8 
color, which impart a shaggy appearance, and a color that has 
given the tree its vernacular name “palo amarillo,” or yellow. 
trunk, which becomes also the commercial name of this variety of 
rubber. The flowers appear in January, or there-about, before the 
appearance of the new leaves, and the fruits mature in June and 
July. The seeds, which are much like those of the castor-oil, 
contain about 50 per cent. of a fatty oil, which can be pressed out, 
and is good for soap-making. 
As soon as the bark is wounded, a milky juice exudes, which 
is very irritant, and capable of producing violent inflammation 
of the eyes, if it enters them, as it is quite liable to do in spat- 
tering, when the tree is cut. A part of this latex soon coagulates, 
but the coagulum is soft and curdy, rather than tough and elastic, 
like that of most rubber milks. Rather more than half of it does 
not coagulate at all, except as a result of drying out. The 
coagulated portion contains the rubber, about ten per cent. of the 
entire weight, but with it there is more than twice as much resin. 
It is this intimate mixture of resin with the rubber that compels a 
resort to different processes for the manufacture of this rubber 
from those which apply elsewhere in the rubber industry. The 
separation has to be effected by solvents, and by the aid of 
special machinery. Nevertheless, the cost is inconsiderable, and 
the business bids fair to be very profitable 
The great value of this tree as a rubber-producer lies in its 
abundance over large areas, and the proximity of the trees to one 
another, facilitating collection of the milk, as well as the ease 
with which it can be propagated, and the rapidity of its growth. 
All that is necessary for propagation is to thrust the newly cut 
branches into the soil, where they Practically all grow. From 
‘other sources of rubber were to fail, this one could probably sup- 
ply the world’s entire requirements. 
e added that this and several similar species form a 
peculiar division of the genus which will in all probability be 
elevated to generic rank. It is said that one known as the 
“alo colorado,” or red trunk, growing in ne ae ee part of 
