298 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June i, 1903. 



" LA FLORENCIA. 



. \K< .1 i [■ I I I \ VI I I) RUBBER. 



deadly in the north, and listening to home music from a well 

 equipped phonograph. 



We retired about 1 1, and had hardly got a good grip on our 

 beauty sleep when a stir outside showed that something was do- 

 ing. Not to miss anything, I went out upon the 



a LIBOR broad veranda, and found the young men saddling 

 problem. , . , .-■.,/ 



their horses, and equipping themselves fora moon- 

 light nde. Seeing me expectant, they informed me that nine 

 of the Tennessee negroes had skipped, doubtless to join some 

 railroad gang, and for a short time get higher wages. As the 

 company had paid their fare from the States to the plantation, 

 and as the moral effect on the others would be bad if they were 

 not brought back, it behooved those in charge to stop them 

 before they reached the railroad. And they certainly went 

 about the matter as if they meant business. It was a thrilling 

 sight to see them assembling, and I forgot that I was pajama 

 clad and barefooted, and stood in the moonlight watching, un- 

 til they finally cantered off down through the valley and over 

 the hills, and were lost to sight in the black wall of forest, into 

 which the road ran. To finish this incident I may add that 

 they overtook all of the runaways, and brought them back, 

 and they went to work again just as if nothing had happened. 



The next morning after inspecting the rubber, and getting 

 samples of earth for analysis, we took the road home, where we 

 arrived safe, sound and happy, except for the rodadors and pin- 

 oleos. Of these I shall have more to say at another time. 



Plant life in Mexico seems to be exceptionally free from 



pests of all sorts. I did, in the course of my trip, see three 



caterpillar nests, but not in the Tierra Caliente. 



absence of j igo^ed anc t inquired particularly forany enemv 



PLANT PESTS- .,, L x t a 



of the 1 asttlloa, but found trace of none, and 

 heard only of an ant that attacks the tree where it has been 

 wounded at times, but that only rarely. Of the few trees thus 

 attacked, nearly all had thrown out woody excrescences that 

 were not only protecting the inner tissues, but seemed actually 

 to be crowding the devourers out. So rare is it that a tree is 

 thus attacked that the planters take no precaution against it. 

 Speaking of ants, these busy workers are in evidence nearly 

 everywhere, and when the " marching ants " come in force, 

 everything that can. gets out of the way. The householders 

 welcome these visits, as the ant army goes through every crack 

 and cranny in the house, killing mice, spiders, and insects of 

 all sorts; in fact, making a clean sweep. When they call in 

 the middle of the night, and announce their arrival by mount- 

 ing one's bed, and by the most vicious of bites, it is a bit sud- 

 den, but all one has to do is to get out of the way until their 

 work is done, when they depart with the curious rustling noise 

 with which they came. Some of these armies march great dis- 

 tances, and have huge nests as much as 50 feet in diameter. 



The rubber tree is not singular in being free from pests — 

 nearly all others seem to be equally so. It was a rare thing to 

 see a leaf or a petal that had been blighted or eaten by any 

 sort of insect. The reasons for this remarkable immunity 

 from the usual pests are not far to seek. They will, I think, be 

 found in the great abundance of birds, and no doubt in the 

 wonderful equilibrium that nature has there established be- 

 tween the insects that are destructive to plant life, and the 

 other insects that prey upon them. It is to be hoped that this 

 balance may long be preserved. As a matter of caution, it 

 might be well to state that the hunter who slaughters birds for 

 their plumes will not find a cordial welcome among the Mexi- 

 can planters. 



In the dry season, which of course was when my visit was 

 made, there are but few butterflies and moths, but in the rainy 

 season they are most abundant. Of these my host had a col- 

 lection which gave one a wonderful insight into the winged 

 beauties of that section. 



N11 if.. — The illustrations accompanying these letters do not always 

 relate to the plantations described, because photographs were not ob- 

 tainable from all the places visited. In such cases views are shown of 

 neighboring and more or less similar plantations. 



LA FLORENCIA. 



TAI'PINl. lari;e WILD RUBBER TREE. 



