March i, iS86,] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURlSf. 



66^ 



lUy is simply ilried lu the sun, or salteil and preserved 

 ill well-shaded spots. 



The last few days before the cantchouc harvest 

 actually begius are spent assiduously in increasing the 

 stock of shells and clay vessels necessary for collecting 

 the juice, in gathering a store of tenacious clay for 

 attaching these receiving vessels to the tapped trees, 

 and also in laying in a supply of a certain kind of 

 paini-uuts, which, as we shall see, play an iinportEnt 

 part in the preparation of the milky juice of the 

 Heiea Urasiiiensis into the Indiarubber of commerce. 



The tree, which is the object of so determined au 

 attack from September till January or February, cannot, 

 indeed, be spoken of as at all remarkable in appear- 

 ance in the giant forests of the Amazon, but it is 

 cej-taiuly an imposing tree, often towering to a height 

 of sLtty or eighty feet ; its round, straight, pale-grey 

 trunk is devoid of branches till far up, as is the 

 habit of all forest trees ; the trunk has a circumference 

 of two or three yards, and bears a stately but not 

 widely spreading crown. The foliage is beautiful, the 

 long thin leaves growing in clusters of three, the 

 central one being more than a foot long. The fruit 

 is of about the size of a large peach, and is divided 

 inU) three lobes, e.ich of which contains a small black 

 nut, not only edible, but eagerly .sought by the wild 

 aniuials of the forest. In fine, the bark and foliage 

 of the Para rubber tree have a strong resemblance to 

 those of our own ash. 



lu the early morning, Ixjtween the hours of five and 

 six, the mestizo, in his light cotton vest and pantaloons, 

 sets out from the rude hut, bearing with him a small 

 a\e, the edge of which is about an inch long. With 

 this he makes twenty incisions or so into the bark of 

 every third seringa at a convenient height, and with 

 a little soft clay sticks one of his small shallow earthen 

 cups just beneath the incision, to receive the milky 

 sap that now oozes out drop by drop. In a few hours 

 he has thus tapped thirty or forty trees, with the 

 assistance of his wife au<l childem. 



It is now time that he should make a second round, 

 in order to collect the juice; for, although the tiny 

 cups are not yet filled, the wounds are already closed 

 up with dried juice, and the sap itself now requires 

 to be looked after if it is to be a good marketable 

 article. Instead of the hatchet, the seringueiro this 

 time takes with him a small wooden bucket, into 

 which his wife and childien empty the contents of 

 the cups, each of th<,-se holding, perhaps, half a gill 

 of juice. The emulsion, while still fresh, has an agree- 

 able taste, not unlike that of sweetened cream. The 

 skui of sap that has attached itself to the bark under 

 tht| incisions, or to the edge of the cups, is also 

 stripped off and stuck on the outside of the bucket. 

 The husband clears the wound and slicks on another 

 cup for the second crop of the daj. The sap that 

 has been obtained is immediately conveyed to the 

 hut anil subjected to the following important process. 



A fire of brushwood is kindled, and on this a 

 narrow funnel-shaped pot of clay is placed, in or 

 uuderneath which the palm-nuts already referred to 

 are heated. The seringueiro, with the bucket of juice 

 hy his side, scats himself before the fire, dips a club- 

 shaped piece of wood with a tiattened clay mould at 

 one end into the milk, and turns the juicy end 

 round aud round in the white vapour issuing from 

 the pot. In half a minute the milk is changed into 

 a skin of a reddish tint. M'hen this is tiriu thebtick 

 is again dipped into the milk ; iind so the process 

 goe.i ou, layer being added to layer, until a sufficient 

 thickne.«» has been obtained. Another stick is then 

 taken up, and the work goes on until the juice has 

 been exhauste<I. The benefit of the nut smoke is 

 alleged to consist in its absorption of the o.xidised 

 resin of the juice, and it is the smallne.ss of the 

 quantity of this resinous body iu I'ara rubber that 

 gives it the highest value in the market of the world. 

 A good hand will make five or six pounds in an hour. 

