RUBBER-YIELDING PLANTS 



Season for 

 Tapping. 



Travancore. 



Com- 

 mercial 

 Rubbers. 



Biscuit. 



Scrap. 



INDIA-RUBBER 



CASTILLO A ELASTIC A 



Central America 



gummy substance destitute of the properties of true rubber. Fifteen 

 months later these self -same trees yielded a better quality of rubber ; 

 hence he concludes that the change from yielding a gummy substance 

 to yielding a true rubber coincides with, or closely follows the period 

 when the species first begins to produce ripe seed. In Travancore much 

 interest has been taken by His Highness's Government in the allocatioi 

 of suitable tracts within the valleys of the State for rubber plantations. 



Commercial Rubbers. The rubbers of commerce are (a) the biscuit 

 and bottle rubbers of South America, such as the Para (the most impor- 

 tant) which comes from Brazil, Venezuela, and recently from Ceylon anc 

 the Straits. (6) Castilloa, such as the Central American rubbers, of whicl 

 there are certain grades : Nicaragua, West Indian, Honduras, Mexicar 

 Guatemala, Panama and Peruvian. These appear in BLOCKS, SHEETS or 

 SCRAPS, (c) The true Ceara is a dry rubber, very elastic, and free from 

 stickiness ; it coagulates in tears forming scrap, (d) Pernambuco and 

 Mangabeira are coagulated with salt and are accordingly " wet " rubbers. 

 (e) Numerous trade forms of African rubber, such as Gambia, Sierra 

 Leone, Lagos, Gold Coast, Congo (ball), Calabar, Cameroon, Batanga, 

 Liberian, etc. (/) Mozambique (ball), Sausage (liver), Madagascar (good 

 and fine, also black), (g) Asiatic, such as Assam, Rangoon, mostly scrap 

 rubbers formed into cakes, slabs or loaves, (ti) Javan, Bornean, New 

 Guinea, etc., rubbers (see Gutta-percha, p. 626). 



[Cf. Thomas Bolas, India-rubber and Gutta-percha Indust. (six lectures), in 

 Journ. Soc. Arts, 1880, 753-813 ; India-rubber and Outta-percha Indust., in Ind. 

 For., 1898, xxiv., 111-9; Rubber, in Queensland Agri. Journ., 1899, v., 410, etc. ; 

 Morris, Sources of Comm. Rubber, Cantor Lect. in Journ. Soc. Arts, July 1898, 

 745-96; Sadebeck, Die Kulturgew. der Deut. Kolon., 1899, 268-81 ; Wiesner, 

 Die Rohst. des Pflanzenr., 1900, i., 356-89; Semler, ,Trop., Agrik., 1900, ii., 

 692-724 ; Nisbet, Burma under Brit. Rule and Before,' 1901, i., 439 ; ii., 87 ; 

 Beihefte zum Tropenpfl., 1905, vi., 74 ; Journ. Soc. Chem. Indust., 1882, i., to 1905, 

 xxxii. ; Kew Bull, (add ser., vii.), 1906 ; Tschirch, Die Harze und die Harzbehijlter, 

 1906, ii, 989-93 ; Herbert Wright, Rubber Cult, in Brit. Empire, 1907 ; Hemsley, 

 Kew Bull., 1907, 153-6 ; The Ceylon Rubber Exhibition, in Agri. Journ. Ind., 1907, 

 ii., pt. i., 73-80.] 



The following, in alphabetical sequence of their scientific names, may 

 be given as a brief statement of the india-rubber yielding plants of the 

 world in which India is presently interested : 



Castilloa elastica, Ceru. ; Hemsley, I.e. 156 ; UBTICACE^E. Central American, 

 Panama and Nicaragua Rubber. Torquemada was the first to mention the 

 rubber of Mexico. He gave it the name of ule. Long years after, Cross success- 

 fully introduced the plant to the Old World. In 1876 he conveyed live plants 

 to Kew Gardens, and from that supply the plants that first reached Ceylon and 

 finally India were distributed by Sir William Thiselton-Dyer. Willis and Wright 

 (Handbook Veg. Econ. Prod. Ceylon, 1901, 41-5) give many useful particulars 

 regarding the experience gained in that country. Mr. W. S. Todd subsequently 

 was successful in having conveyed from Mexico and San Salvador seeds which 

 he germinated in Burma and ultimately sent supplies to Samoa, a fact of some 

 interest, since the seeds of this species are believed to lose their vitality very 

 rapidly. But there are two species of Cnstnion, that yield rubber, and compara- 

 tive studies have not as yet established which is the more preferable for special 

 cultivation. The Indian and Ceylon plant is chiefly c. eiantica, the Mexican 

 species, and c. Ttmu, that of British Honduras and Costa Rica. This is the 

 tunu rubber or el hule macho (the mule-rubber), but is not the mule-rubber of 

 Brazil. 



Manson (Ind. For., 1901, xxvii., 75-96) furnishes much useful information 

 regarding the India-rubber plants of India. Of this species he remarks that it 

 is cultivated in Mergui under wrong conditions, namely on swampy gound. He 

 recommends that it should be tried in Tenasserim on hillsides with a western 

 aspect. The plant has been fairly successfully grown on the hills of South India, 



650 



D.E.P., 

 iv., 364-5. 



Castilloa. 



Two Forms. 



Indian 

 Experience. 



