In Kerala, tropical southern India, most rubber tree farms are very small-a typical holding is less than 20 acres. These are not rubber plantations with thousands of acres of land. Kerala-based Cocolatex, supplies natural Dunlop to organic mattresses dealers in the U.S.
The rubber tree, or hevea brasiliensis, grows at higher elevations with good drainage, and does not lend itself to mass cultivation. The farmers take great care in planting the trees to ensure their health. In more open areas, pineapple trees are inter-planted among the rubber trees. In hilly regions, companion shrubs are added to shade the soil and maximize the water available to the trees' roots.
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Rubber trees have three "skins" that are somewhat delicate. When tapping a tree by hand, it's easy to cut too deeply. The idea, which involves much practice and skill, is to create a long, slanted opening in the bark at just the right angle. Although the farmers are kind to visitors and may even allow one to try the knife, one can sense their collective sigh when an amateur injures the bark. Fortunately, an experienced farmer will swiftly reshape the cut so the serum will run properly. The cuts heal over in about an hour.
Farmers start their day around 5 a.m. because rubber sap runs most freely in the early morning. Walking from tree to tree in the shade, they finish the daily collection around noon. At its peak, each tree yields just one to two cups of serum per day. Older trees produce less, and the latex runs more slowly toward the end of the tree's annual cycle. Years ago and in some locations still, farmers use halved coconut hulls to collect the serum. They combine the output from many trees one at a time into steel buckets and then pour the contents into drums that are sealed before being moved to the factory.
Farmers regularly replant their holdings, setting in new seedlings. They treat the trees with great respect and care. For its first seven years, young trees are left to grow robust and remain untapped. A tree can produce usable latex for up to 20 years, then is cut and sent to a mill to be made into furniture. Rubber wood is one of the most sustainable woods, and is growing in popularity in the United States. It is also widely used in local economies, such as in making office desks for Cocolatex.
The Cocolatex facility employs 80 skilled workers in various roles whose livelihoods depend on the remarkable utility of the rubber tree. They produce foam rubber on a daily basis-emptying the drums into giant mixers or centrifuges, testing and correcting the liquid mixture, filling molds, steam-baking and washing finished layers, and inspecting the final quality of the sheets once they have dried. The finished sheets are double-wrapped in plastic and a puncture-proof material.
Just as the renewable serum yielded by tapping a tree is transformed into many kinds of important products, the rubber industry itself provides livelihood and comfort for many individuals and their families.
While the deep interdependence of humans and trees often goes unremarked, the stately rubber tree is one of the most durable, renewable and dependable resources for human manufacturing.
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