58 CENTRAL AMERICAN RUBBER TREE. 



It was learned also that rubber seeds packed in charcoal and shipped 

 from one of the plantations of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the East 

 Indies had arrived in good condition after a journey of forty -five days. 



SEED BEDS AND NURSERIES. 



Whether it is better to plant the seeds where the trees are to stand 

 or to sow them in nurseries from which the seedlings are to be subse- 

 quently transplanted is one of the many questions on which opinions 

 differ, though the latter method commands a large majority of prefer- 

 ences. Of 26 plantations from which reports have recently been 

 published by the India Rubber World, only 3 plant "at the stake" 



exclusively. - 



At La Zacualpa Mr. Harrison has tried planting in the permanent 

 location, but finds that the very young seedlings are liable to be 

 destroyed by insects and that they do not grow as well in partial 

 shade as in the full sun. But instead of leaving the plants in the 

 nursery for a year, transplanting begins when they are six weeks old, 

 or when the plants are from 10 to 12 inches high, and continues to 

 near the end of the rains, no nurseries being carried over the dry 

 season. These are considerable deviations from the methods which 

 have been described in previous publications on rubber culture, most 

 of which advocate the shading of the nurseries and the postponement 

 of transplanting till the seedlings are a year old. It is claimed at 

 La Zacualpa that the small trees suffer less from transplanting and 

 that they are larger at the end of two years than if they had remained 

 in the nursery for a year. 



The seed beds at La Zacualpa are made each year in a new place 

 convenient of access to the tracts which are to be planted. While the 

 nurseries are not shaded overhead, they are generally located in clear- 

 ings in the forest, where they have considerable protection against 

 dry wind. The drying out of the soil would doubtless be fatal to 

 young seedlings, but if the soil and air are sufficiently moist the sun 

 does not harm them. 



The land used for nurseries is cleaned by burning, though this is 

 not the case at La Zacualpa with the plantation proper. When older 

 seedlings are transplanted it is customary, as with coffee, to cut the 

 taproot down to 5 or inches, rather than to plant it bruised or bent. 

 If the soil is loose and fertile the seedlings are set in holes made with a 

 pointed stake; elsewhere it is better to dig holes, as with coffee. Cas- 

 tilla is not a delicate plant, and will endure any reasonable treatment. 

 The worst danger seems to be that with long-continued rain and defi- 

 cient drainage the young plants will rot off, or they may be killed by 

 drought if planted too near the end of the rainy season. For those 

 which have not become sufficiently established before the coming of 

 dry weather artificial shade may be provided. At La Zacualpa one 



