MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 595 



Choncmorpha also yield fairly good rubber. Although 

 scores of thousands of Para rubber seedlings have been 

 distributed throughout the Archipelago during the past 

 five or six years probably not 2 per cent, of them are in 

 evidence at the present time. The fault lies partly in 

 the ignorance of the planter as to the proper methods 

 of handling and partly in the climate, that is, in the long 

 " dry season " droughts which almost every year last 

 for three to six months. In the island of Basilan, 

 south-west of Mindanao, however, one plantation is just 

 beginning to produce a very small quantity of first- 

 class Para. At Lais on the Davao Gulf of south- 

 eastern Mindanao, a small plantation of Castilloa 

 rubber is beginning to turn out a little scrap; it seems 

 that the trees on this plantation have made a phenomen- 

 ally good growth, the soil and rainfall being precisely 

 suited to the trees, which in about seven years have 

 attained to something like a foot in diameter. In the 

 Province of Albay and Ambos Camarines there are a 

 few very small plantations in some of the richer valleys, 

 but through wrong methods of culture and the aforesaid 

 drought periods, they cannot be considered as even 

 moderately good. Ceara has been planted in several 

 places but practically abandoned as non-productive. 



Pili nuts. Several forms of this nut are known in the 

 Philippines but it seems that most of the export varieties 

 are yielded by Canarium luzonicum. In Tayabas three 

 distinct varieties known as Basiad, Tugdugin and 

 Palauay are recognized by the natives; of these Basiad 

 is the best flavoured but most people prefer the Palauay 

 on account of its large size. The outer fleshy covering 

 of the nut is sometimes used by the Filipinos in making 

 a "dulce." On account of the recent interest in the 

 pili as a table nut in the United States some planters 

 are discussing the advisability of planting a few pili 

 trees in their abaca and coconut plantations. It is 

 doubtful, however, whether these trees would bear 

 before 20 years and even than no large crop would be 

 obtained. One bushel per tree is considered by the 

 Bureau of Forestry to be a fair estimate for a good 

 sized tree; this, with the ykld of elemi, or resin, brings 



