August, 1908.] 



113 



Saps and Exudations. 



tive belts either of jungle or of other 

 plants be left to form boundaries. In 

 the Federated Malay States the Director 

 of Agriculture has prevailed upon the 

 Government to declare a certain area of 

 forest as reserve, and this divides the 

 entire country into two main districts. 

 The idea is that if an epidemic appears 

 in one district there is every possibility 

 of checking its spreading into the other. 



A similar policy is advisable on indivi- 

 dual estates. A belt or a strip of forest 

 30 — 50 meters wide is not only an effective 

 means of preventing of diseases from 

 spreading, but is also an excellant fire- 

 break. 



In regard to diseases of the rubber tree 

 we must draw lessons from the serious 

 damage which has been done in other 

 countries to other agricultural indus- 

 tries. If we take steps and keep any 

 pest appearing under control, we need 

 have no fear. 



I mentioned the word fire. As you all 

 know fire is the rubber planter's worst 

 enemy. We have had the sad experience 

 in Mexico of large areas of planted 

 rubber being burned in the dry season. 

 In some cases this has been an inevitable 

 misfortune, but in other cases it would 

 have been easy to prevent the fire. 



One of the most important matters in 

 this connection is the laying out of the 

 plantation. It is not practical to plant 

 the entire area of say thousands of acres 

 in one continuous block. This for many 

 reasons. Roads are needed for commu- 

 nication into the plantation. It is 

 further a great advantage to have the 

 entire plantation laid off in symmetrical 

 blocks for the purpose of controlling the 

 tapping and other work on the planta- 

 tion, as well as the number of trees. 



Several rubber plantations in various 

 parts of this country were laid out eight 

 and nine years ago on the plan of square 

 blocks each containing a certain number 

 of trees. Such squares aie surrounded 

 by roads of more or less width. If these 

 roads are kept clean, as they should be, 

 they constitute effective firebreaks, and 

 it is possible by means of these to check 

 a fire, and limit same to a certain area, 

 instead of having it swept over the 

 whole plantation. 



Every now and then we hear of some 

 writer who claims that some Mexican 

 rubber planters have expressed their 

 doubt as to the wisdom of planting 

 Castilloa, when Hevea shows such a 

 decided success in the East. Let me here 

 draw attention to the fact that, even it 

 we could successfully grow Hevea here 

 in Mexico, we could not possibly make it 

 15 



a paying business. Why, you may ask. 

 The nature of the latex- bearing ducts in 

 Hevea is such, that at each tapping only a 

 very small amount of latex exudes. For 

 this reason a system of multiple tapping 

 is employed for this tree. Castilloa, on 

 the other hand, gives much more latex 

 at each individual tapping, and we know 

 that multiple tappiug such as employed 

 on Hevea is of no avail on our trees. 



With the price of our labour standing 

 close to $1 Mex. a day, and as long as it is 

 scarce at that price, it would be im- 

 possible to tap our rubber trees every 

 secoud day, receiving only about one- 

 tenth of an ounce per tapping. In Java, 

 Federated Malay States and Ceylon they 

 pay about 20 — 30 cts. Mex. to their 

 labourers, and this explains why their 

 rubber industry is profitable. 



We need not by any means feel dis- 

 couraged over Castilloa planting. Do it 

 right, and it will pay you as much as 

 almost any other tropical crop. We do 

 not need to trouble ourselves about the 

 many other rubber-producing plants 

 which are cultivated elsewhere. 



Although many points have been ad- 

 vanced for the profitableness of one or 

 another rubber plant in preference to 

 others, there can be no doubt that the 

 uuruber of rubber plants which can be 

 grown with commercial success is very 

 small. 



Of the many different plants, which 

 contain rubber, there is one class that is 

 wholly unsuitable for cultivation. We 

 refer to the climbers or lianes. These 

 plants furnish a great part of the crude 

 rubber now available in the market. 

 For instance, all the rubber or gutta- 

 percha collected in the Philippines 

 comes from various climbing plants. 

 Similarly most of the African rubber 

 hails from lianes. In collecting, these 

 have to be cut down, and consequently 

 furnish only one crop. When we con- 

 sider that it takes several years for one 

 of these plants to grow up to its full size, 

 and when we further remember that the 

 climbers require large trees for support, 

 it is evident that cultivation of climbers 

 for commercial purposes cannot be a 

 success. 



Other rubber-containing plants yield 

 rubber in such small quantities, that 

 cultivation would not pay, and others 

 again do not yield before they have 

 reached an age of over 20 years, in which 

 case the returns would not offer induce- 

 ment enough for starting plantations. 



If we eliminate all the many different 

 rubber plants, which for one reason or 

 another are not suitable for cultivation, 



