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came out on the railway about seven miles from Colon. I go 

 back to the same place (the village of Gatun) from which place 

 by the river the India rubber forests are reached." 



As to Castillo, in Costa Rica, Mr. T. F. KOSCHNY states :— 



" The safest and most productive rubber plant is the Castilloa 

 elastica of Central America. Its tenacity of life and adaptability to 

 soil and climate are seldom exceeded by other trees ; the same is 

 also true of the quantity and quality of the rubber." 



"It requires a humid, warm climate, and with respect to rainfall 

 less depends upon the amount of precipitation than upon the 

 distribution of it. The shorter the dry season and the more the 

 rain extends over the entire year the better will the locality be 

 adapted for rubber culture ; regions with a long, absolutely dry 

 season are unsuitable for this culture. In the valley of San Carlos, 

 Costa Rica, upon the Atlantic slope, it rains occasionally also in 

 the dry season, and even in the two driest months, March and 

 April. The Pacific slope of Central America has, on the contraryr 

 a completely dry season of four months, and two months at the 

 beginning and end with little rain. Both the wild and the planted 

 rubber trees die there at the third tapping at the latest, in case 

 this takes place in the dry season." 



COLLINS writes in his Report on the Caoutchouc of Commerce, 

 in regard to the occurrence of Castillo in Nicaragua : — 



" The basin of the Rio San Juan is where the Ule tree grows to 

 perfection. This river is the natural vent of the two vast basins 

 of the lakes of Nicaragua and Managua, receiving numerous 

 tributaries, which have all their sources in the innumerable tracts 

 hitherto virgin and unfrequented, where the trees abound. The 

 ground is very fertile. The district is very unhealthy. 



RUBBER PLANTING IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 



Throughout the Central American republics very little has as 

 yet been done towards planting rubber. In most of these countries 

 there is a great unstability of government, and foreign capital is 

 not attracted under such conditions. Labour conditions are also 

 very unsatisfactory on account of the frequent revolutionary move- 

 ments, which sporadically crop up and draw the greater part of 

 the able-bodied men to the ranks either of Government or rebel 

 armies. Transportation also offers a serious drawback, and many 

 prospective planters are deterred from settling because of the 

 reported unhealthfulness of the climate. This latter is not worse 

 than in other tropical countries, and with the advent of the Pan- 

 American railroad, which will connect the south with the north, 

 the country will be opened. In Central America there is plenty 

 of land suitable for rubber planting. A year ago I rode for clays 

 through good rubber country in Guatemala. 



In this latter republic very little planting of rubber has so far 

 been done. In Northern Guatemala there is only one plantation 

 of any account devoted to rubber. In the other Central American 

 States, rubber cultivation has been commenced on a small scale. 

 In Nicaragua there are a number of plantations, especially near 



