A BOTANICAL STATION IN TROPICAL MEXICO. 9 



laboratory and field, and for this reason the dark room is especially 

 well fitted up. 



So far, the immediate surroundings of the station building are 

 rather bare. Directly in front of the laboratory is a row of native 

 Sali.v with bunches of mistletoe clinging to the branches. This 

 mistletoe, a species of Lorantlius, is collected from willows grow- 

 ing along the banks of rivers in the forest and closely resembles 

 the Plioradciidron viUosuin of California. 



On account of the distinct drv and wet seasons, ground could 

 not be prepared for the station garden until the early part of 



Fig. 4. Interior of Lal)oratory at La Zacualpa Tropical Station. 



May, when the first rains begin to fall, but by the end of that 

 month about two acres had been cleared and planted. The laying 

 out of the garden proved to be very slow work as the native 

 laborers require the constant supervision of the field assistant, 

 but it is expected that at the end of the season about four acres 

 will be planted. The larger part of the garden will be devoted 

 to rubber, the director intending to have here, besides experi- 

 mental plots of Castilloa, a collection of all the rubber-producing 

 plants known. The remainder will be used for the more unusual 

 representatives of Mexican flora and many foreign tropical plants. 

 In connection with this garden, experiments in hybridizing the 



