234 



been attacked by blight, but in the larger number of cases where 

 this has occurred, the young trees have succeeded in throwing it 

 off, without spraying being resorted to, or, where the tops have 

 died back, have sent out flourishing suckers. 



SHADE FOR CASTILLOA. 



In good soil and in moist situations, no shade at all is required 

 for the young tree, but otherwise it does want a certain amount of 

 shade for the first two or three years after planting. Too dense a 

 shade, however/ is not beneficial to it, and plants set out in the 

 forest make very slow progress, and develop into spindly trees. 



Where three to six-years-old trees are shaded by Bois Immortel 

 or other large trees, as might be expected, they increase rapidly 

 in height, but where they are planted fairly close, or where the 

 stem only is shaded by bananas, etc., the tree thickens out as it 

 grows. 



SIZE OF TREES 



There are about 90,000 Castilloa trees in the island. The oldest 

 are those on the Richmond estate, where 1 00 to 150 were 

 planted thirteen to fourteen years ago. The largest of these now 

 measures 6 feet in circumference at 3 feet from the ground. Some 

 measurements were taken in December, 1 898, when the trees were 

 eight years old, the largest being 5 feet in girth at 3 feet from the 

 ground. Others measured 3 feet 9 inches, 3 feet 5 inches, 3 feet 

 I inch. 



YOUNG CASTILLOAS. 



Mr. Orde, who is managing the West India Rubber Syndicate, 

 has kindly furnished the following information on young 

 Castilloa : — 



The Castilloas on Louis d'Or estate are still young. Planting 

 was begun in the autumn of 1898, and the oldest trees are six years 

 or thereabouts. 



The larger number of the trees have been planted to stand 

 finally at a distance of 1 7 feet. Some fields are planted at 8| 

 feet by Sh feet, others at 8i feet by 17 feet, in the hope that a 

 yield might be obtained from the cultivation while young, by 

 tapping the intermediate trees before they grew large enough to 

 necessitate being cut out. 



It has been found that a well-grown field, planted at 8| feet by 

 8| feet, cannot stand longer than about five years without being 

 thinned out, as at that age the branches begin to interfere with 

 each other, and the tree tends to become thin and spindly. 



Experiments were made in tapping some of these young trees, 

 averaging five to six years old, in 1904. Large numbers of them 

 were tapped as severely as possible with chisel and mallet. The 

 latex was in some cases taken wet and washed before coagulation, 

 and in others it was allowed to dry on the tree, and picked off 

 afterwards as scrap. 



The yield obtained was very small, averaging i oz. per tree, 

 though individual trees gave more. In one case, 160 of the best 

 grown trees were tapped, the rubber being taken wet, and the 



