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\nother very extensive rubber district is situated along the 

 Grijalva river, and the Usumacinta river system constitutes a 

 district covering a large area. Lastly on the Pacific slope of 

 Chiapas, between the towns of Pijijiapan and Tapachula, we have 

 the Zacualpa district, very limited in area. 



Some eighteen years ago Pelaez, then owner of La Zacualpa, in 

 Soconusco, planted rubber as shade for cocoa, and of these trees 

 a number are still left and are being tapped every year. In 1899 

 Mr. O. H. HARRISON, a coffee planter, bought Zacualpa and 

 immediately commenced planting rubber. The plantation which 

 was later transferred to La Zacualpa Rubber Plantation Company, 

 of San Francisco,California, is now probably the largest individual 

 rubber plantation in the world and will when ultimately completed 

 consist of 12,000 acres under rubber. The variety grown is Castillo, 

 lactiflua Cook. In 1905 the first tapping from young trees was 

 done, some 25,000 trees, between five and six years old, being 

 lightly tapped. Six other rubber plantations have been started 

 of late years in this district, two of which, Juilapa and Zacualpa 

 II, are also under the general direction of Mr. HARRISON. These 

 three sister plantations have now over 8,000 acres under rubber 

 varying in age from 6 months to 6i years. 



In order to show how rubber planting is done in Mexico, and 

 how we expect to handle the plantations and the crop of latex and 

 rubber, I will describe somewhat in detail the conditions on 

 La Zacualpa, and the methods which the management at my 

 suggestion intend to adopt for the future. 



LA ZACUALPA RUBBER PLANTATION. 



The estate which consists of 18,791 acres of land is situated on 

 the coastal plains between the Sierra Madre and the Pacific Ocean, 

 about twelve miles from the lacter. The land slopes very gently 

 towards the ocean, and the highest spot of the rubber plantation 

 is about 50 feet above sea level. Two small rivers flow on the 

 outskirt of the estate, which is intersected by several creeks. Part 

 of the land is swampy, and is not planted in rubber. 



The plantation is laid out in square blocks, each containing 2j\ 

 acres. There are now over 200 blocks planted. Between the 

 blocks are roads 24 feet wide. The trees are planted 400 to the 

 acre (say 10 x 12 feet) and admitting some failures, each block 

 should contain 10,000 trees. On account of the lay of the land 

 the planted blocks are in two tracts, one about twice the size of 

 the other. All roads going lengthwise in the tract are called 

 avenues and all cross roads streets. The longest avenue is nearly 

 six miles through the planted rubber forest. 



The soil is an alluvial deposit of dark colour, of uniform grain 

 size, without any interrupting strata of different physical texture. 

 In the places where borings have been made to ascertain the depth 

 of the soil it has varied from 18 to 22 feet. Because of the 

 physical character of the soil the rise of water from below by 

 capillarity is continuous and even in the dry season, which lasts 

 six months, the trees do not suffer from lack of water. The root' 

 system of Castilla on this soil is superficial. In other districts 



