269 



paratively dry, receiving just about enough water to grow corn, 

 which is abundant for Ceara rubber. The soil is sandy, with an 

 admixture of a little clay, and very deep and level or slightly roll- 

 ing. The Nicaragua Rubber Co.'s plantation is the " San 

 Nicholas," on which are the oldest andiargest trees in this sec- 

 tion. Three-year-old trees on this plantation measure 26 inches 

 in girth 3 feet above the soil, and are more than 30 feet high. 

 Ceara rubber trees yielded latex at two years of age. Twenty-one 

 trees from fourteen to twenty-one months old, with an average age 

 of fourteen months, were tapped, and together gave Ji lb. of dry 

 rubber. A tree fifteen months old gave 3 oz. of rubber. However, 

 it is not intended to tap until the trees are four years old in order 

 not to retard the best development. It is expected that four-year- 

 old trees will produce I lb. of rubber each, and from that time the 

 product will augment rapidly. There are now in the district out- 

 side of native plantings, four American plantations of Manilwt 

 Glaziovii. on which are planted some 200,000 trees, while as many 

 more will be planted in another year. (IVork.'^') 



" III Hawaii — It is considered unlikely that the climate of Hawaii 

 will prove suitable for the Para rubber tree ; for a similar reason, 

 it is doubtful whether the cultivation of Castilloa clastica should 

 be attempted on more than an experimental scale. 



" The Ceara rubber (Manihot Glaziovii), on the other hand, finds 

 the climate of Hawaii quite suitable ; it makes rapid growth in 

 Hawaii, thriving from sea-level up to 2,500 feet. As this tree will 

 stand a moderate tapping at three years, comparatively early 

 returns may be obtained. A company has already planted 

 100.000 seeds of this species, and expects to have half a million 

 growing within another two years." (Agricultural News, 1905, 



P- 393)- 



In the German Colonies — " The German East Africa Plantations 

 Company of Lewa continues to extend its plantations of rubber 

 trees, Manihot Glaziovii, and at the end of 1902 they had reached 

 250,000 in number." [Agricultural News 1905, p. 7). 



Best districts in Jamaica — Considering the character of the 

 country in which the Ceara rubber tree is a native, the most likely 

 districts in the island for its success in yielding rubber are the 

 Liguanea plain, Palisadoes, sea-coast parts of western St. Thomas- 

 in-the-East, southern portions of Clarendon and St. Catherine, 

 districts round Black River, and the country along the sea-coast 

 of St. James and Trelawny. 



Propagation and Planting — " The seed-coat is of remarkable thick- 

 ness and very hard, and the natural process of germination 

 occupies a long period — it is said more than a year. All that is 

 necessary to hasten this, if desired, is to assist the seed-coat in 

 splitting. This is best effected by holding the seed firmly, and 

 rasping off with a file both edges at the radicular end.f It is best 

 not to file off the actual end, as it may thus easily happen that the 



* Krom BwU Deyt. of Agn. Jamaica 1905, p. 269. 

 t This end IB to be reoognized externally by poseessiug at its side aflat two-lobed 

 appendage technically known as the caruncle. 



