46 CENTRAL AMERICAN RUBBER TREE. 



described similarly the conditions which he considered typical for 

 Hevea spruceano : 



The water lies in shallow pools between the trees, or is spread in sheets, when 

 deeper, over wide spaces of ground, and the surface soil generally, especially where 

 this tree most abounds, is hardly more firm or dense than mud. It will give an idea 

 of its character when I say that I wore a pair of high-laced-up shooting boots, but 

 with the best care in moving about, and stepping mostly on the more solid soil which 

 is usually found in hillocks around the butts of trees, or on the fallen bits of wood 

 which stretch between them, in spite of my care, I was constantly sinking to their 

 tops and over, so that my socks were covered with mud. I am speaking, as I have 

 said, of the wet season of the year, but even in the dry the ground continues in a 

 very moist condition. The land is usually very densely shaded, and in many places, 

 probably in consequence, produces very little undergrowth. 



I have taken the occasion to describe rather fully the character of the land, as it 

 is important that persons contemplating the cultivation of this species of Hevea 

 should be well informed as to the conditions which prevail in its native haunts.'' 



It is, of course, to be expected that different species of Hevea will 

 be found to prefer different natural conditions, but the above account, 

 while well showing- what even explorers have been expecting to find, 

 has little real bearing in rubber culture in view of the extreme diffi- 

 culty of carrying on agricultural operations in such a country. More- 

 over, the average maximum yield obtainable by the destruction of 

 full-grown trees is placed by Mr. Jenman at 1 pound, which was 

 several times greater than what could be secured by tapping. 



PRODUCTIVENESS OF PARA RUBBER TREES IN DRY SITUATION." 



A Para rubber tree in the Botanic Garden at Penang, on the Malay 

 Peninsula, is noteworthy as having a reliable record of six tappings in 

 five years, with a total of 15 pounds and 1<> ounces of rubber. The 

 tree was set out in 1886, and was about eleven years old before it was 

 tapped. Some of the incidents, as related in the following paragraph, 

 are not without interest: 



No particular attention was paid to these trees at the time more than to the many 

 other economic and ornamental plants that were planted in this garden that year, 

 then in course of foundation, and it so happened that two were planted side by side 

 on poor gravelly soil on sloping ground, which, by the subsequent cutting of a new 

 road alongside them some years later, converted the site on which they are growing 

 into what is virtually a dry hank. When, some ten years after these trees were 

 planted, the questions of the best method of extracting and coagulating rubber, and 

 the probable yield to be expected, commenced to interest the planting community, 

 this tree as being the largest in the garden, was selected for experiments, which have 

 been continued from time to time and the result recorded in the annual reports. 

 There is nothing remarkable about this tree except that, as planters have often 

 remarked, it is remarkably small for its age, but that is not surprising, considering 

 the nature of the soil and the situation in which it is growing, b 



oTimehri, 2:14, 1883. 



b Agricultural Bulletin of the Straits and Federated Malay States, 1:385, August, 

 1902. 



