PROPAGATION. 31 



that : " The net result was that at the end of the year not a 

 single plant was obtained from the 3,000 cuttings," A planter 

 in Ceylon has raised several trees from cuttings, and the Tropical 

 Agriculturist for October 1907 gives illustrations of two of 

 them. According to the same journal for November 1907 

 success has been obtained in Java by " marcotting." In view of 

 the abundance of seeds available it is unnecessary under ordinary 

 conditions to trouble about raising plants from cuttings or by 



FIG. 4. Para Rubber Seedlings, six months old, in a nursery on the Guara- 

 Guara Co.'s estate near Beira, East Africa. (Photographed by Author 

 in April 1908.) 



"marcotting." But if it be desired to raise plants from any 

 particular tree or variety which produces superior rubber or 

 larger quantities of rubber than its fellows, or possesses any 

 other characteristics which make it desirable for the planter to 

 propagate it, no safer method can be adopted to ensure that the 

 progeny possess the coveted characters than by raising plants 

 from young growths. Unless a flower be protected, cross- 

 fertilisation may occur. Even if this be done, the characters of 



