130 AGRICULTURE IN THE TROPICS [PT. II 



heptaphylla, and M. piauhyensis, have been discovered by Ule 

 in the province of Bahia in Brazil. It is said that these yield 

 better than M. Glaziovii, and already plantations of them have 

 been made in South America. 



Lagos rubber, Funtumia elastica, has been a little planted in 

 some of the British West Indian and West African colonies, but 

 as yet no rubber has been exported. Plantations of Assam 

 rubber, Ficus elastica, have been made in a few places in India 

 and Malaya, but the results have been disappointing, the latex 

 being hard to coagulate unless mixed with that of Hevea. 



Guttapercha. This substance, allied to indiarubber, and 

 obtained from trees of the family Sapotaceae, especially species 

 of Palaquium, has as yet been mainly collected from the wild 

 trees in the islands of the Malay and Philippine Archipelagoes, 

 but of late attempts to cultivate it have been made in Java and 

 elsewhere, the gutta being obtained from the leaves by a process 

 of maceration. The yield however is very poor as compared 

 with that of the rubber trees, and a higher price cannot be 

 obtained, so that it is not likely that its cultivation will be 

 much taken up. Already new preparations of rubber are 

 beginning to take the place of gutta in cables, and rubber balls 

 are coming into use in golf. 



Camphor. This product also requires mention, and being 

 a deposit in wood and leaves, will perhaps come best along with 

 rubber. The tree (Cinnamomum Camphora) is a native of Japan 

 and Formosa, and until lately has not been much cultivated 

 outside of those countries. There the camphor is usually 

 obtained by felling old trees, cutting up the wood and distilling 

 it with steam. In recent years the Japanese Government has 

 endeavoured to establish a monopoly, an attempt which of 

 course has stimulated the wish to grow it in other countries. 

 The botanical department in Ceylon, for instance, has been 

 carefully fostering this cultivation for a good many years, until 

 now there are probably about 800 acres planted in camphor in 

 Ceylon, and the area is steadily growing. Recently a little 

 camphor has been exported from the island. Camphor is also 

 grown in other countries. 



