July, 1911.] 



could have been selected lor culture iu 

 suitable districts in Jamaica. Most of 

 the rubber sent from Guatemala and 

 from British Honduras is produced by 

 this species. 



Professor Pittier in a letter to me 

 states that for semi-arid regions, with 

 well characterised dry and rainy seasons, 

 he would recommend Castilloa lactiflua 

 of the Socouusco district of the State of 

 Chiapas in Southern Mexico ; C. nicoy- 

 ensis from the dry Pacific slopes of the 

 Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, and 

 probably C. panamensis from Panama ; 

 while C- costaricana from the humid 

 Atlantic slopes of Costa Rica, and C 

 elastica are better adapted for districts 

 with predominant rainy weather. 



Mr. Briscoe, the agricultural instructor 

 for St. Thomas, recently discovered two 

 small plantations of Castilloa in the 

 eastern part of St. Thomas. The trees 

 in one case were raised from seed im- 

 ported from Mexico seven years ago, 

 and in the other the seeds were import- 

 ed from Costa Rica about ten years ago. 



I submitted leaves of these trees to 

 Professor Pittier and he has provision- 

 ally identified the Mexican tree as C 

 elastica, and the Costa Rican tree as C, 

 costaricana. 



When the trees flower and fruit in a 

 few months' time I hope to secure com- 

 plete botanical material to be sent to 

 Professor Pittier for authentic determin- 

 ation, but it would appear from our 

 present information that we have at 

 least three species in Jamaica- 



I may mention that Mr. David Fair- 

 child, the Agricultural Explorer in 

 Charge of the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 has made arrangements to send us 

 during the coming fruiting season, a 

 small supply of seed of every reputed 

 rubber-producing species of Castilloa 

 for trial in Jamaica. 



11.— Yields of Rubber from 

 Castilloa Trees. 



A.— Mr. W. Cradwick, 

 Agricultural Instructor. 



1. Castilloa trees planted at Retreat 

 estate in Portland five years ago have 

 now an average girth of 29 inches at 2 

 feet from ground. The height is 25 to 

 35 feet. These trees were planted in 

 Banana land at a spacing of 14 feet. 



2. At Rosend in St. Mary, the follow- 

 ing measurements were obtained. 



Variety. Age. Girth at 3 feet. 



(a) Manihot Glaziovii 4 years 26J inches, 



(b) Castilloa guatemalensis 3 years 22 „. 

 It) Hevea Brasilwnsw a years 8*12} ■• 



Saps and Exudations. 



Photographs of (a) and (b) are given in 

 plates 66 and 65. We are indebted to the 

 Attorney, Mr. Henry Cork, for permis- 

 sion to reproduce these photographs. 



3. At Burlington in Portland the 

 oldest Castilloa tree (obtained from 

 Castleton in 1887 and estimated to be 

 23 years old) was tapped on December 

 23rd, and gave 41b. 6. oz. of crude rubber 

 and 7 oz. of scrap, total 41b. 13 oz. in one 

 tapping. This is the highest yield yet 

 recorded in Jamaica. 



This tree was tapped in September 

 and October, 1907, and gave 22 ozs. rubber 

 in three tappings extending over three 

 weeks. 



It is growing on poor hilly land un- 

 suitable for bananas, and now has a 

 girth of 86 inches showing, a gain of 6 

 inches in a period of 3£ years. 



At the last tapping the latex ran 

 freely and a splendid yield was obtained. 

 The leaves from this tree have been 

 identified by Mr. Harris as those of the 

 species guatemalensis, originally intro- 

 duced through Castleton Gardens. 



B.— Mr. J. Briscoe, 

 Agricultural Instructor. 



(1) Two large Castilloa trees at Castle- 

 ton age 25 years gave 4 lbs, of rubber in 

 5 tappings or 2 lb. per tree (Species 

 Guatemalensis). 



(2) Four trees in St. Thomas-in-the- 

 Vale, aged 10 years, averaged 3 ozs. 

 rubber each at the first tapping (Species 

 guatemalensis). ~ 



(3) Three trees at Linstead, aged 10 

 years, averaged 2 ozs. rubber each at the 

 first tapping, two of these girthed 50 

 inches, and the others, 37 inches. 

 (Species guatemalensis.) 



(4) At Koningsberg in St. Mary, 



No. 1, 8 years, 48 inches in girth 



gave 11 oz. 

 No. 2, 12 years, 72 inches in girth, 



gave 2 lb. 

 No. 3, 12 years, 84 inches in girth, 



gave 1 lb. 11 ozs. 



(Species guatemalensis.) 

 St. Thomas— 



(a) Castilloa elastica from Mexican 

 seed, trees 7 years old, 36 inches in 

 girth, gave 9 ozs. rubber. 



(b) Castilloa costaricana, from Costa 

 Rican seed, trees 10 years old, 

 36 inches girth, gave 7 ozs. rubber. 



Linstead, St. Catherine — 



Species, Castilloa guatemalensis. 



(a) Three 10 years old trees, averaged 

 2£ ozs. rubber each, 



