208 



recorded during the rainy season, and in this country, in the case of 

 the single plantation quoted above, the period of commencement of 

 the trouble corresponded with a period of heavy rains. The occur- 

 rence of the effect on either cut independently of the other is regarded 

 as good evidence in support of the belief that it is in no way con- 

 nected with nutrition or weakness on the part of the plant. In 

 Ceylon, Fetch regards it as being due to the accumulation of water 

 on the freshly tapped surface. 



When trees show this effect, tapping should be stopped on the 

 affected cuts. A more rapid healing of the wound may be obtained 

 by removing the dead bark, so as to leave a ring of healthy bark 

 around the wound, and by tarring the exposed surface of the wood 

 with coal tar, the tar also serving to keep out borers. It is better to 

 warm the tar before using it ; but, since in such a case it is more 

 liable to run over the surface of the healthy adjacent bark, it is advis- 

 able to recommend the use of cold tar. Care should be taken to apply 

 the tar to the exposed surface of the wood only. 



CRYPTOSTEGIA 6RANDIFL0RA IN MEXICO. 



The India-rubber Journal of May 20 gives an account by Mr. 

 Charles vS. DoUcy of the occurrence of Palay rubber, Cryptostcgia 

 gramUflora in great abundance in Mexico. This charming climber 

 has long been known to produce a good quality of rubber, but culti- 

 vation for this purpose has previously failed, owing to its slow growth. 

 In Mexico it appears to hav^e become even a pest. " There are lands 

 about Rosario in which the plant has made such extraordinary 

 growth, as to invade the fields so completely as to be regarded by the 

 farmers as a plague, owing to the frequency with which the fields 

 must be cleaned and the impossibility of extirpating it, for cutting 

 only serves to make it grow more vigorously." It is said to propa- 

 gate itself readily by seed and grow to a height of one to two metres 

 a year, droughts do not kill it, and pruning or cutting back only 

 makes it sprout more vigorously. This plant is almost certainly the 

 species commonly cultivated for ornament in gardens in the Straits 

 Settlen:|ents. There are two species known in cultivation, one C. 

 Madagascariensis, the other C. grandiflora. The former is figurec^ in 

 the Botanical Magazine, the latter in the Botanical Register. The main 

 difference appears to be in the shape of the Coronal processes, some 

 prQjections in the throat of the corolla. In C. grandiflora they are 

 described as bifid at the tip in C. Madgascariensis, they are 

 entire. In examining many flowers of the plant cultivated here -I find 

 that nearly in all, two or three of these processes are split at the tip, 

 the oth^^rs entire. The colouring of the Corolla is given as jilac in 

 C. Grandiflora, and whitish rose in the Botanical Magazine figure, of 

 C. Madagascariensis- the centre being darker. In our plant the 

 .flower is lilac with- a dark centre, so that the differences seem very 

 'slight. 



