636 



pp, 370-375 ; Cook, U.S. Dept. Agiic. PI. Indust. Bull. No. 4ir^ 

 1903, tt. l-i8; Tropenpfl. ix, 1905, p. 447 (tree Tabalong, 

 Borneo, 2| years old) ; Engl. Bot. Jahrb. xxxv. 1904-05,. 

 p. 674 f,.G; L'Agric. prat, pays chaiids viii. 1, 1908, p. 105- 

 Pittier, Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. xiii. part 7, (1910, t. 43 (Castilla) ; 

 Dudgeon, Agric. & Forest Prod. W. Africa p. 9, f. 6; BulL 

 Agric. Congo Beige, iii. 1912, p. 903, f. 583 (tree 4| years at 

 Sao Thome). 



Central American Rubber Tree, Mexican Rubber Tree* 



Native of Mexico. Cultivated in the various Tropical 

 Colonies- — Ceylon, Singapore, Mauritius, Jamaica, Trinidad and 

 other Islands in the West Indies, West Africa, including Nigeria ;. 

 in East Africa, Uganda, &c. distributed from Kew. 



Some uncertainty as to the value of this tree for cultivation.' 

 for rubber production seems to have arisen of late. It has been, 

 recommended as a shade or shelter tree, because of being a deep 

 rooter, for Cocoa, Coffee, etc. For this purpose it is not now 

 recommended in Trinidad (Freeman, BuU. Dept. Agric. Trinidad 

 & Tobago, xvii. 1918, p. 115), in St. Lucia. (Hudson, Rep. Bot. 

 St. St. Lucia 1906-07, pp. 27-28 : Trop. Life, Sept. 1908, p. 135), 

 nor in Dominica (Jones, West Indian Bull. xiii. 1913, pp. 253 

 258), and trials show that the yield is not satisfactory. 



The Rubber Committee of the Board of Agriculture, Trinidad,, 

 have come to the following conclusions: — " Tliat the planting 

 of Castilloa as a pure crop is not profitable anywhere ^' ; that- 



** the further planting of Castilloa even a^ a shade for Cacao 



is inadvisable, except on or near estates where it is already 

 proved that Castilloa can be grown without injury to the Cacao- 

 crop w^hile returning some revenue itself '' and that *' where 

 Castilloa has already been established and makes vigorous 

 row^th, it will pay to tap it " (Freeman, I.e. p. 116). Opinions 

 have been advanced giving no encouragement whatever for the 

 cultivation of this tree ; but without going so far as this it would, 

 seem advisable not to rely on it, more especially in situations 

 .where it may be just as convenient to grow^ Para rubber. 

 Castilloa, however, has a decided advantage over Hevea in not^ 

 being so readily uprooted by storms, and might therefore foriiL 

 a useful shelter tree, making at the same time some return iu 

 rubber. 



The tree has been planted at Old Calabar, Ebute Metta,, 

 Oloke-Meji, Lokoja, etc., but nowhere in the Colony does it 

 appear to have reached any importance. In 1898 at Old Calabar 

 tw^o plants only were hving ; in 1900, 18 w^ere put out in permanent 

 places. In 1907 there were 1000 seedHngs in the Nursery at 

 Lokoja (Shaw, N. Nig. Gaz. May 31st, 1907, p. 38). In 1905 

 it was reported that the cultivation at Oloke-Meji had proved & 

 failure, the plants having been exterminated by a boring beetle 

 {Inesida leprosa) and that the same insect attacked the parent 

 trees at Ebute Metta (Col. Rep. Ann. No. 507, 1906, p. 25)^ 

 practically exterminating them, not so seriously in Old Calabar 



