94 



THE WHOLE ART OF RL'RBER-CROWIXG 



It is difficult to explain how Ceylon became 

 possessed of such a disappointing- tree. The 

 original stock, which was introduced into Kew by 

 Cross in 1875 for the Indian Government, was 

 obtained from the neighbourhood of Gatun, where 

 it grows like a weed. It is curious that no plants 

 subsequently distributed from Kew to various places 

 in the tropical colonies are identical w'ith those 

 familiar to Central America, nor do they possess 

 characteristics of the true Castilloa elastica, which 

 Cross might have seen in all its native beauty 

 and glory a few hundred miles away in Nicaragua or 

 in British Honduras. 



Castilloa elastica is one of the Artocarpaceac (natural 

 order Urticaceae) to which the jack tree and bread- 

 fruit tree belong. It is a tap-rooted plant, like the 

 Hevea brasiliensis. It delights in partial shade for 

 the first few years of its life, and revels in a deep, 

 moist cloggy loam, although at the same time it is 

 quite at home in any other soil where it can grow fast 

 and uninterrupted by violent changes in the atmo- 

 sphere. Close planting is strongly recommended in 

 the case of Castilloa, as the tree is intolerant of root 

 exposure and resents the presence of the sun among 

 its tender basal developments. Rapid in its growth, 

 Castilloa will often at four years of age obtain a height 

 of 80 feet and a diameter 3 feet from the ground of 

 8 to 9 inches ! I know of no other tree except the 

 Manihot Glaziovii which can equal the vigour of such 

 a plant. 



The Castilloa differs from any of the other im- 

 portant rubber-producing trees in that its latex does 



