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1 have seen numerous instances where a tree had no flowers 

 one year but developed a profusion of both staminate and pistillate 

 flowers the next year. I have also noticed cases where a tree 

 had an abundance of fruit one year and none the following. 

 Whether there is any regularity in this development of flowers 

 and fruits I am not in a position to say at present. 



The idea that a sterile tree, or at least a tree not carrying fruit 

 produces less latex than a fruiting one is erroneous. I have 

 noticed instances of trees with plenty of fruit giving little or no 

 latex, and again of non-fruiting trees with an abundance of latex. 

 It seems though as if a tree generally yielded more latex while in 

 fruit than during any other time of the year. 



The staminate flowers consist of imbricated scaly flat pods, 

 which open along the edge like a clam shell, with clusters of 

 yellowish stamens on the inner side. These pods or heads are up 

 to one inch long, as a rule, but another kind of smaller staminate 

 flowers are found immediately below a cluster of pistillate flowers. 

 The stamens in these semi-spherical heads often have pollen 

 grains which are shrivelled up and apparently sterile. 



The female flowers have numerous ovaries on a common disc- 

 like receptacle or cup, covered with scales larger than those of 

 the staminate flowers. Each pistil carries two straight, scarred, 

 two-parted styles. 



The fruit is first green, and when ripening gradually turns 

 a deep red, finally fading into an orange colour. From eight to 

 thirty fruits mature in each cluster, and a much larger number 

 never develop but remain in the form of larger or smaller scales. 

 At the apex of every fruit is a small hollow in which the dried up 

 remnants of the style can )e seen. 



THE BEST TYPE OF A CASTILLA TREE. 

 We have yet to ascertain the cause of the difference in yield of 

 individual trees, or at least, we must find out what trees are the 

 best producers and the most rapid growers, before we can enter 

 upon the problem of determining or developing the best type for a 

 rubber tree. On general principles we should require a tall 

 straight trunk, with a dense crown at the top of the tree. But the 

 natives hold that a tree which is not too tall and which has a 

 tapering trunk, gives a larger yield and better rubber than a taller 

 tree of the same age and with the same girth at the base. I have 

 been able to verify this by actual experience, but I cannot give 

 any explanatioa of this fact. 



The object is to develop a-trunk with as large an area as pos- 

 sible for tapping. Branches seldom attain a tapable size and a 

 rubber stand with clean stems without intertwining branches or 

 underbrush, is easier to work in than in a tangled mass of trees 

 growing without order and care. 



We have many instances of large trees with tapable branches, 

 or trees which have branched from the base, being regularly 

 tapped and producing a quantity of latex. It may seem an 

 advantage to have several steins to tap instead of only one, where 

 a single shoot or a single trunk has developed, but there can be 



