CULTIVATION OF RUBBER-TREES. 79 



where in connection with the cultivation of bananas, cacao, 

 Liberian coffee, oranges, and other shade-loving plants. In most 

 countries, planters are obliged to have permanent shade- trees 

 for their plantations ; and generally the trees used are worthless 

 except as shade-trees. For instance, in Trinidad the recognised 

 shade-tree for cacao is the "immortelle" (Erythrina umbrosa), 

 a tree whose only merits are that it is a rapid grower, and very 

 common in the districts suitable for cacao. The wood, however, 

 is so brittle that large branches, or even trees, are broken off in 

 strong winds, causing serious havoc among the cacao : this tree 

 is also a surface feeder, and sends its long sinuous roots all 

 through the plantation, robbing the cacao-trees of the sustenance 

 which they so much require. The planters in Trinidad are, 

 therefore, gradually discarding the immortelle as a shade-tree, 

 and adopting others more suitable. In other places, the trum- 

 pet-tree (Cecropia peltata) is used to shade cacao and coffee, 

 whilst some adopt the jack-fruit tree, the hog^-plum, or the rain- 

 tree (Pithecolobium samari). Neither of these trees can, how- 

 ever, compare with the Castilloa rubber, either in quickness of 

 growth, in shade-giving properties, or in the return which it is 

 likely to give the planter, year after year, if properly treated. 

 Hence this Central America rubber combines all the conditions 

 desired in a tropical shade-tree, and on this account deserves the 

 earnest attention, not only of planters, but of all those who have 

 it in their power to extend or promote its cultivation through- 

 out our tropical possessions. 



As I mentioned before, supplies of indiarubber are, year by 

 year, falling short of the demand ; and it will soon become a 

 serious question where we are to obtain the immense quantities 

 of this important vegetable product which has become so 

 essential an element in all our industries. This subject has 

 received some attention ; and Mr. Clements Markham, who did 



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