45 



moist enough to remain alive and at the same time dry enough to 

 discourage germination. Some advise washing the seeds ; others 

 leave the pulp adhering, but the latter course has the disadvantage 

 of encouraging the growth of moulds and bacteria, which readily 

 penetrate the thin outer membranes and attack the embryo it- 

 self. Several packing materials, such as leaf mould, sand, and 

 sawdust have been suggested, but the best is probably powdered 

 charcoal, which does not decompose nor harbour organisms. 



The following statements from some who have experimented 

 with shipment of Castilloa seeds may be of suggestive interest : 



In Trinidad they are gathered when they fully mature, washed, and slightly 

 dried in the shade. They are then shipped in a sort of humus composed of fibres 

 of rotten c^coanut husks and a little earth. This mixture must be somewhat 

 moist. The seeds soon germinate in it and so remain for several weeks. Sowing 

 must be done with great care on account of the long sprouts. 



I also collected the mature seeds and washed them thoroughly, so that no trace 

 of the fleshy red pulp rem;iined on them. Then they were dried in the shade from 

 twenty-four to forty-eight hours, and then mixed with sawdust and packed in small 

 tin boxes 10 centimeters (4 inches) square and 3 centimeters (1-2 inches; deep. 

 I dropped a few dr )ps of water on the .-awdust before closing the box. With this 

 packing the seeds were sent to Berlin, and from there forwarded to Kamerun and 

 East Africa, and 50 per cent, of ihem were on arrival still good and in condition 

 to germinate* 



A shipmentof 2,000 Castilloa seeds sent from Paris to Peradeniya, 



Ceylon, packed in leaf mould in four tin boxes, was opened in six 



weeks, to find 37 per cent, still alive arid the remainder destroyed 



by moulds and bacteria. This made it evident that leaf mould was 



not a desirable medium and sterilized sand was suggested instead.f 



The seeds were carefully cleaned of all pulp, and then dried slightly in the shade 

 and packed in shallow tins with powdered charcoal slightly damp. By this method 

 they commence to germinate in the tins. Care must be taken that the seeds do 

 not touch each other, for if too many are packed together it will cause heating and 

 the loss of the whole. J 



SEED BEDS AND NURSERIES. 



Whether it is better to plant the seeds where the trees are to 

 stand or to sow them in nurseries from which the seedlings are to 

 be subsequently transplanted, is one of the many questions on 

 which opinions differ, though the latter method commands a large 

 majority of preferences. Of 26 plantations from which reports 

 have recently been published by the India Rubber World, only 3 

 plant " at the stake" exclusively. 



At La Zacualpa Mr. Harrison has tried planting in the permanent 

 location, but finds that the very young seedlings are liable to be 

 destroyed by insects and that they do not grow as well in partial 

 shade as in the full sun. But instead of leaving the plants in the 

 nursery for a year, transplanting begins when they are six weeks 

 old, or when the plants are from 10 to 12 inches high, and con- 

 tinues to near the end of the rain, no nurseries being carried over 

 the dry season. These are considerable deviations from the 



* Ur. Paul Pi-euss, E.xpedition niicli rentral-inul >Su(l-Amerika, lilOl, ]k ?)83. 

 t Agri. Bui., Straits Settlements, 1 : r>S\l Dec, 11)02. 



X Letter from Jlr. W- S. Todd, Anihersf, Lower Burma, to Mr. Edgar Brown, in cliar>;e 

 of Sei d Investigation, U. S. Department of Agricult tire- 



