SHADE TREES AND CATCH CROPS. 57 



tion from our present standpoint. Raoul considers the use of the dadap unwise on 

 several accounts — too dense shade, the leaflets not closing at night, liability to 

 attacks of parasites, and shortness of life. 



According to van Gorkam, the dadap was originally the favorite shade tree of the 

 coffee planters of Java, many of whom were led to discard it in favor of Albizzia 

 because of a disease which proved to be extensively destructive to the dadap. The 

 Albizzia has proved objectionable, however, on account of the brittleness of its 

 wood, so that an ideally desirable shade tree is still a desideratum in Java. The 

 dadap is also said to have been seriously injured by a disease in Ceylon, which led 

 to the substitution of Grevillea. Recently, however, it has been introduced into the 

 Coorg district of British India. 



In the propagation of this and related species from cuttings, several precautions 

 have been found desirable by the planters of Java. Smooth, healthy branches about 

 2 years old are selected from trees 5 to 8 years old. These are cut up in pieces 75 to 

 90 centimeters long, and should have a diameter of from 5 to 8 centimeters. The ends 

 are trimmed off smoothly and obliquely, but so as to keep them in a manner parallel. 

 Pieces bearing twigs or having any diseased spots are rejected. The cuttings are set 

 obliquely in the ground at an angle of about 60 degrees, and pointing in the direction 

 of the heaviest winds, or against the slope if planted on hillsides. The sticks are 

 buried in the ground to a depth of 20 to 30 centimeters, and the earth is smoothed 

 and trodden firm about them; otherwise they will not send out shoots. A leaf is 

 tied over the cut end to prevent the pith being dried out by the sun or rotted by rain. 



Erythrina micropteryx. (See Erythrina poeppigiana.) 



Erythrina ovalifolia. 



Common xame. — Anal (Philippine Islands). 

 According to Sanchez, this species and E. indica are preferable to Gliricidia maculata, 

 under which the coffee is seriously injured by a longicorn beetle during the season 

 w T hen the leaves are off. 



Erythrina poeppigiana. Bucare. (See Plate XIII.) 



Synonyms. — Micropteryx poeppigiana; Erythrina micropteryx; Erythrina amasisa. 



Common names. — Ama-sisa (Peru); Bois immortel; Bucare (Porto Rico); Coral 

 tree; Erythrine de Cayenne (Martinique); Immortel jaune (Guadeloupe); 

 Madre de cacao; Palo de boyo (Porto Rico) ; Penon (Cuba). 

 This species has often been confused with Erythrina umbrosa, especially in the 

 West Indies. As the latter species was described by Humboldt as used for shading 

 of cacao in Venezuela, the general impression has prevailed that the same species 

 had been introduced and used in Trinidad and in the other West Indies. Recently 

 Professor Urban, of Berlin, declared that all the West Indian specimens studied by 

 him from Cuba, Porto Rico, Martinique, and Trinidad belong to Erythrina microp- 

 teryx, the correct name of which seems to be E. poeppigiana. And yet it seems 

 scarcely possible that Erythrina amasisa, the ' ' handsomest ' ' tree, described by Spruce 

 as growing 100 feet high in the forests of the eastern slopes of the Peruvian Andes, 

 can be the same as the Porto Rican bucare, of w r hich 15 or 20 meters is considered 

 the limit of growth. Moreover, it seems improbable that the Andine tree has 

 reached the West Indies without gaining a footing in the adjacent coffee regions of 

 the South American Continent. According to Hart, E. umbrosa is taller and more 

 open in habit than E. relutina, and is preferred for the higher elevations in the 

 cacao plantations of Trinidad. For coffee, at least, these species seem objectionable 

 on account of the too dense shade. The wood is not only too soft and water-logged 

 to be of any use, even for fuel, but it is also extremely brittle and will not withstand 

 windstorms. After the hurricane of August, 1899, scarcely a tree of Erythrina w r as 

 to be found in Porto Rico which had not had the limbs carried away well down to 



