Gums, Resins. 



114 



[August, 1908. 



we have four or perhaps five kinds to 

 take into consideration. Besides the 

 two principal kinds of Para rubber and 

 Castilloa, we have the Ceara rubber 

 (Manihot Glaziovii, Muell. Arg.) which 

 originally was found wild in certain 

 mountain districts in Brazil, where it is 

 occasionally gathered by the natives. 

 This tree was first considered very suit- 

 able for cultivation, and more than 

 twenty years ago it was largely planted 

 in Ceylon and also in India, but at the 

 present day it is hardly considered 

 worth collecting. 



The Assam rubber (Ficus elastica) of 

 East India has been producing rubber 

 for a long time, but it is not likely to 

 become planted very widely, as even in 

 its native country it does not produce 

 rubber profitably before it has reached 

 rather advanced age. Both in Java and 

 the Malay Peninsula I found that both 

 private planters and Government experts 

 were discouraging the planting of this 

 tree. It is, however, the most long- 

 lived of all the rubber trees, and would 

 probably go on improving for a century. 

 The main trouble with the Ficus is in 

 the tapping, which is very difficult. 



The so-called Lagos rubber (Funtumia 

 elastica) which grows wild on the west 

 coast of Africa is being planted in its 

 native country, and has been tried 

 experimentally in many Botanical 

 Gardens throughout the Tropics, but it 

 is not considered very good. 



In Colombia and in certain parte of 

 Central America there occurs in the 

 high mountains a rubber tree which 

 produces a very good kind of rubber. 

 This is Sapium tolimense, which may 

 yet prove to be suitable for our tropical 

 highlands up to an elevation of 7,000 

 feet. To my knowledge no experiments 

 with this plant have yet been done in 

 Mexico, mainly on account of the diffi- 

 culty of obtaining true seeds. Over a 

 year ago I received and planted seeds, 

 which were said to be those of Sapium 

 tolimense, but when the plant appeared, 

 1 found it to be another species of 

 Sapium w T hich does not produce rubber. 



The Hancornia speciosa of Brazil, or 

 the Mangabeira rubber is a very slow- 

 growing tree, rather difficult to cultivate, 

 and I do not think it Avould be a success 

 in Mexico. 



As we have to leave out the Hevea on 

 account of the cost in collecting the 

 rubber, we find ourselves confined to the 

 rubber tree of Mexico growing at our 

 very doors in the Tropics. 



Taken as an ordinary cultivated tree, 

 the Castilloa is as easy a plant to cultivate 

 as any. But we must not for a moment 

 believe, as many company promoters 

 like to state, that all we have to do is to 

 plant the seeds in the ground and wait 

 for the crop to appear. We have to 

 wait, and the waiting period is, as you all 

 know, quite long and costly, but during 

 this time we have to keep busy 

 looking after our trees and their develop- 

 ment. As in regard to other plants 

 Castilloa re-acts to good treatment. 

 We have so far learnt quite a deal about 

 the methods of cultivation, and our 

 knowledge of rubber culture to-day is 

 quite different from that of five years 

 ago. But we have still to find out many 

 things in order to get the very best 

 results. To reach this end we need 

 co-operation between the planters, and 

 I trust the new Rubber Planters' Asso- 

 ciation of Mexico will be able to establish 

 a system of co-operative experiments in 

 different parts of the country under the 

 general direction of its Council. 



If we are to progress and keep our 

 own, it is necessary that we all co- 

 operate, and we must remember that 

 the valuable man in any business is the 

 man who can and will co-operate with 

 other men. It has been fitly said that 

 " the foreman who opposes the introduc- 

 tion of a new man into an institution, 

 and fights every innovation which he 

 himself does not suggest, is doomed to 

 a gradual and creeping defeat." " Men 

 succeed only as they utilize the services 

 and ideas of other men " says Elbert 

 Hubbard. Therefore, let us co-operate. 



In this and in many other regards the 

 Planters' Association has a great mission, 

 and we hope that a few years hence, when 

 the result of the work of this Association 

 is beginning to show what the Mexican 

 rubber industry shall be, not a thing to 

 be laughed at, but one of the leading agri- 

 cultural industries of this country, and 

 one which will have the lead in com- 

 petition with other countries. — Year 

 Book of the Rubber Planters' Association 

 of Mexico, 1907-1908. 



