INDIARUBBER-TREE. 



shape, and clothed, especially in the young state, with a dense 

 coat of hairs. The flowers appear in February or March : they 

 are moncecious that is, have the male and female in different 

 flowers on the same tree. The fruit, of a brownish-green colour 

 when ripe, has very much the appearance of a raspberry flattened 

 or depressed, about an inch in diameter ; the numerous seeds 

 being massed together and enclosed in papery capsules, covered 

 with a brown tomentum. When 

 taken out of the husk the seeds 

 are of a whitish colour, about 

 as large as castor-oil seeds, 

 and evidently soon lose their 

 vitality. The best way to col- 

 lect the seeds, which ripen in 

 May or June, would be ,to 

 gather the fruits, just before 

 they burst, and to spread them 

 out for a few days under shade. 

 When intended to be shipped, 

 the seeds should be packed in 

 earth and carefully fastened down. To establish plantations, the 

 seeds might, in the first instance, be planted in open nurseries, 

 or in boxes or beds, raised some 4 or 5 feet above the ground, so 

 as to be beyond the reach of ants and mice. The plants thus 

 raised might be transplanted at the end of twelve months, and 

 put out in their permanent places in the field. Where, however, 

 seed is abundant, and ants and mice are not likely to destroy 

 them, two or three seeds might be planted out at once, "at 

 stake " as it is called, in the same manner as recommended for 

 cacao. In this latter case, if all three grow, one strong plant 

 might be left, and the other two either transplanted to supply 

 vacancies or destroyed. 



FKUIT OF CAST1LLOA ELASTICA, WITH SEED. 



