Oct, 1, 1903.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
are covflved with the f;reat virgin forest trees, the 
size Rnd number of which aftest the richness and 
depth of the soil. Few tracts of land in Mexico 
have so large a quantity of vahiable timber, snch as 
tnahofTRny, ebonv, cedar (seme of which measures 5 
feet in diameter), iron- wood, lignnm-vitae, Brazil 
wood, logwood nnd other dye woods, some being 
very valuable. The soil is a rich vegetable loam of 
great depth, with a prime red clay snb-soih 
This company are going in entirely for rubber. 
The San niarcos Co. is going in for rubber alone, 
and has an estate nf 21,000 acres. Another company 
hag 240 acres (90,000 trees) already nnder rubber, and 
1,.500 acres yet to be planted. The Le Junta, almost a 
model estate contains 475,000 rubber trees over 3 years 
old, with a nursery nf 700,000 trees, a large average 
under coffee, and 2,500 cacao trees. 'She Cascajal Co. 
besides coSee and other products have 67,000 rubber 
trees, 5 years old ; 73.000 trees from 2 to 4 years old ; 
end a large acreage for rubber nursery work. 
Altogether the rubber planting industry in Mexico 
appears to be in a very flourishing condition. The 
uses for rubber are increasing yearly and the 
demand is growing, so that even in some 15 vears' time 
when the large districts planted in Mexico and 
other parts cf America, and also in Ceylon, the 
Malay States, etc. are in full bearing, it is not 
probable that the demand for good rubber will be 
more than met. The largely increased supply wi^l 
probably bring down the prices somewhat, but even 
then the crop will always be a paying one ; so 
that no planters need be afraid of further planting 
rubber for fear of its being a non-paying crop 
through low market-prices, provided always that 
the best rubbers only are grown. It must be con- 
sidered also that in all probability the supply of the 
poorer grades of rubber will go down ; cheap and 
inferior rubber will be ousted, and there will always 
be a demand for rubber of the best quality. 
— Jt, 
THE RUBBER INDUSTRY IN CEYLON AND 
BQRMA. 
Considerable interest is now being taken in Burma, 
the Malay Peninsula, and also in Ceylon since 1898 
in the cultivation of rubber. The variety chiefly 
planted is the TIevea BrasiLiensis, the Para rubber 
of commerce. Roughly estimated there were ab-ut 
four million trees of this variety planted in the 
East within the last decade, and all of which ori- 
ginated from the plants sent from Kew to the 
Botanical Gardens of Peradeniva, near Kandy, in 
the Island of Ceylnn. At Amherst, situated just 
south of Moulmein, Mr. W. F, Todd started a plan- 
tation of Para rubber in 1899 and has now 50 acres 
fully planted with 14,000 trees which from yonng 
plants have developed into fine trees. There was 
every proppect of this cultivation being a good success, 
and a profifable return was expected when the trees 
bad attained an age of eight years, or five years 
hence. The plants referred to as having been fent 
from Kew to the Botanical Gardens in Ceylon were 
sent out af the instance of the British Government 
in 1876. The cultivation of this variety of Para 
rubber was started about two years since by the 
Government of India in the southern extremity of 
British Lower Burma, at a place called Mprgui and 
on the adjacent King Island. When the rubber trees 
at Amherst and other parts of Burma arrived at 
maturity the markets of Europe would receive a 
supply of nearly pure rubber which would h se only 
1 per c?nt in the washing. This had bean proved 
by recent samples sent home of cultivated rubber 
both from Ceylon and the Straits Settlements. The 
seeds of the Castilloa Elastica, the v,",riety now 
planted on a large scale in Mexico, had been also 
successfully introduced into Burma by Mr. Todd, 
who imported the seeds direct from San Salvador 
and Mexico, some of which were forwarded by him 
to Samoa in the South Seas and arrived there in 
good condition. The seed is supposed to lose iti 
vitah'tv very quickly, but, with carpfnl packin;?, it '3 
possible for it to travel safely for three months. In 
the present year there was considerable demand for 
this seed in Ceylon as it was found to thrive better 
on a wider range of country and climate than the 
Para. — Emgoon Times. 
» 
COTTON GROWING 
TO IMPROVE PRODUCTION' BY SEED SELECTION. 
An interesting letter on the improvement of cotton 
by seed selection (a criticism on a paper in the year- 
book of the American Department of Agriculture) ap- 
peared in the columns of the Nev York Herald, from 
which we make one or two useful extracts. Cotton 
growing in Ceylon is at present only in the experi- 
mental stnge. but it is probable that before long we 
shall see a fair acreage under this crop. As already 
stated in these puges the area of the bhck soil snit- 
flble for rotton growing in Ceylon is limited — some 
25 OfQ acres — so that it will be necessary, if the 
industry is to be a paying one, to get the biggest cropa 
possible from this limited area. This matter is 
receiving attention from fir. MacMillan, who is carry- 
ing on the cotton prowing experiments at Anuradha- 
pura, and the seed of the first crop is to be carefully 
skived, and selected seed only will be used for further 
growing. These extracts, therefore, will not be out of 
place just now. 
The writer of the letter says : — 
An article by Mr. Herbert J. Webber, on ' Improve- 
ment of Cotton by Seed Selection,' in the year-book of 
the Dpp.irtment of Agriculture, contains suggestions 
whic!:;, if generally adopted, would lead to a large 
increase in the cotton production of the United States. 
He concludes that the most important problein now 
before cotton growers seems to be that of increasing 
the production on the same acreage, rather than 
extending the acreage itself. Mr. Webber recognizes 
that the character of the soil is the factor of greatest 
imnortance. He believes, however, that there is great 
opportunity of improving the industry on all lauds, 
both good and poor, and he estimates that the cotton 
crops could be doubled, on the same acreage now grown, 
by proper attention to two factors necessary to suc- 
cess, namely, the universal use of good seed cotton 
and careful methods of tillage and fertilization. 
THE IMPORTA.VCE OF GOOD SEED. 
While both of these factors contribute largely to 
success, Mr. Webber believes that the importance of 
good seed is probably more commonly overlooked than 
the matter of cultivation. His observations show that 
fully half the planters use seed t^ken at random from 
public eins, about which they know nothing other 
than that it was produced somewhere in the same 
vicinity; and he says: 'As well might the breeder 
of fast trotting horses introduce dray animals into 
his stables, or the breeder of intelligent hunting dogs 
introduce ordinary mongrel curs into his kennels. 
The use of good seed and its production by a regular 
system of selection is just as important a factor in 
the production of the crops as that of cultivation. 
No intelligent method of farm management disregards 
the production and use of good seed. The day, when 
growers can nfford to plant any sort of cotton seed, 
has passed. Only seed of a known variety, selected 
because of its desirable qualities and adaptability to 
local conditions, should be planned.' 
SFED SELECTED IN THE LOCALITY. 
The traditional belief that an occasional change of 
seed is necessary, if good crops are to be regularly 
secured, is attacked by Mr. Webber, who contends 
that, to secure the best results, plants must be bred 
and adapted to soil and climatic conditions, and that 
cotton planters and growers of cereal crops as well, 
if they are to obtain the best results, must select their 
seed in the locality where it used to be rsgnlarly 
grown, in order to adapt it to the particular soil and 
climatic conditions. 
