4 



much more feasible to conduct the cultivation of vanilla simultaneously 

 with that of rubber, utilizing the trees for shade. 



" Advocating the planting in the shade is equivalent, in a country 

 like Guatemala, still possessing so much virgin forest, to planting in the 

 woods. There are thousands of acres of land where it would be suffi- 

 cient to clear the forest (cutting down part and removing the low 

 branchfts and undergrowth) in order to obtain ground sufficiently shaded 

 and with the necessary ventilation, the latter a condition of the greatest 

 importance. The tref s and undergrowth cut down could be spread over 

 the ground to prevent 'ae growth of weeds, as well as to serve as manure. 

 In planting the rubber tree the ground should be perfectly cleaned for a 

 circle at least a yard in diameter and the tree placed in the centre. We 

 advise the planting of trees taken from a nursery, as incomparably 

 better results will be obtained than by planting by seed. The nursery 

 is formed in damp ground, shaded and well worked, and the seed 

 (whicli is gathered here in March and April) planted at intervals of 

 about a foot. The seed is planted just as gathered, with gum and all ; 

 washing may injure the later growth and may even prevent sprouting. 

 After a year in the nursery the trees are taken out with great care (it 

 is best if the earth adheres to the roots) and transplanted. 



The least distance at which rubber trees should be set out is 6 

 yards apart, and they should be in straight rows so far as possible ; if a 

 choice can be made, 8 to 10 yards would be preferable. During each 

 of the first two years, from three to four cleanings should be made, 

 these to consist principally of cutting with the machete the under- 

 growth wliich has sprouted, and covering the ground as has previously 

 been explained. In the third and fourth years, two or three cleanings 

 per year should be made ; and from the fifth year, one cleaning annually 

 will suffice until the growth of the tree impedes the further develop- 

 ment of weeds. Before beginning to exploit, the trunk of the tree 

 should measure at least 12 inches in diameter, and from 12 to 15 yards 

 in height, for which from nine to ten years is necessary. 



''The milk may be extracted from the trees twice each year, during 

 the rainy season ; about two months after its commencement and 

 towards the termination, the most propitious time being when the tree 

 has dropped its leaves. 



" A tree planted and cultivated under good conditions will give an 

 annual product, after nine or ten years, of 1 pound of rubber, or, say 2J 

 to 3 pounds of milk. With proper study of the nature of the rubber 

 tree, the progress of its sap, and the fertilizers that might be best for it, 

 it is very probable that this yield would be greatly incre^tsed. 



"EXTKACTION OF RUBBBR. 



" Until now, the machete has been used in Guatemala to make the 

 incisions in the bark, incisions in the form of small canals about three- 

 fourths of an inch wide, which receive the milk. In other countries (as 

 in the East Indies) there is employed a kind of knife, which allows the 

 making of an incision which is cleaner and better directed. 



" To extract a good quantity of milk it is not sufficient to make 

 only one incision at the foot of the tree. Care should be taken that the 



