KUBBEB IN POETO EICO AND THE PHILIPPINES. 17 



posts. I am also advising them to plant it in their woods, so that the seeds may be 

 distributed by birds. * * * 



The Tobago rubber trees are grown on the cacao estates for shade purposes. On 

 one estate the growth made by the trees was remarkable. The Central American 

 rubber tree is the one chiefly cultivated. a 



Castilla seems to have been introduced into eastern Cuba several 

 years ago. A sample of rubber apparently of excellent quality has 

 been received recently from Mr. Henry McManus, who states that 

 rubber trees are growing on three estates — " Nunez," u PaImarejo," 

 and " La Consolacion " — in the vicinity of Baracoa. The annual rain- 

 fall in those localities is about 125 inches, and Castilla is said to thrive 

 well. 



CASTILLA CULTURE FOR FORTO RICO. 



Studies of Castilla in its native home in Mexico have resulted in a 

 more favorable opinion regarding the prospects of Castilla in Porto 

 Rico, since it is believed that the requirement of continuous heat and 

 humidity has been overstated. The north and south sides of Porto 

 Rico have very different climates; some districts of the north may be 

 too wet and much of the south too dry for Castilla. There are, how- 

 ever, particularly toward the southwest corner of the island, many 

 places where the climatic conditions are not unsuited for Castilla and 

 where experimental plantings should be made. If the soil and other 

 local conditions do not prove unfavorable it will be possible to utilize 

 for rubber culture much waste land too low and too much exposed to 

 drought for coffee. 



RUBBER IN THE PHILIPPINES. 



The United States Department of Agriculture has received from 

 the Philippines several samples of low-grade gutta-percha but no 

 rubber, and it has not been supposed that native rubber trees exist in 

 the islands. It has recently been announced, however, that a ship- 

 ment of native rubber has been sent from Zamboanga, island of Min- 

 danao, to a San Francisco firm. This rubber is said to be derived 

 from Ficus elastica, the Assam rubber tree of the East Indies. 6 



That the Ficus is confined to Mindanao is scarcely to be expected 

 in view of the fact that it has been reported on Formosa, far north of 

 Luzon. It should accordingly be sought for on other islands of the 

 group. 



The existence of what may prove to be another rubber plant is 

 indicated by the following paragraph from a recent letter received by 



« West Indian Bulletin, 2:112, 1901. 



b India Rubber World, 27:115. The existence of the true Ficus elastica in the 

 Philippines is unknown to botanists. Blanco's Flora states that an elastic gum is 

 >btamed from Ficus rostrata, a species later referred to Ficus radicans as variety 

 mgulosa. 



4876— No. 49—03 2 



