229" 
You  will  perhaps  be  interested  to  know,  that  of  the  twenty 
“ seeds  of  Hevea  Brasiliensis  you  so  kindly  sent  me,  I have  now 
‘‘fourteen  thrifty  plants  a foot  high.  I feel  very  proud  of  them. 
“ The  matter  is  worthy  of  record,  as  undoubtedly  they  are  the  first 
plants  ever  raised  in  Mexico.  ” 
d'hese  seeds  were  from  the  Para  rubber  trees  growing  in  the 
ecomonic  section  of  the  Botanic  Gardens.  They  left  Singapore  on 
the  1 2th  February,  1903,  and  arrived  in  Mexico  on  the  3rd  May, 
1903- 
Editor. 
INSECTICIDES. 
A mixture  prepared  as  follows  is  recommended  to  prevent  ants, 
Scale  insects  and  other  vermin  attacking  trees  or  plants  : — 
White  Lime  (slaked)  ...  6 quarts. 
Kerosene  oil 
Turpentine 
Soft  soap 
Cow-dung 
Water 
wine-glass. 
i pint. 
J ffis. 
3 quarts. 
6 quarts. 
Mix  the  whole  thoroughly  together,  and  apply  freely  with  a paint 
brush  or  white-wash  brush  to  the  trunks  of  trees  or  stems  of  plants 
requiring  protection.  It  is  also  a good  remedy  in  case  of  trees 
already  affected  by  pests,  killing  scale  insects  &c.  immediately. 
If  signs  of  gumming  ” are  observed  in  Citrus  trees,  to  the  above 
mixture  should  be  added  ^fb.  of  Flowers  of  Sulphur.  The  mixture 
adheres  to  the  trunks  and  branches  of  trees  for  a considerable  time, 
but  when  it  peels  off,  the  bark  beneath  will  be  found  to  be  perfectly 
clean  and  free  from  pests,  both  animal  and  vegetable. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  such  remedies  as  the  one  here  re- 
commended cannot  be  expected  to  be  permanently  effectual,  unless 
proper  cultural  method  are  adopted,  so  that  the  tree  and  plants  are 
kept  in  a healthy  growing  state.  Healthy  trees  are  not  often  at- 
tacked by  insect  pe.sts.  Fi'om  the  Bulletin  of  the  Botanical  De- 
partment ^ Jamaica. 
RUBBER  TAPPING  EXPERIMENTS  IN  PENANG. 
It  is  interesting  to  record  that  the  Para  Rubber  tree  grow- 
ing in  the  Penang  Gardens — a figure  of  which  was  given  at  page 
384  of  the  Bulletin — still  continues  to  give  good  results.  This 
year  makes  the  8th  consecutive  year  of  tapping.  Operations  began 
on  8th  May,  and  the  following  Table  shews  the  results.  The  tap- 
ping was  made  as  previously,  i.e.,  by  taking  a fine  shaving  off  the 
cuts  on  each  occasion. 