 ■When the cakes are coin[)letpd they are slit up with 

 a sharp, wetted knife, and after being hung in the 

 open air to dry for a few days, they are ready for 

 eslc. XliB flat, rounded I'ara rubber cakes, made in 



the way we have described, are known in London as 

 " biscuits," and command a higher price than any 

 other kiud of caoutchouc. 



On the same day the trees are exhausted ODOe 

 more, and even twice, if they are rich in milk — a 

 quality that reaches its maximum when they are 

 about twenty-five years old. On the second day the 

 second portion of the tree is attacked and dealt with ; 

 the tbiril portion on the third day ; and on the fourth 

 the first portion may again be tapped with impunity. 



How does the gatherer secure the sale of his 

 caoutchouc ? Boats ply up the rivers and creeks 

 during the sea.son with wine, trinkets of all sorts, 

 and an endless variety of wares, and the rubber is 

 exchanged for these articles. The chief delight of 

 the half-savage Indian is in procuring fireworks, and 

 days of toil are saeriticed for one evening of festive 

 illumination. — (Abridged from The H'elcomc .)—Indm- 

 rublnr and Guttapevcha Journal. 



GARDEN ENEMIES. 

 Probably there is no country in the world ia 

 which the gardener has more difficulties to contend 

 with iu the way of insects and other vermiu than 

 in India. A\'e have not only almost every pest 

 that our brethern in Europe have to contend with, 

 but * host of others that are even far more dangerous; 

 I and not only this, but we are further handicapped 

 by the fact that those species which aro most 

 dreaded by English gardeners, such as Thrips, Mealy 

 Bug, Red Spider, Aphis and Scale, which with them 

 are only developed at a high artificial temperature, 

 aud couse([uently confine their depredations to plants 

 grown unider glass, where insects may always to a 

 considerable extent be kept under control by fumig- 

 ating, syringing, sponging, and the many other 

 means employed for the purpose, in this country all 

 these pests attack plants growing iu the open air, where 

 they are far more difficult to contend with, and which, 

 if at all neglected, frequently get the upper hand and 

 defy all ettorts to exterminate them. An instance of 

 this is given in our correspondence columns of April 

 28th, where the writer states that his entire collection 

 of L'rutoiis had been most severely damaged through 

 some cause to him unknown. AVc have since had 

 an opportunity of seeing the plants iu ijuestion, and 

 found them fearfully infected with black thrips, cert- 

 ainly one of the worst insects with which we have 

 to contend. Had our correspondent, however, taken 

 proper measures as soon as this pest made its ap- 

 pearance, they could have been easily checked, but 

 having once obtained a good foot-hohl, they would not 

 disappear till their work of destruction was complete. 

 But have they really disappeared at all ? we are in- 

 clined to believe this is hardly possible ; in all pro- 

 bability millions of eggs or lar\;u are hidden in the 

 soil or secreted on whatever leaves may he loft, and 

 will break forth again as soon as their incubation is 

 complete. Vta have such a wholesome dread of this 

 unpleasant visitor that, were our correspondent to 

 offer us a present of his whole collection in its present 

 state, we should hesitate to accept it, unless we were 

 able to place the plants under quarantine for a month 

 or two. Some writers maintain that insects are in 

 every instance the eflects of disease and not the cause, 

 and although wt; cannot accept this as an invariable 

 rule, still there is undoubtedly much truth in the 

 assertion. One of the surest means of keeping plants 

 clear of the ravages of insects is to maintain them 

 in a vigorous state of health, for it is always found 

 that it is the weak sickly plants that are first affected 

 when insects of any kiud make their appearance. As 

 au illustration of the fact that insects follow disease 

 and do not precede it, we may mention the general 

 idea that prevails in this country regarding the rav- 

 ages of the white ant on vegetation. We continually 

 hear complaints, especially from residents in Mofussil 

 districts, that Hoses and other plants have succumbed 

 to the attacks ,)f this in.sect. But is this really the 

 casey We believe not; in every instance that has 

 come under our uotico wo have invariably found that 



