April l, 1903.] the tropical AGRICULTURtST. 
701 
It is regrettable that statements should be 
irresponsibly made, disparaging an industry which 
will certainly become a source of wealth to tlioEe 
who give thought, care and patience to its develop- 
ment, by anyone wlio has not studied its methods 
and is manifestly unacquainted with tlie principles 
which make for success. For my own part, I am 
more than satisfied with the growth and pro- 
spects of my own enterprise. Let us take the case 
of a man possessing a hundred thousand trees, and 
put the yield at the seventh year at one pound 
only — I believe this to be below what the result 
will actually be. Let us put the price of good, 
clean, sound rubber at three shillings per pound, 
which my brokers inform me it is quite safe to 
assume will be iis value. The result would be 
£15,000 sterling— fifteen thousand pounds— for the 
first year, which would be doubled certainly by 
the ninth year, an income for which J, for one, am 
quite content to work and wait, 
Geoege Cullen Pearson. 
Puebla, Mexico, January 4th. 
PROSPECTS. 
Again:— The following is taken from the letter of 
a gentleman residing in Mexico who has no interest 
in rubber lands, and may be considered au impartial 
statement : — 
I am in receipt of your favour of the loth inst. in 
which you ask me to give you the location of the 
various districts of sub-tropical Mexico where con- 
ditions are favourable to the cultivation of rubber, 
and stating that you contemplate establishing a 
plantation if available land can be found where 
rubber would likely prove a profitable crop. The 
rubber tree is found growing wild in the forests 
which cover a strip of country ranging from ten to 
one hundred miles in width, and extending from 
the port of Tuxpan on the north to the western 
boundary of the State of Campeche, a distance of 
probably five hundred miles, There are probably 
more rubber trees to a given acreage of forest in the 
vicinity of Frontera, in the State of Tabasca, than 
elsewhere in the rubber-producing country of the 
Gulf Coast. Near Belize, on the east coast of 
Yucatan, rubber trees are abundant. Around 
Soconusco, on the west coast of Chiapas, and in 
the vicinity of Pochutla, State of Oaxaca, rubber 
plantations have been started. As rubber grov/s 
only on the moist low lands of the coast, the width 
of the rubber belt varies gieatly. In places it 
follows the river valleys for a considerable distance 
inland, but, where the mountains approach the 
sea, it is narrowed to a few miles of country lying 
along the coast. Nearly all the rubber produced 
in this Republic is collected by the Indians from 
the wild trees growing in the forests. 
The rubber tree matures at the age of 6 
years. They should yield from 6 to 48 pounds of 
milk annually. In the coagulation of the milk 
there is a shrinkage of about 50 per cent, leaving 
from 2J to 3^ pounds of crude rubber, which is 
worth 50 to 80 cents per pound gold. The process 
of coagulating the milk is simpla and inexpensive. 
The annual profit ofabearins plantation of lOOacres 
should not be less than $8,000 Mexican money. 
However, up to the present time, the actual pro- 
fitableness of cultivated rubber is, in a measure, a 
matter of conjecture, as no one, to my knowledge, 
is yet making money from a bearing plantation iu 
this Republic. 
In the southern portion of the Republic, parti- 
cularly iu the rubber-producing districts of Cliiapas 
and Tabasco, a large number of rubber trees are 
annually beinsr killed by too frequent tapping by 
the Indians. This is causing a great decrease in 
the rubber production of the countiy. 
Capitalists seeking profitable investment in 
Mexico are fully warranted in going into this 
subject scientifically. Something is already being 
done in an experimental way, and a few years 
should do a great deal toward (leinonstraling whiit 
resnlts are obtainable from the .■systematic cultiva- 
tion of the rubber tree in Mexico. There has been 
a constant increase in the consumption during the 
past few years. The annual exportation of Brazil 
has reached $100,000,000. The Cential American 
countries are also lirgely exporting this commodity. 
Tue price of rubber is also advancing. The United 
States aione consumes §.30,000,000 worth of rubber 
in the manufacture of bicycle tires. It is my belief 
thdt the price of rubber will not materially decline. 
The increased use of electrical apparatus, the prob- 
able general adoption of rubber-tired vehicles, the 
extended utilisation of rubber in the manufacture 
of belting, clothing, etc., ill prevent any notable 
depreciation in the value of this commodity. A 
decline in price will be quickly foUov/ed by an 
increase in consumption, — Modern Mexico for 
February, 1903. 
A HARDY, RUBBER-YIELDING TREE 
Eucommia ulmoides was figured and described by 
Plot. D Oliver in Hooker's Icones Plcmtarum, tt. 
1950 (1891). 2361 (1895), from specimens collected 
in the Province of Hupeh, China, by Dr Henry. It 
forms a tree 20 to 30 feet high, with a branch- 
system resembling that of the common Hazel, the 
deciduous leaves resembling those of the Elm ; the 
flowers small, and unattractive ; and the fruit in 
clusters, samaroid, winged, about an inch long, J 
inch wide, each containing a single oblong seed. 
The genus is related to Trochodendron, Cercidi- 
phyllum, and more distantly to Hamamelie. A 
plant of it was presented to Kew in November, 
1897, by M Maurice de Vilmorin, and in the space 
of four years it has grown from a small plant a foot 
high to a sturdy bush 7 feet his;h, and 6 feet 
through. It has stood the frost of that period in 
the open air without any protection, and appears 
to be quite as hardy as the Witch-Hazel. Cuttings 
of the branches root readily, and large branches of 
it may be successfully layered. This plant has a 
special interest from its caoutchouc yielding pro- 
perty, as will be seen from the following note, 
"Tu-chung" (Eucommia ulmoides) is a native of 
Central China, where, according to Dr Henry, it is 
cultivated in the districts of Chang-yang and 
Patung, in Hupeh, N. lat. 35' ; it is also, according 
to Farges, cultivated in about the same latitude in 
eastern Sze-chuen, in the district of Tcheu-keov/- 
tin. A singular feature about this plant is the 
extraordinary abundance of an elastic gum in all 
the younger tissues, especially in the bark, the 
leaves, and petioles. Any of these snapped across 
wben dry, and the parts drawn asunder, exhibit 
the silvery sheen of innumerable threads of this 
gum. The bark it-elf (to which, according to Dr 
Henry, tonic, im igorating, and other properties 
are ascribed) is a most valuable medicine with the 
Cliinese.. selling at 43 to 8s per lb. Further, the 
leaves are eaten when youn<r, and the fruit is 
astringent. The merits of the Tu-cliunc as a 
caoutchouc producing plant are entirely unknown; 
it is, however', deserving of notice. Ii- would b« 
