624 



as doing '' excellentl}^ at Oloke-Meji where a small plantation 

 exists and it has been distributed to farmers residing in the- 

 reserve : the cultivation of this species will be greatly extended 

 next year " (Col. Rep. Ann. No. 507, 1906, Lagos, p. 25). At 

 Old Calabar about 500 plants were in existence in 1897; but 

 none large enough to tap (Ann. Rep. Bot. Gdn. Old Calabar^ 

 MSS. for 1897-98). A sample of rubber from the Easterly 

 Province, described as black and sticky externally and deficient* 

 in strength, although of satisfactory composition, valued (1909> 

 at about 3s, per lb. with fine hard Para at 55. per lb. ; with the 



Buergestion that '' if the nhvsical nronerties could h^ 



im 



it Avould be of very good quahty and would realise a very satis- 

 factory price (Col. Rep. Ann. No. 665, 1911, S. Nig. for 1909^ 

 p. 32). Briefly the plant seems to have been readily estabhshed 

 in the Colony but it does not seem to ha.ve been very successful 

 as a rubber producer. It grows freely enough but in coniijaiisoii 

 \vith Para the yield is unsatisfactory and this seems to be the- 

 general view. In Assam '' it is well knoAvn that Ficus elasfico' 

 will grow with undiminished rapidity in situations remote fronr 

 the hills ; but in such locaHties it fails to yield caoutchouc (Kew 

 Bull. 1896, p. 171) and in 1906, Mann (Agric. Journ. India^ 

 i. 1906, p. 398) advises the cultivation as a bye-product to Tea- 

 Culture or as a dependent of another larger and more profitable- 

 Industry and then only on inferior land. In Sumatra also trees- 

 are being cut out on the majority of estates (Akers, India Rubber 

 Journ. March 29th, 1913, p. 18). It is recommended that tree^ 

 be tapped only once in three years as if tapped yearly they are 

 liable to die (Watt, Comm. Prod. India, p. 653). These ^facts 

 added to those of the principal requirements—" high or well 

 drained land and a hot steamy climate " — conditions ideal for 

 Para rubber and that the tree does not so readily lend itself to 

 tapping may account for the disfavour into which it appears^ 

 to have fallen under cultivation. 



The tree is one on which the " Lac " Insect {TacJtardia^ 



Lacca. Kerr') feeds in India rAomV T.orlapr "NTn ft lom t\ 9i9\ 



Mav 



(Watt, I.e. & Kew 

 in from 5-14 davs 



month 



or cuttings^ 



growing 



In planting out in permanent places having regard to the size^ 

 of the tree when mature, from 30-50 ft. of space must be allowed. 

 Apart from any other consideration it is well worth 

 ornament and shade. The whole subject of the rubber produc- 

 tion has been fully discussed in Kew Bull. 1888, pp. 217-220 

 *' India Rubber in Upper Burma " ; 1891, pp. 97-102, '' Assam 

 Rubber for West Africa"; 1896, pp. 171-174, "Cultivation of 

 dia Rubber in Assam"; 1897, pp. 429-430 & 1899, p. 87 

 Assam Rubber in Egj-pt," reprinted in Add. series vii. " Rubber/ 



it 



T 



pp. 155-170, and the follomng may also be referred to. 



-ffe/. — " Ficus-Kautschuk," Warburg, in Der Tropenpflanzer,''' 

 iii. 1899, jjp. 419-438. "Die Kultur von Ficus dmiica ^ von 



