December, 1908.] 



511 



Saps and Exudations. 



Even these latter percentages are much 

 higher than those usually recorded for 

 Castilloa rubber from mature trees. 



The valuations of the sheet Castilloa 

 rubbers vary from 2s. to is. 6d, per 

 lb., and those of the "scrap" from 2s. 

 Id, to 8s. Od, per lb. It may be noted 

 that in the case of the specimens Nos. 1!) 

 and 20 the scrap rubber in ball form 

 was valued by the brokers at more 

 thau the corresponding sheet. The 

 latter was exceptionally weak, whereas 

 the ball of scrap rubber appeared to 

 be much stronger and contained a 

 little less resin. 



Funtumia Rubber.— The single speci- 

 men of this rubber which was submitted 

 was of very fair quality. — Bulletin of 

 the Imperial Institute, Vol. VI., No. 2, 

 1908. 



[The West Indies has been too much 

 interested in cotton to pay much atten- 

 tion to rubber, bnt there are signs 

 that the latter is now being taken 

 up,— Ed.] 



THE COAGULATION OF LATEX. 



(La coagulation des latex a caoutchouc, 

 G. Lamy-Torrilhon in Journ. d'Agr. 

 Trop., 30th September, 1908, p. 257.) 



I, Mechanical Processes. 



In the introduction the author, well- 

 known as a manufacturer of rubber, 

 mentions that in French West Africa 

 schools have been established in the 

 rubber centres to instruct the natives 

 in the treatment of the trees and the 

 coagulation of the latex. He then goes 

 on to describe the various machines of 

 Guignet, Schmoele, Morchette, and 

 Michie-Golledge. 



J. C. W. 



RUBBER ESTATES IN GERMAN 

 EAST AFRICA. 



(Zimmermann in Der Pflanzer 2, 12, 

 1907, p. 321.) 



Abstracted by J. C. Willis. 



Manihot Glaziovii has so far been 

 almost exclusively planted, though 

 Hevea, Landolphia, Ficus, Castilloa, and 

 Mascarenhasia occur, and recently a few 

 Funtumias have been put in. 



Investigations weie set on foot by the 

 Botanical Institute at Amani to deter- 

 mine the area planted, but as all estates 



did not reply to queries, the following 

 figures are too small. They show that 

 5,107,600 trees are already planted, or 

 allowing that the trees are l a feet apart, 

 an area of 11,582 acres. A further two 

 millions of trees were expected to be 

 planted before the end of 1907, so that 

 the area in the beginning of 1908 may be 

 safely looked upon as 15,000 acres, or 

 perhaps now 20,000. 



From these trees a yield of say 1,000 

 tons may be expected in a few years' 

 time, so that German East Africa is 

 distinctly a factor to be reckoned with 

 on the rubber market. 



CASTILLOA ON THE ISTHMUS 

 OF TEHUANTEPEC. 



By J. L. Hermessen, of Chiapas, 

 Mexico. 



O waving trees, O foresb liberty ! 



Within your haunts at least a man is free. 



Ravenna. 



The wind of the South blows fierce 

 and hot, its voice as the sound of many 

 waters, as it riots through waving palm, 

 bending bamboo, and great-leaved 

 banana. Borne on the wild surgings of 

 the wanton wind come the hoarse 

 clamour of countless frogs, the plaintive 

 cry of the whip-poor-will, the cease- 

 less hum of the myriad insects ; but of 

 human sounds, not one. The night, 

 with its "thousand eyes," is as the day, 

 but in its argent radiance more glorious 

 still ; the sheen of the moon on field and 

 forest palm-thatched hut and winding 

 stream, turning its course into molten 

 silver and making giant spectres of 

 the white-barked " chaucarro," and 



jonote" midst the " silent places " where 

 the trogon builds, his nest and the deer 

 and the tapir roam free. 



These southerly winds prevail during 

 the hottest and driest months of the 

 year — namely, March, April, and May — 

 and are a source of some anxiety to the 

 planter on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, 

 constituting, as they do, about the only 

 menace he has to fear on the score of 

 fibre. During the same months much 

 necessary work, impossible of accomplish- 

 ment at any other period of the year — 

 such as road and bridge-building — has 

 to be attended to, including the prepar- 

 ation of areas for new plantings. 



The selected block of forest is first 

 underbrushed, then felled, making a 

 complete clearing, which is allowed to 

 dry for six weeks. Either at the 

 beginning or middle of May the ground 

 is burnt over, the choice of a favourable 



