and by capturing Jamaica (taken by the English in 1655). (Burns, 202-211)
The latex-producing properties of Castilla lend themselves to hit-and-run operations. A single tree can yield a great deal of latex at one tapping, but it can only be tapped one to three times a year. The specialist literature reports that Mexican bandits could steal a half-year's yield in a night, by surreptitious tapping. (Polhamus, 262)
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While the Castilla tree is the oldest source of natural rubber, the Para Rubber Tree is the most important commercially. How readily can it be exploited by USE entrepreneurs?
Consulting an atlas, you will see that Para is the name of the province in Brazil which includes the mouths of the Amazon. There is also a map in CE which shows sources of wild rubber in South America. If we compare it with a physical map of the continent, it appears that the best places to look are along the banks of the Amazon proper, as well as near certain tributary rivers: the Rio Negro, Japura, Ica, Putumayo, Jurua, Madeira, and Tapajos. (Some of these may actually be sources of other kinds of wild rubber.)
The difficulties of navigating these waterways is discussed in the EB11 "Amazon" entry, which also calls our attention to "the great india-rubber districts of the Mayutata and lower Beni . . ." It additionally mentions that nineteenth-century rubber traders plied the Negro, the Madeira, and the Purus, that the "finest quality of india-rubber comes from the Acre and Beni districts of Bolivia, especially from the valley of the Acre (or Aquiry) branch of the river Purus," and that 35% of the Amazon Basin rubber is from the province of Para. The rest, presumably, is from the province of Amazonas.
The hazards of this venture are more political than navigational. The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) sought to avoid conflict between Spain and Portugal in pagan territory, giving most of the Americas to Spain, and reserving Africa, Asia and northeastern Brazil to Portugal. The treaty actually gave the Amazon region to Spain. However, in 1580, the main royal line of Portugal came to an end, and Philip II of Spain became king of Portugal. In consequence, the Spanish rulers allowed the provincial authorities in Lisbon to take responsibility for policing the mouth of the Amazon.
In the late sixteenth century, the Portuguese were preoccupied with northeast Brazil, and the Spanish with Peru and Mexico, permitting the French, Dutch, English and Irish to establish settlements in the lower Amazon (the Dutch at the mouth of the Xingu river, and the English as far as 300 miles upriver). However, in the early seventeenth century, the Portuguese reacted violently to these incursions. They began by establishing the town of Belem, just south of the Amazon, in 1615. Then, during the period 1623-25, they sallied out and destroyed all of the non-Iberian holdings. Even the Catholic intruders were massacred. (Furneaux, 49-51; Smith, 141-2)
A logical question is, why not just send traders to Belem? Unfortunately, this would not be officially tolerated. Prior to 1591, the Portuguese allowed immigration into their colonies by anyone of the Catholic religion. However, after that date, they adopted the Spanish law which excluded all aliens.
Hence, if the USE wishes to trade openly in Belem, or indeed anywhere in Latin America, it must do so through Spanish or Portuguese intermediaries. Spanish agents are fine if you want to use them to arrange shipments of Castilla rubber. However, it is doubtful that they can help you get Para rubber from Brazil. Despite Spanish rule, it is not clear that the Belem authorities will be receptive to Spanish agents.
In 1637, a small Spanish party (two friars and six soldiers), originating in Ecuador, descended the Amazon. One friar was sent to Lisbon for questioning, the rest of the party was detained, and l
Consequently, to set up a quasi-legitimate rubber collecting operation based in Belem, the USE may need to identify the Portuguese equivalent of the Spanish testaferros. There are conversos (Jews who converted, at least publicly, to Christianity) in Brazil, and the Nasi family may be able to identify possible recruits from this community.
You can avoid this rigmarole if the inhabitants of Belem are willing and able, despite the law, to trade with foreigners. Such illicit trade was common in the Caribbean. The visitors might land a party in a secluded cove, and it would then make surreptitious contact with the locals. They could approach the harbor, and plead that they had been driven off course by a storm. They could "win their market at sword's point"; make a show of force and then, perhaps after real or pretended resistance by the local garrison, receive the governor's license to trade. (The foreigners might even pay duties or license fees.) Or a neglected settlement might welcome them openly, without coercion, as seems to have occurred on Trinidad in the early 1600s. (Naipaul, 60-70; Burns, 142-6)
Even if the local Portuguese are uncooperative, you may be able to infiltrate the Amazon region. Belem itself is at the mouth of the Para, which lies to the south of the Amazon and is not directly connected to it. Hence, in order to discourage further foreign activities on the Amazon, Portuguese also built a new fort at Gurupa (Furneaux, 50), which overlooks the more southerly of the two main entry channels. Nonetheless, it may be possible to sneak into the Amazon by way of the northerly channel, the Canal do Norte.
The odds are improved if we are forearmed with detailed knowledge of its navigational peculiarities. Grantville's maps of the region are probably not particularly detailed, but Dutch sailors did serve from time to time on Portuguese ships, and may have some knowledge of these waters. Or there may be Portuguese mariners who are sufficiently estranged from their native land (perhaps because it is under Spanish rule) to be willing to guide us through.