236 



Passing from the building toward the southeastern section of 

 the garden, the visitor will first be attracted by a large tree of 

 Para rubber, Hevea brasiliensis, now about two feet in diameter. 

 This tree was planted in 1875, one year before the formal estab- 

 lishment of the garden, and is considered to be the oldest Hevea 

 tree in the Dutch East Indies. It has been frequently tapped 

 for rubber. There is also a plot devoted to Para rubber, with 

 young trees averaging six to ten inches in diameter, which are 

 being tapped regularly. Under them, as is the case in all modern 

 plantations, there is not a trace of vegetation. 



In the same section is a plot of nutmeg trees, not yet full grown, 

 but old enough to bear freely the yellow pyriform fruit. Some 

 distance beyond is a plot of clove trees, with glossy fragrant 

 foliage and dense symmetrical conical crowns. Their principal 

 branches exhibit well the feature described by Haberlandt in his 

 Botanische Tropenreise. They deviate abruptly from the 

 main trunk at a rather large angle for one or two feet, and then 



Fig. 24. A trellis of Vanilla. 



bend upward, forming a very prominent elbow. The same pecul- 

 iarity is observable in many species of tropical trees, but in none 

 more clearly than in the clove. 



Many plots in this section are planted to coffee. The visitor 

 who knows of Coffea arabica only will be surprised at the display 



