planting of Castilloa in Porto Rico and the Phillippines becomes ad- 

 visable, but extensive planting in untried conditions is hazardous. 



No satisfactory implement for the tapping of Castilloa trees has 

 come into use. Boring and suction devices are excluded by the fact 

 that the milk is contained in fine vertical tubes in the bark, which 

 must be cut to permit the milk to escape. 



In British India it has been ascertained that the Para rubber tr-^e 

 may be repeatedly tapped on several successive or alternate days by 

 renewing the wounds at the edges. The yield of milk increases for 

 several tappings and the total is unexpectedly large. It is not yet 

 known whether multiple tapping is practicable with Castilloa, or 

 whether this new plan may not give the Para rubber tree a distinct 

 cultural advantage over Castilloa. 



The gathering of rubber from trees less than eight years old is not 

 likely to be advantageous; the expense of collecting will be relatively 

 large, and the quality of such rubber is inferior, owing to the large 

 percentage of resin. 



The rubber of Castilloa is scarcely inferior to that of Hevea. The 

 supposed inferioriiy is due to substances which can be removed from 

 the milk by heat and by dilution with water. 



CULTIVATION OF POTATOES. 



By W. J. Thompson, Travelling Instructor. 



Soil. — Any soil that will grow yams will grow potatoes, so long as 

 there is no shade 



Before the potatoes are planted the land must be thoroughly forked 

 or dug over to a depth of about 14 inches. If the land is poor then a 

 little green or dry grass manure can be forked into it. 



When the land has been prepared and is in a dried state on the sur- 

 face the potatoes can be planted. The land must be well drained and 

 not too much fresh manure used 



If the " early" kind of p tat o is to be planted, each potato weigh- 

 ing about two ounces, one wh' le potato can be used for each hole. If 

 the larger kind of potato is to be planted, then one potato weighing, 

 say about four ounces, should be cut into three or four pieces, and care 

 should be taken that the cuts are made so that each part will have 

 two or three eyes in it. 



If you select the smaller or early kind of potato for planting, then 

 they should be placed in a shallow tray or box on their ends one 

 against another. This is done to get them to sprout quickly. When 

 they have made sprouts about one inch loig they are fit to plant into 

 the ground. Before planting all the young sprouts must be rubbed 

 off, except the two strongest ; even one strong one is enough to leave, 

 but it is better to leava two in case one should get rubbed off. Atten- 

 tion to this part of the work is most important, and if not att- nded to 

 you will get too many growths. If it is the larger kind being used 

 for planting you can put the cut pieces into the ground as soon as the 

 parts are dried. 



The seed potato can either be planted on L vel ground in small 

 trenches, but on no account must they be planted on ridges or hills as 

 we plant sweet potato. 



