WICKHAM'S IDEA
The story of the success of the East Indies in wresting the crude
rubber supremacy from Brazil, begins with an Englishman named
Wickham, who might be called the father of plantation rubber.
Wickham, who had spent some years in South America, understood the
difficulties of gathering rubber in the jungles. He believed that
if rubber could be cultivated it might prove a good crop on the
coffee plantations in India which a blight had recently rendered
valueless for coffee. What a strange fact it is that this blight
gave Brazil a chance to go into coffee growing, and that while
Brazil was losing the rubber supremacy to the Far East, the Far
East at about the same time was surrendering the leadership in
coffee to Brazil. The latter now holds first place in coffee
growing as firmly as does the Far East in rubber growing.
Wickham saw that there were difficulties that would prevent the
gathering of wild rubber from keeping pace with the growing
demand. Although millions of rubber trees still stood untouched in
the Brazilian forests, only those trees near the river banks could
be tapped because of the impossibility of getting the rubber out
of the dense vegetation. Life in the jungle was dangerous and
lonely, and therefore rubber gatherers were not easy to find. They
were compelled to work far from their families and friends, and in
constant danger from wild beasts, reptiles and death-bearing
fevers. It is no wonder that rubber obtained in this way came to
be known as "wild rubber." Moreover, transporting the crude
product through the jungles was hard and expensive and the rubber
obtained under these conditions was not always so clean or high in
quality as might be wished.
"If rubber trees grow from the seeds which nature scatters in the
jungle," said Wickham to himself, "why should they not grow from
seeds put into the ground by hand?"
"If rubber trees could be raised from seed, they could be planted
in the open in rows where they could easily be tended and tapped,
and the rubber gathered quickly and safely. Instead of having to
brave the dangerous jungles, men could plant and cultivate rubber
in spots of their own choosing so long as they chose places where
the climate was right."
For many years people only laughed at Wickham's great idea, but
like Goodyear he had faith enough to persevere. While in Brazil he
planted some rubber seeds to see what would happen. The seeds DID
grow, and the book which Wickham wrote about his idea and his
experiments finally came into the hands of Sir Joseph Hooker, the
Director of the Botanical Gardens in Kew, near London. So
interested did he become that he called Wickham's plan to the
attention of the Government of India, and finally Wickham was
commissioned to take a cargo of rubber seeds to England, so that
his idea might be tried out.
This commission was more difficult than one might think, and all
of Wickham's faith and perseverance were needed to carry it out.
Indeed for a time it seemed hopeless, principally because the
seeds so quickly dry up and lose their vitality that they must be
planted very soon after being gathered.
But Wickham watched his opportunity, and finally he was able to
charter a ship in the name of the Indian Government. About a third
of the way up the Amazon River he placed in her hold several
thousand carefully packed seeds of the Hevea Braziliensis, or
rubber tree. Let Wickham, himself, tell how he surmounted the next
difficulty:
"We were bound to call in at the city of Para as the port of
entry, in order to obtain clearance papers for the ship before we
could go to sea. Any delay would have rendered my precious freight
quite valueless and useless. But again fortune favored. I had a
'friend at court' in the person of Consul Green, who went himself
with me to call on the proper official, and supported me as I
presented to His Excellency 'my difficulty and anxiety, being in
charge of, and having on board a ship anchored out in the stream,
exceedingly delicate botanical specimens, especially designated
for delivery to Her Britannic Majesty's own Royal Garden of Kew.
Even while doing myself the honor of thus calling on His
Excellency, I had given orders to the captain of the ship to keep
up steam, having ventured to trust His Excellency would see his
way clear to furnishing me with immediate dispatch. An interview
most polite, full of mutual compliments in the best Portuguese
manner, enabled us to get under way as soon as the captain had got
the dinghy hauled aboard."
Can you imagine Wickham's sigh of relief as his vessel, with its
freight of perishable treasure, steamed out of port, and began the
long journey to England?