JAMAICA. 



BULTjETIN 



LIBR 

 NEW ^ 

 OF THK BOTAr 



OARDtiN. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 



Vol. IV. NOVEMBEK, 1906. Part 11. 



NOTES ON RUBBER PRODUCING PLANTS. 



Compiled by W. HARRIS, F.L.S., Superintendent of Hope Gardens. 



At the request of the Board of Agriculture the following in- 

 formation on rubber producing plants, much of which has already 

 appeared in various issues of the Bulletin, has been brought to- 

 gether in pamphlet form for the use of intending rubber planters 

 in Jamaica. 



Rather copious quotations have been made from Mr. Herbert 

 Wright's valuable book on Para Rubber,* this being the most 

 recent work on the subject, a copy of which should be in the 

 possession of every grower of Para rubber. 



It is impossible to say precisely at this stage of the industry 

 which kind of rubber tree will be found best suited in every 

 respect to the conditions that obtain here, but the indications 

 would appear to be in favour of Castilloa. Personally I am in- 

 clined to think that the Lagos Silk Rubber (Funtumia elastica) 

 will prove to be one of the best if not actually the best for many 

 of our districts. The young trees at Hope Gardens abound in 

 latex which flows freely and we know that the marketable rubber 

 is of very fine quality, and said to be superior to Castilloa. 



PARA RUBBER. 

 (Hevea hrasiliensis). 

 CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 



What is known as Para Rubber of commerce is obtained chiefly, 

 if not entirely, from the species known as Hevea hrasiliensis, a tree 

 indigenous to the vast region drained by the Amazon and its 

 tributaries, estimated to embrace a territory nearly two-thirds the 

 size of Europe. Para is in about south latitutde l°, but the 

 district of the same name extends over a vast forest region to the 

 south and west throughout which, and the enormous forests of 



*" Bevea hrasiliensis or Para Riihher, its Bohmij, Oultiudtioa, C'hemistnj and Diseases," 

 By Herbert Wright. "Jad edition Colombo, A. M. & J. Ferguson. 



