July 



[ 9°3] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



331 



RUBBER PLANTING ON THE ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC. 



h Seen by the Editor of The India Rubber World." 



THIRD I ETTER. 



Clearing and Burning by Contract. — Danger from Fires.— Gath- 

 ering Castilloa Seed. — Testing Seed. — Costly Seed Failures. — 

 Track Walking under Difficulties. — The " Boston Kubber Tree " 

 — Morning Glory Vines. — Arrival at Santa Lucretia. — A Con- 

 densed Milk Lesson. — Coatzacoalcos. — Sleeping in the " Bird 

 Cage." — Up the Usapinapa and Chichigapa Rivers. — Plantation 

 " Kubio." — A Fine "Bodega." — On Horseback Through Miles 

 of Rubber.— The Tapping Problem. 



THE planters in the Trinidad river district were so well 

 informed, and so ready to impart their knowledge to 

 one interested, that I fell as we journeyed back to 

 " La Ventura " that I was getting a pretty good grasp 

 on the rubber planting situation. I had learned, too, specifi- 

 cally, what clear- 

 ing, burning, 

 planting, lining, 

 staking, and 

 cleaning involv- 

 ed. Indeed, as 

 luck would have 

 it, I ran across 

 some of the men 

 who take the 

 contracts for 

 clearing at va- 

 ious timesduring 

 my journey. In 

 certain cases, the 

 planters clear 

 their own land. 

 They prefer, 

 however, to let it 

 out by contract 

 as it costs less, 

 and is one less 

 burden for them 

 to bear. In Vera 

 Cruz clearing is 

 usually done be- 

 tween the middle 

 of February and 

 the last of April. 

 The contractor 

 brings a large 

 force of men who fell everything, the axemen handling the big 

 trees, and the many machete men lopping branches, cutting 

 vines, and arranging all for a good burn. If the work is well 

 done, and at the right time, the mass of fallen litter gets at 

 least a month of hot dry weather, which dries out the fallen 

 timber almost beyond belief, and gives weeds and climbers no 

 chance to spring up. This part of the work is very important, 

 because if a poor burn takes place, it involves the cutting and 

 piling up of half burned tree trunks, and a second burning, 

 which is costly. It is figured that in this work twenty-five 

 men will clear about half an acre a day. 



During the burning the planters are always on the watch to 

 keep the fire from spreading, not into the virgin forest, but 

 into adjacent plantings. The danger from fires carried by sub- 

 terranean roots which may smoulder for days, and then burst 



INTERIOR CAMP NO 4, ON PLANTATK 



into Ihme, is no slight one. Indeed, several cases have oc- 

 curred where the fire has spread into cleared land, and de- 

 stroyed many hundreds of valuaole rubber trees. To cite one 

 case in point, it might be well to recall the loss of the Varney 

 Rubber Ct.. who hid a plantation on the Tehuantepec railway 

 and who lost 250 acres of two year old trees by fire in the dry 

 season, said to have been started by sparks from a locomotive. 

 After the burn is finished the ground is full of roots, is open 

 and spongy, and in just the right condition for the reception 

 of seed. If this seed is pat in so as to catch the early rain, it 

 gets a good start before the torrential rains come, when the 

 soil is pounded down hard. This is the reason that seed plant- 

 ing the second vear is not apt to prosper, and why it'is better 



then to trans- 

 plant from a well 

 equipped nurs- 

 ery. The earliest 

 bloom of the 

 Castilloa appears 

 about the first of 

 March, the seed 

 ripening within 

 sixty days, and is 

 usually all gone 

 tlrrty days later. 

 The seeds are 

 usually gathered 

 as soon as ripe, 

 and it is often a 

 race between the 

 planters and par- 

 rots to see which 

 will get the most, 

 as the latter are 

 very f on d o f 

 them. The seed 

 is secured by 

 knocking the 

 cones off the 

 branches of the 

 trees with long 

 poles. The cones 

 are then put in 

 water, and allow- 

 ed to stand over night, when the gluten surrounding the seed 

 slightly ferments. The mass is then placed in a sieve, and the 

 pulp easily washed away. Then after a final washing, the float- 

 ers or unvitalized seeds are skimmed off, and the residue are 

 dried on mats in the shade. As the vitality of the Castilloa 

 seed is very slight, it is necessary to plant within a week or 

 two at the longest. It might be well to note here that Mr. 

 Harvey kept some seeds alive by packing in charcoal, and that 

 they germinated when planted several months later, but no 

 one but a trained horticulturist would be likely to be suc- 

 cessful with such an experiment. With regard to the planting 

 of the seed, it is well to remember that the first rains are 

 often times followed by a week or two of dry weather. It is 

 therefore best to wait until at least four inches of rain have 

 fallen, that is, when planting in heavy soil, and to have a re- 



