164 



THE STATUS OF CASTILLOA* RUBBER CULTURE. 



Many current discussions turn upon the question whether rubber 

 culture is still in the experimental stage. This is the most frequt-nt 

 objection of those who lack confidence in rubber culture, and naturally 

 arouses a strong protest from those who insist that rubber planting is 

 the safest and most remunerative branch of agriculture. 



It is true that rubber culture is no longer a new idea, since it was 

 considered by the Government of British India as early as 1872, and 

 Castilloa was introduced into India in 1876. The Hon. Matias Romero, 

 formerly minister from Mexico to the United ."States, also began to 

 write on the subject of rubber culture in 1872. But the success of 

 rubber culture can scarcely be demonstrated from the experiments of 

 twenty or thirty years ago, since the results of few, if anv, of these 

 appeared sufficiently promising to justify their continuation. The 

 plantation of Senor Romero was located in the Soconusco district of 

 the State of Chiapas, in southern Mexico, and was early abandoned. 

 The email plot of trees visited by the writer at La Zacualpa, some 60 

 miles northwest from Tapachula, was probably planted as a result of 

 the interest aroused by Seiior Romero in this vicinity. The trees at 

 La Zacualpa were set, however, as shade for cacao, and not as an inde- 

 pendent culture. This was not the only experiment with rubber plant- 

 ing in the same region, but it seems to have been the only one which 

 resulted favourable enough to call for the further investment of capital 

 jn the commercial production of rubber. 



Theie have been, and still are, three general opinions regarding rub- 

 ber culture. The fcirst is that rubber can be produced at profit wherever 

 the trees will grow. The very frequent failure to secure rubber in pay- 

 ing quantities from planted trees gave rise to the second opinion that 

 rubber could not be produced in cultivation. But these ideas are be- 

 ginning to give place to the third and more rational view that rubber, 

 like other agricultural crops, can be produced profitably only under 

 favourable conditions, or, in other words, rubber culture may be said to 

 have reached the stage when it can no longer be indiscriminately advo- 

 cated nor indiscriminately condemned. If no other evidence were ob- 

 tainable, the planted trees visited in Soconusco would prove that rubber 

 can be produced in cultivation, and the investment of millions of dollars 

 in Castilloa culture in tropical Mexico and Central America may be taken 

 as evidence that many are convinced that such production will be pro- 

 fitable. It is most unfortunate, however, that so many of those who 

 have been attracted by the recent revival of interest in the subject have 

 accepted the first view rather than the third, and have thus needlessly 

 jeopardized their capital by attempting to grow rubber under conditions 

 which the older experiments have shown to be more or less unfavourable. 



When it is claimed that rubber culture has passed the experimental 

 stage, this should be taken to mean that the agricultural production of 

 rubber has been demonstrated as possible. But from the agricultural 

 standpoint it is even more true that rubber culture has only entered the 

 experimental stage, since very little is known regarding conditions, 

 methods, and results. 



* Prof. Cook prefers the spelling Castilla. 



