4 CULTI\^ATION OF RUBBER PLANTS 



the forests of tropical America, Africa, and Asia, about 

 half of the total supply coming from the Amazon valley. 

 In consequence, however, of the increasing dei^and for 

 rubber and the possibility of a diminution in the supply, 

 owing to the destruction of large numbers of the wild 

 rubber-yiclduig plants, considerable attention has been 

 devoted diu-ing the last ten years to the cultivation of 

 rubber trees in almost all tropical countries, with the 

 result that rubber planting is now one of the most im- 

 portant tropical industries. 



The Para rubber tree {Hevea hrasiliensis) from the 

 Amazon valley has proved to be very suitable for general 

 cultivation throughout the tropics, and it is now being 

 grown on a very large scale in the Malay Peninsula,! 

 Ceylon, Sumatra, and Java, and to a smaller extent in. 

 Southern India and Burma, and in Borneo. The Paraf 

 tree is also bemg cultivated in tropical Africa, including \ 

 many of the British Colonies and Protectorates in East 

 and West Africa, m Seychelles, in British Guiana, inj 

 the West Indies, and in some of the islands of the ^ 

 Pacific ; in many of these countries the tree has given 

 very promismg results. Plantations of the Para treei 

 have also been formed in Brazil. 



The Ceara rubber tree {ManUiot Olaziovii), also a 

 native of Brazil, has been introduced into nearly every 

 tropical country. It offers the advantages that it is 

 very hardy and can be grown in dry situations where the 

 Para tree will not thrive, but it is more difficult to tap 

 successfully than the latter. The Ceara tree is at 

 present being cultivated extensively in British and Ger- 

 man East Africa, Uganda, and Nyasaland, where it 

 promises to do well, and is also grown in Ceylon and 

 Southern India. 



In Africa large plantations of the indigenous rubber 

 tree (Funtnmia clastica) have also been formed in several 

 countries ; and in Central America and the West Indies 

 the Central American rubber tree {Castilloa elastica) is 

 being cultivated on an extensive scale. 



Recent estimates of the area of the rubber plantations 

 througliout the tropics have given various totals up to 

 two million acres, but the figures for many of the 

 coinitries are admittedly only approximations. The 

 following statistics of the acreages under rubber dming 



