296 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June 



'9°3- 



LA FLORENCIA COFFEE AMONG RUBBER TREES THREE TO FIVE YEARS OLD. 



ing. Our next journey was to " La Junta," the 



glad to accompa ly Mr. Adams on a tour of inspection. Here 

 were some 250 acres planted to rubber, the oldest being four 

 years, the total number of trees being about 150,000. 



The land was very similar to that at " La Ventura " and the 

 growth about the same, although in a part of the plantation 

 the trees seemed to be a little taller. Latex flowed from them 

 all abundantly and my guide said that he had never found one 

 that did not show plenty of milk. In discussing this question 

 Mr. Adams told of an Austrian scientist who had been in that 

 region and who claimed that there were three native Castilloa 

 species, only one of which was a rubber producer. They all 

 locked alike, so he said, and the difference in them could only 

 be detected by a careful examination of the cellular structure 

 of the leaf. He said further that he uprooted 80 per cent, of 

 his own first year's planting because he did not know this. 

 When he finally did get the right tree big enough to tap it bled 

 si freely that he was obliged to stop the cuts with clay else it 

 would have bled to death. We were able to assure Mr. Adams 

 ttiat this was not credible, to which he agreed. 



One of the officials of " Ixtal," Dr. Butcher, has a very pretty 

 home not far from the plantation headquarters, at which we 

 c tiled on our way back. The Doctor and his wife received us 

 hospitably, and while the others chatted on neighborhood top- 

 ics the head of the house took me out and showed me the skin 

 of a big snake that he had just killed. Now one of the common 

 dreads that the tenderfoot carries with him into the tropics is 

 that of snakes. It would be folly to believe that there is no 

 danger from them, when one considers the impenetrable jun- 

 gles and the conditions that nature has prepared for an ideal 

 reptilean existence. As a matter of fact, however, during the 

 whole of my trip I did not see a single live snake, big or little. 

 I did see the skins of some very sizeable snakes nailed to walls 

 of the planters' houses, such as that which Dr. Butcher showed 

 me, but even they are rare. The planters say that this lack of 

 snakes is due to the fact that the woods are full of wild hogs 

 who consider any kind, poisonous or otherwise, a great delicacy, 

 and that those that escape the hogs are very likely to be caught 

 by the hawks, which are very abundant and always on the 

 watch. There are only two really poisonous snakes there, as 

 1 tr as known ; one is the rabade heuso, which is small, quick 

 and very deadly, and seems to have a special antipathy to 

 mules. The second is called by the natives the " sorda,"and is 

 s >meihing like the diamond rattlesnake but has no rattles. It 

 has poison fangs an inch and a half long, is very slow to move, 

 and quite poisonous. There are also small pythons and some 

 big black racers, both harmless. 



We returned to " La Ventura " late in the afternoon, and 

 after a good night's sleep, were fully prepared for further visit- 



LA JUNTA. 1 



largest plantation in that district. Like all the 



others, the approach was through the forest, by the usual trail 



that meant considerable rough riding, the fording of streams, 



plodding through mud, and climbing over fallen tree trunks. 



By this time I was fairly used to it however, and was enj lying 



it as I never would have believed possible. It was early in 



the afternoon when we emerged from the forest, and struck 



the broad fine road that runs through the plantation. We were 



now on a ridge that gave a fine view, not only of the rolling 



land covered with young rubber trees, but some two miles off 



we also saw the Administration building and workmen's homes 



that mark the center of the planting operations. The estate 



contains some 5000 acres, of which one half is already cleared, 



most of it planted to rubber. The trees are from 7 to 9 feet 



apart, and looked as if they were in prime condition. The 



orchard numbers about 750,000 rubber trees. The oldest of 



these will be two years old next July, and average 2.5 inches 



in diameter, a foot from the ground, and about 7 feet in height. 



For help there are from 200 to 400 men, one half of whom are 



natives. Perhaps here more than anywhere else has been tried 



the experiment of importing labor, and not depending entirely 



upon the native, who is not at all times entirely reliable. 



The average mozo, or agricultural laborer, is however a most 



interesting study. If treated well he is a good workman, and 



that too without any particular reason why he 



,, T should be. In the community in which he lives he 



MOZO." J 



has allotted to him a certain amount of land, which 



if tilled three months in the year very moderately will produce 



enough to keep its owner in what is to him comfort, the year 



round. As a rule, the ntozo is of medium height, strong and 



LA 1 LORENCIA. PLANTATION HOUSE. 



