252 
THE TROPICAL. AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. 1, 1903. 
the best way of planting the Castilloa, and there is no 
■ doabt but different methods are adapted for difference 
of situations. I am firmly convinced, however, thai 
in the region I visited, by far the best method of 
planting is at the stake, biicked up b^ a small nursery, 
in order that the failures may be made good. Any one 
vfho has seen two year old seedlings as against two year 
old nursery plaots will, I think, agree with me. 
Speaking of the forest, one of the most conspicuous 
trees is a sort of a banyan, which has all the idiosyn- 
crasies of that tree of many trunks, and grows to 
a great size, It is a species of bicus which 
has not as yet been identified, bat is probably 
the Ficus Benjamina. Oa tapping it gives a 
certain amount of latex, but of a very sticky nature, 
and probably of no value. 
The next day we took in a plantation far up the 
Coachapa river, owned by a wealthy native, Senor 
Sanchez. His interests were chiefly in cattle, alihuuiih 
he had a little grove of wild seedling Castilloas 
about ten years old, which were 16 to 18 inches iu 
diameter, and perhaps 30 feet high. These we tapped 
in all sorts of ways, and got an abundance of milk, 
and incidentally proved that neither native nor white 
man can tap a tree saccessfully without much practice 
and skill. 
Indeed the next great problem that is to confront 
the rubber planters is that of tapping and preparing 
for market. One has only to look at the wild trees 
in the forest, and see how they have been hacked and 
scarred by the natives, to appreciate the fact that the 
planters will need better work and greater care of 
their trees. If all of the natives were expert machete 
men, and good climbers, the problem would be easily 
solved, but the real good men in this Hue are scarce. 
It is a most interesting sight to see a really skilful 
tapper, armed only with a rope and machete, beginning 
at the bottom of a tree, cut the channels so that the 
sap runs from one to another with scarcely a drop 
spilled, every stroke of the machete being just right, 
walking easily up the smooth tree trunk, and even 
running the tapping channels out on the larger 
branches. It is also equally disgusting to see a native 
who claims that he knows how to tap, mangle the 
baik, and able to climb only a foot or two without 
slipping down. The practical solution is going to 
involve two things : one is. the invention of a simple 
tool that is foolproof, and that cannot in any way 
injure the tree, and the second is a light safe ladder 
that will allow the mozo to reach the upper part of the 
trunk. Most of the planters plan to bleed the trees 
twice a year, in May and October. Some however, 
hold that they can stand tupping much oftener, and 
some most interesting experiments are being inaugu- 
rated in the exploitation of this theory. 
The sap flows apparently as freely at one time of the 
year as it does another, but the dry season is undoubt- 
edly to the best for tapping, as there is no iiain to wash 
away the milk, and the tree is resting then. If the 
cutting is done well, the scars soon fill in with new 
smooth bark, which in no way interferes with later 
working. The natural w&y, however, will be to drain 
one side of the tree at one lime, and another at a 
subsequent tapping. The planters are already planning 
as to the arrangement of gangs of men, and the pay 
for tapping and coagulating. The favourite method 
undoubtedly will be to give each native a certain 
stint, measured by the amount of latex that he brings 
in. I got a number of estimates as to the cost of 
tapping and coagulating, based ou actunl work, and in 
no case was it more than 10 cents a pound Mexican, 
Another thing that the planters plan to do is to pro- 
duce clean dry rubber, and there is no reason why they 
should not accomplish it. Of the various means of 
coagulating that are devised by experts, the one that 
seems to appeal the most strongly to the practical 
planter on the Isthmus is the use of the juice of the 
"amole" vine, ihe Idomoea Bono nox, which is most 
abundant everywhere, and which is apparently adds 
nothing to the rubber, and effects a quick and clean 
eoagulatioD.— India Rubber World. 
RUBBER PRODUCTION AND M.\NUPACTURE, 
In the course of a paper in " The India- 
Kubber Journal" of July 20th, "On the 
Present State of the Maoufacture of India- 
rubber," — a paper read before the Interna- 
tional Congress of Applied Chemistry,— the 
following passages occur of special interest 
to Rubber planters :— 
" xhere are already quite a number of instances 
of successful rubber plantations ia various parts 
ot the world which quice suffice co show that 
rubber planting has, indeed, emerged from the 
stage of a mere commercial expeiiment. At the 
present moment considerable areas are under 
cultivation in some of the northern state of South 
America, Central America, Mexico, the Malay 
Peninsula, Ceylon, and Java, which have already 
begun to produce rubber, and the aggregate pro- 
duction of which within the next few years should 
attain to fairly large dimensions. The state of 
affairs is not so favourable as regards the African 
rubber production. Almost everywhere in Africa 
rubber-yielding trees and plants are exploited in 
a way which must lead to their not far distant 
extermination. The orders issued in the British 
possessions, as also by the Congo Administration, 
have largely remained a dead letter : as a matter 
of fact, it is highly qviestionable whether the orders 
issued by the last-named administration were ever- 
meant to be more than a sop to public opinion. 
The planting experiments which have been made 
in various parts of Africa still leave some con- 
siderable doubt as to prospects, as well as the 
best tree to cultivate. 
" So far, the production of crude rubber has 
fairly kept pace with the increasing demands of 
the factories, but while at the same time the 
prices have shown a continuous upward tendency, 
the quality has, in many cases, distinctly deteri- 
orated. This, unfortunately, applies more parti- 
cularly to the highest of all rubber qualities — 
Para rubber. While fifteen years ago, fine Para 
rarely showed a loss in washing exceeding from 
10 to 12 per cent, this rose within the last ten 
years to from 12 to 16 per cent, and in the last 
five years has reached from 15 to 20 per cenc. 
During the same time interval, Colombia Virgin, 
at one time one of the fioest brands of rubber, has 
practically entirely disappeared from the market. 
What little still occurs under that name is an 
altogether inferior product. All the numerous 
brands of rubber shipped from the Central Ameri- 
can rubber districts have greatly shrunk in bulk, 
and enormously deteriorated in quality. The fine 
qualities of rubber, almost equal to Para, which 
were formerly obtained from Madagascar have 
likewise fallen off in quality and quantity, and 
the same is trne of all the rubber grades of India 
and the Indiafi Archipelago. On the other hand, 
the quality of the African rubber grades has 
distinctly improved, largely owing to the exertions 
of the companies operating in the Congo districD. 
" During the last few years the use- and parti- 
cularly the misuse — of substitutes has distinctly 
decreased, owing, no doubt, to the recognicioa 
that in recovered rubber we possess an incom- 
parably better material for the reduction of the 
cost of the mixings. The recovery of india- 
rubber is based upon the fact that by heating 
ground vulcanised rubber waste either with high 
pressure steam, or with certain solvents, the 
rubber can be re-converted into a plastic mass 
which is capable of re-vulcanisation, This capability 
