CHAPTER II. 

 CLIMATIC CONDITIONS FOE PARA RUBBER. 



Descriptions of Para by Drs. Trimen & Ule — Para trees in Brazil — 

 Illustration showing Para rubber in Ceylon — Climate in Ceylon, 

 Straits, Perak, Selangor, Seremban, Singapore, Penang, and 

 Malacca — Java — Illustration showing young rubber at the Experi- 

 ment Station, Buitenzorg, Java — India — Africa, West Indies, &c. — ■ 

 Illustration showing Para rubber in Malacca — Illustration showing 

 Para rubber at an elevation of :!,500 feet in India — Illustration 

 showing Para rubber on Sikong Estate, Borneo. 



Conditions in Para. 



<<• TD AR A* occupies a position near the mouth of one of the vast 

 -L embouchures of the Amazon in about south latitude 1, but 

 the district of the same name extends over a vast forest region 

 to the south and west, throughout which and the enormous forests 

 of Central and Northern Brazil, Hevea brasiliensia and allied species 

 are abundant^ found. The climate is remarkable for its uni- 

 formity of temperature, usually not exceeding 87° F. at midday 

 or falling below 71 at night. The greatest heat recorded is 95°, 

 and the mean for the year is 81°. The rainfall occurs principally 

 during the months from January to June, the maximum being in 

 April, when it reaches 15 inches; for the remaining six months 

 of the year very little rain falls, but there are fine days in the wet 

 season and occasional showers in the dry. During the wet season 

 much of the low-lving country near the Amazon's mouths is 

 flooded." 



According to E. Ule,f in his book dealing with rubber in the 

 Amazon district, " the Para tree loses its leaves annually as in 

 Ceylon, and in the flooded regions this occurs when the water is at 

 its highest, i.e., between March and July. It flowers in July and 

 August, and ripens its fruit in January and February. Like most 

 forests in the tropics those of the Amazon are composed of many 

 kinds of trees intermixed, and rubber occurs scattered among the 



* Notes on Rubber-yielding plants, by Dr. Trimen. 



t Review by Dr. Willis, " T.A. & M.C.A.S.," March, 1905. 



(2). 



