8 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October 1, 1913. 



fullness, till) upon th-e whole it is doubtful if the growth is 

 quite as rapid as in equatorial regions lacking a well marked 

 dry season; and upon this point it may not be doubted that 

 there are compensations, as during a fairly well marked dry 



Jlcz'Ca Tkee in Garden at El Palmer. 



season many forms of mycelium and various bacteria! germs 

 are destroyed or reduced to a minimum, while bark formation 

 is relatively solidified and wounds heal with less liability to 

 rot, thus reducing the risk of insect or other attack upon the 

 cortex. 



Tapping was commenced upon the few trees of sufficient 

 size — varying in circumferential measurement from 19 to 26 

 inches at 2yi feet above ground — the early part of April of 

 this current year, and I am sending you samples of the rubber 

 — I believe the first Hci-ea rubber produced in Mexico. 



Single half spiral excisions embracing one-half of the cir- 

 cumference of the trees have been worked, daily parings from 

 the lower wall of the excisions having been made, on the 

 basis of thirty parings to the inch of bark removed. It must 

 be admitted that this degree of expertness was not attained 

 until some little practice was had. The now well-known 

 phenomenon of wound response, commencing with an in- 

 appreciable quantity of thick latex for the first three or four 

 parings and followed by thinner free running latex, was just 

 as well marked and apparently as certain as elsewhere. The 

 yield of dry rubber samples, made daily and taken from trees 

 of dimensions already referred to, varied from eight to twelve 

 grammes from the single half spiral. This plan is being 

 changed to three oblique excisions on the half herring bone 

 system, the cuts ten inches apart— the object of the writer 

 being to try the various systems not altogether condemned 

 by the most advanced authorities on the subject. 



Up to now no vegetable disease has been observed as af- 

 fecting Hcvca. Leaf cutting ants will eat the foliage, but 

 their nests are easily destroyed with one or two applications 

 of bi-sulphide of carbon, this pest having been dealt with pre- 

 viously in plantings of cacaco by the aid of the same remedy 

 and with complete effectiveness. 



We have, however, one animal pest that cannot be blinked 

 at, and an initial capital charge should be considered as 

 inevitable in any contemplated laying down of Hcvca in 

 Spanish America — at least as far south as the Isthmus of 

 Panama, to which point the writer has observed its existence. 

 I refer to the pocket gopher, or, as known here, the "Tusa" 

 or "Taltusa," a rat-like rodent which burrows in the ground 

 and eats with avidity the roots of Hevea, cacao and other 

 plants, especially those containing starch, such as the banana. 

 This pest, however, may be disposed of effectively by trap- 

 ping, digging out, or poisoning; and the best time for its 

 almost entire destruction is immediately after the felled first 

 growth has been burned, while the surface is as clean as 

 may be and all evidences of burrowings visible. Such mounds 

 or burrowings should be marked with stakes and the pests 

 exterminated, no pains being spared to accomplish this; after 

 which, with a little care, any further inroads from adjacent 

 wild land can be dealt with. This pest is well known in the 

 orange groves of California and Florida and the pecan nut 

 orchards of the southern United States. In some districts 

 of tropical Mexico and south it is almost unknown; in other 

 localities, more or less common. It is a good plan to have 

 a clean strip some twenty feet in width constantly maintained 

 so that any incursions from adjoining wild or infected lands 

 can be at once detected, or before any damage be done, and 

 tlius the plantings may be kept free. 



To what extent tropical Mexico or other district in nearby 

 Central -\merica may yet figure in the production of Para 

 rubber is difficult to say, but there can be no doubt in the 

 opinion of the w-riter that considerable areas in these coun- 

 tries are but awaiting selection and the use of sufficient capi- 

 tal to transform them to profitable undertakings. Undoubt- 

 edly much care in the selection of land, available labor supply, 



Hcvca Trees at Buena Ventura. 



etc.. will be necessary. It is evident, however, that the tree 

 is far less capricious or exigent in its soil requirements than 

 Castilloa, given the requisite temperatures and rainfall. And 

 at this point it is opportune to give a condensed table of 



