I30 



HARD WICKE 'S S CIENCE - G OSS IP. 



entire, smooth. Flowers monoecious, racemose, at the 

 ends of the branches. 



This tree produces the best "Para rabber," the 

 most esteemed. To obtain the juice incisions are 

 made in the bark, from which the juice very quickly 

 and readily flows. It is collected in earthen vessels, 

 and poured upon" clay-moulds, often in the fonn of 

 bottles. After one layer is poured upon the mould 

 it is subjected to the dense smoke produced by burn- 

 ing palm-nuts [Attalea excclsa and Cocos coronata nuts) 

 until it is sufficiently blackened and hardened, when 

 a fresh layer is poured on and treated in the same 

 way, until it assumes the black, homogeneous mass 

 known to us as " indiarubber. " The clay is removed 

 by washing, leaving the rubber pure. 



The bulk of Caoutchouc imported to this countiy 

 produced by this plant is from Para ; but that im- 

 ported from the Upper Amazon and Rio Negro is 

 usually obtained from other species (//. Intea and 

 H. brcvifoUd). 



Fig. 113. Urccola elastica (reduced), a, flower — (magnified). 



The other plant belonging to the western hemi- 

 sphere is Castilloa elastica, a native of Central America. 

 It is a large tree, growing to the height of from 150 

 to 200 feet, with a cylindrical, hispid stem ; un- 

 branched until near the top, giving the tree the ap- 

 pearance of a gigantic umbrella. Leaves alternate, 

 ovate, acuminate, crenate-serrate, hispid, accom- 

 panied with large amplexicaul, ovate, acuminate, 

 seven-ribbed, hispid, stipules. 



The trees in Panama grow by the side of rills and 

 rivulets, and in the rainy season the stems ai-e five or 

 six feet under water. They delight in a swampy 

 situation. Those grown in this country, it is said, 

 succeed best when standing in water. 



A good tree yields seventy pounds of rubber in a 



season ; it is, however, somewhat inferior to that 

 produced by Hevea, but such a deficiency is more 

 than made up by the greater quantity it yields. 



The Indian Government has undertaken the task of 

 introducing these two plants to India for the purpose 

 of cultivating them, and there is a fair prospect of 

 the enterprise proving very successful. 



The plant most known as belonging to the eastern 

 hemisphere is Fictis elastica, Rox. , native of the East 

 Indies, gi-owing to the size of a moderate-sized tree. 

 Stem, cylindrical ; leaves, alternate, ovate, acumi- 

 nate, glabrous, coriaceous, with a prominent mid-rib. 

 Fruit not edible. 



This plant is a universal favourite for ornamenta- 

 tion. It is largely cultivated for the production of 

 Caoutchouc ; but the produce is not so much esteemed 

 as that imported from the western hemisphere. 

 Urceola elastica, Rox. (fig. 113) is a native of Borneo, 

 Sumatra, and other islands of the Indian Archipelago. 

 It is a large, climbing shrub, or small tree. Leaves, 

 ovate-oblong, opposite, roughish ; flowers, 

 cymose, terminal, of a greenish colour ; fruit 

 double ; each portion about the size of an 

 orange, containing numerous renifonn seeds 

 in a copious pulp, which is much relished by 

 the natives and British residents. 



The juice is collected from incisions made 

 in the bark, and forms one of the kinds of 

 Caoutchouc known as "Juitawan"; but 

 owing to want of care in preparation it is 

 veiy inferior in quality to the South Ame- 

 rican, the juice being simply coagulated by 

 mixing with salt water, instead of gradually 

 being inspissated in layei'S. 



Pepper {Piperacece). — This agreeable and 

 valuable condiment is the produce of a plant 

 originally a native of India and the Indian 

 Islands, but now cultivated in those places ; 

 also Western Africa and the West Indies, 

 from which places the supplies of this 

 country are derived. 



The plant {Piper uigniin, Linn.) is a 

 climber. Stem in a wild state reaching to 

 twenty feet in height, but under cultivation 

 only allowed to grow from eight to twelve feet, 

 dichotomously branched ; leaves broadly ovate, 

 alternate, acuminate, five to seven-nerved, connected 

 by lesser transverse veins, dark green colour above, 

 pale, glaucous green beneath ; flower, spikes opposite 

 the leaves, three to six inches long, slender, pen- 

 dulous, uni- or bi-sexual ; fruit, distinctly round, 

 about the size of a pea, red when ripe. 



The plants are placed at the base of trees as rough 

 as can be found, to facilitate the climbing nature of 

 the plant. In three years fruit is gathered from them 

 until they are eight years old, when they decline. 

 The Black Pepper of shops is produced by gathering 

 the fruit before it is quite ripe and drying it in the 

 sun, when it loses its red colour, and becomes 



