
15 
many of them have also come under my own observation. The present 
methods may be classified under two heads :— 
(i.) Cultivation as a shade tree for other crops, and 
(ii.) Cultivation for its own sake 
(i.) The rubber tree is a tap-rooted tree, of small foliage area, a lover 
of deep, moist, clayey loam, well shaded by undergrowth, and appears 
to need surrounding low bush to force it to its full height. 
The natural deductions from the above facts are that while it does 
not exhaust the soil in which the surface rootin crop underneath it 
planted sufficiently closely to shade its own ms, without which both 
the gr milk will be checked by the heat of the sun, it 
must of course ultimately damage the crop beneath it, and, in the case 
of cacao, when both crops come to maturity about the same time, both 
li.) If grown as a special crop, the seeds should be planted, I 
believe, at a distance not exceeding 15 feet from one another, should 
be left for a year or two in uncleaned ground so as to allow the under- 
akes, if set in the ground, make more apparent progress than seeds 
(seedlings should not, I think, be planted, on account of the extreme 
length and delicacy of their tap roots), but two or three years suffice to 
show that the seeds make more certain and rapid progress. 
ave reason to believe that the Castilloa elastica affects the 
neighbourhood of rivers chiefly, because the bush in such places is 
always stunted by the floods so as to allow the rubber trees to have 
full growth, and is yet sufficient to give the ground and stems full 
ade. 
while in identical soil in the open savannah they make no apparent 
progress, : 
Preparation.—A great difficulty has hitherto been found in extracting 
the milk from the tree in a satisfactory manner. The method no 
employed is wasteful both of time and of the quantity and quality of 
the milk extracted. I append a rough sketch of a machine* invented 
by Mr. Blancaneaux, of the Cayo, British Honduras, which avoids all 
these disadvantages. : : 
Coagulation—The methods which at present prevail for coagulating 
the milk are weli described by Mr. Morris. I cannot but think, 
however, that a plan suggested to M, Lefebvre by a series of experi- 
ments in the spring of this year (sample of the result of which I possess, 
and will forward at a later date,) oifers decided advantages over any 
other. 

* Not reproduced, 
