PUSSY AND I.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19268, 3 January 1931, Page 18 (Supplement)

PUSSY AND I.

“RUBBER” FROM WEEDS. It was recently stated that in connection with the celebration of his eighty-second birthday, Mr Thomas A. Edison would announce a substitute for rubber. It is stated that he long ago found that there could be no substitute for the rubber tree as the source of rubber, but he has discovered a weed—after experimenting with 15,000 varieties—which will produce a latex or fluid from which a workable substitute for rubber can be extracted. The weed •can be mowed like wheat, it is asserted, and does not require planting anew every year, being a perennial. Mr Edison has of late been engaged in experiments with the object of making a machine which will separate the rubber substitute from other components of the fluid, but he has so far not been successful in this direction. WEALTH. To catch pleasure as it flies is a rare accomplishment. The main thing is to grasp the opportunity, and to make the best of it with a cheerful heart, not questioning if it is great or small. Contentment in living, after all, is built upon our industry in learning to see ■ things and to store the fancy with riches for times and seasons. The wealth gained from cloud-gazing, weather lore, wild flowers, the migrating birds—and, not least, the treasures of florists’ windows and catalogues—cannot be stolen from us.