A month later, when Professor Anton Peruz's men arrived in East Africa, the East African Agricultural Research Institute would be operational.

August 15, 1868.

Great Lakes Region (Uganda).

The immigrants, who had just finished working in the fields, began to plant trees non-stop.

This time, rubber trees imported from Brazil were planted, and under the guidance of Brazilian agricultural experts, the immigrants planted rubber seedlings according to the process.

"The saplings here should not be too dense, and the plot should be ventilated and light-transmitted, and the transportation should be convenient, so that it can be better managed and harvested in the future." Albert Verga, a Brazilian agricultural (pseudo) expert, said to the agricultural workers in the colony.

Albert Verga is an ordinary rubber grower in Brazil and has a lot of experience in growing it.

"Drainage must be done well, especially in places where the slope is very gentle, but the slope should not be too high, a little bit is fine."

"Mr. Albert Verga, does the temperature affect the growth of rubber trees?" An East African immigrant asked.

"No, no, it's not something you should be concerned about, the temperature, as long as it's tropical, can basically meet the growth needs of rubber trees, of course, the altitude is too high, it's definitely not good, when the temperature is lower than five, it is possible to frostbite rubber trees, but I have lived in Brazil for many years and have not seen low temperatures." Albert Verga said.

"You newcomers don't know that there is no spring, summer, autumn and winter in East Africa at all, and the temperature is almost the same all year round, but it is divided into rainy season and dry season according to rainfall." An old immigrant said to the newcomer to the side.

"That's a good point, that's why we plant rubber here, you have the most balanced and stable precipitation here, so it's going to be planted here on a large scale and not elsewhere." Albert Verga said.

Rubber trees like temperature and humidity, temperature is not a problem in East Africa, humidity is not easy to master, the annual precipitation of rubber tree growth area can not be less than 1200mm, and East Africa is a savannah climate, rainfall is not very stable, rainfall in 600mm to 1100mm or so floating, and the Great Lakes is a rare rainy area, the large lake is close to 70,000 square kilometers of water area, directly affecting the local precipitation.

"Mr. Albert Verga, what is the purpose of this rubber tree?" An immigrant asked.

Albert Verga shook his head and said, "I don't know how to use it, I used to be only responsible for planting and harvesting, and then the merchants would buy them away, I only know that the semi-finished product of the harvest is a gelatinous substance, and it will become hard after a long time." ”

Albert Verga is telling the truth, the rubber he grows has been bought by the Europeans, and the Europeans are already on the other side of the ocean to reprocess rubber, and Albert Verga doesn't need to know what rubber is for, he just needs to know that this thing can be used for money.

The purpose of growing rubber in East Africa is self-evident, no one knows the strategic value of rubber better than Ernst, and the demand for rubber in the future industry of the Hexingen consortium is destined to be inseparable, so it is necessary to lay out in advance.

The growth cycle of rubber is relatively long, and it takes at least six or seven years to produce value, so it is better to plant early and harvest early in the future.

This year, we will first build a rubber plantation of 10,000 acres, and then, slowly increase it every year, and the land will be arrogant.

In fact, the rubber cultivation conditions in East Africa are far less than those in West Africa, where the tropical rainforest climate is the paradise for rubber growth.

However, growing rubber in East Africa is still promising with a little more effort and precautions such as soil moisture and light.

The reason why there is a rush to promote rubber cultivation along the coast of the Great Lakes is because the Great Lakes region is the most suitable place for rubber cultivation.

If you don't plant it now, it will be more time-consuming and laborious to change it later, and all the conditions in the Great Lakes region meet the conditions for rubber cultivation, especially the precipitation, which is only slightly worse than the tropical rainforest climate, but it is significantly stronger than the savannah climate, as evidenced by the dense tropical rainforest near the Great Lake.

"Don't care what's the use of this thing, anyway, a lot of our food is fine, what these things are grown for is not something I should worry about."

"That's right."

"Mr. Albert Verga, you just said that this thing needs to be harvested, I wonder how this tree is harvested? Is it cut down directly when it is mature? ”

Albert Verga was speechless when he heard this, these Germans had never seen the world, and they didn't even know how rubber trees were collected.

"No, no, guys, I think you've misunderstood, the rubber tree is not the same as the usual trees."

"Could it be that this thing bears fruit and is picked like a fruit tree?"

Albert Weir smiled and said: "Everyone, listen to me first, the harvest of this rubber is like bloodletting for people, we have to cut a hole in it, let it flow blood, we will fix the collection vessel in advance, so that when the flow is full, we can collect a piece of rubber." ”

"Ahh This thing sounds so scary. ”

"It's not scary at all, I'm just using blood as a metaphor, it's actually the sap of this tree, and the sap of the rubber tree is white, and it doesn't look like blood at all, I just wanted to show the scene of collecting rubber more vividly." Albert Verga didn't want to listen to these guys talking nonsense.

"I see." Everyone suddenly realized.

Albert Verga continued: "And you don't have to worry about harvesting at all, it will take at least six or seven years for these saplings to grow, and you will not have access to them before. In six or seven years' time, I think there will be new people who will teach you how to collect rubber. ”

……

Albert Verga is certainly not the kind of person who can be an expert if he is just looking for him.

In addition to his basic experience in rubber plantation, he was able to speak German as the capital of East Africa to coach rubber plantation.

Otherwise, communication alone is a big problem, especially since many of the migrants around the Great Lakes region are new arrivals to East Africa in recent months.

There were a lot of Germans among them, so I was able to have a good chat with Albert Verga, and of course the East African colonies also mobilized a group of old immigrants to help the new immigrants adapt to the new life in East Africa.

German teachers are also making preparations, and soon the East African-style compulsory education in the three new districts will be launched.

Fortunately, new immigrants have just arrived, even if it is a family, there are not many with children, after all, the sea is risky, and those with children at home do not dare to gamble.

Therefore, education in the newly occupied territories will start with adult education, especially for those Chinese and Serbs...... It is necessary to develop their oral communication skills first.

(End of chapter)