Dec. 1, 1908,1 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
381 
reg;arda manuring cau be laid dowu. Tiie need of ex- 
periment, therefore, in Districts wliere the coaditious 
are different to those of the Shevaroya oaunot be too 
strongly nrged ; and Mr. Leemiug's experience afforda 
the beat example of the lines upon which to work. 
Fortunately for his brother planters that gentleman 
has shown himself hitherto most willing to show en- 
quirers round and answer their questions on his estate ; 
but not, he says, by correspondence. If he could be 
induced to visit other localities and give would-be 
diciples the benefit of his advice insitu we cannot but 
think that the best results would ensue, it being as 
necessary to ultimate success for the system to ba 
continued thoroughly. 
To sum up, Ml-. Learning may be said to have done 
for coffee what men of science are trying to do for 
ngiicultuce and horticulture everywhere. By the aid cf 
long experience and persistent effort he may fairly 
claim to have made two beans grow where only one 
grew before ; and, moreover, beans of a better quality 
— Madras MaU, 

INDIA RUBBER IN CEYLON. 
CAOUTCHOUCS AND GUTTAPEECHAS. 
The following useful account of rubber, rubber trees 
and guttaperchas, and particulars of the industry so far 
in Oeylon, is given in the October annals of the Royal 
Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya, edited by J. C. Willis, 
M.A., F.L.s.; — 
EUBBER OP commerce; 
Rubber appears on the market in many forms { 
known as slabs, balls, lumps, tongues, biscuits, sheets, 
twists, strips, negrohead, niggers, scrap, &c. The 
qualities first named are in general the best, being 
more homogeneous and less intermixed with birk, 
sand, or other impurities. The price varies from about 
4s. 6i. per lb., which is obtained at present by the 
biscuits of the finest Ceylon-grown Hevea rubber, down 
to about Is. 6d. for poor scrap rubbers. The standard 
rubber quality is " Pine Para, up-river, hard cure," 
which appears as large very uniform slabs, at present 
valued at about is. per lb. Pure caoutchouc, freshly 
prepared, is almost colourless, but rubber as it appears 
on the market is of all kinds of colours, blackish, 
blueish, greyish, yellowish. A good rubber should be 
uniform in texture and colour. 
Caoutchouc appears to be a compound of carbon and 
hydrogen, expressed by the formula (do Hi6)n. It is 
Blightly lighter than water, having a specific gravity 
of about 0'93, It is a non-conductor of heat and 
electricity, and becomes electrical on rubbing. It ia 
insoluble in water and alcohol, but absorbs them, and 
swells up in so doing. In oil of turpentine, carbon 
bisulphide, ether, benzine, chloroform, &c., rubber 
forma a clear homogeneous sticky finid, usually known 
as rubber solution, but which is rather a solution of the 
so-called solvent in the rubber than of the rubber in 
the solvent. 
Rubber alters in air and is injured by oils. When 
heated, e.g., by standing in the sun while drying, it 
melts to a sticky mass, which does not become firm 
again on cooling, and which is almost valueless. 
Crude rubbers contain more or less resin, which lowers 
their value ; the smallest proportions, about Ij — 7 per 
cent, are found in the best rubbers, e.g., in Para. 
Rubber is used in innumerable ways in the arts. The 
crude product goes through various preliminary pro- 
cesses. It is first boiled in water for twelve or more 
hours to soften it, then torn to fragments in a machine 
on the principle of the coliee-pulper, and then passed 
in small quantities between grooved rollers moving in 
opposite directions, which are coutiuually washed by a 
stream of water. The rubber emerges as thin sheets 
with a peculiarly pitted surface, and cleaned of iis 
coarser impurities such as bark, sand, &c. It is then 
dried and masticated between heated grooved rollers, 
pressed together into shoets or blocks and left in a coo 
place for some months to become homogeneous, and 
is then cut into sheets for manufacturing purposes. 
For the majority of its uses rubber is vulcanised, a 
certain proportion of sulphur beinsr added to it during 
mastication and the rubber heated for some time to a 
considerable temperature. It thus becomes tougher 
and more resisteut, and ia less easily melted. A large 
proportion of sulphur ('20-40 per cent.j prodacea 
vulcanite or ebonite. 
STAPLE HUBBEHS. 
Castilloa or Panama Rubber. — Ca'stUloa is a genus 
of the family Moracece (often included in Urticucc'i^) , 
and belongs to that^ section of the family which in- 
cludes the jak and breadfruit (Artnrarpus), the milk 
tfee (/-cosmjnji), and the many species of J^'irus, eg., 
the Bo and the Assam rubber (A', clastka). The genus 
has two or more species. Of these, the most im- 
porlant is C. clastica, Cervantes, the Ule of the 
Spaniards, which is found wild in Mexico from lat. 21° 
southwards, in Guatemala, Honduras, San Salvador, 
Coata i-iica, and Nicaragua; it also appears to occur 
in North- Western South America. C. tunu Hemsl., 
the Tunu, occurs in Honduras and Costa Rica. 
Ca.s'<i7/oa rubber was introduced iuto the Colony about 
the ssme time as the Para and through the same 
agency. A Wardian case of plants arrived in 1876 
from the Royal Gardens, Kew, and the plants were 
put out at Henaratgoda and Peradeniya. They grev/ 
well at both places, but especially at Henaratgoda, 
and were increased by cuttings. They began to flower 
in 1881, and in the following year a few seeds were 
ripened. About 1886 the growth became less rapid, 
and since then has been very slight, the soil in the 
gardens being shallow, and at Henaratgoda not well 
drained. ('. clastica is usually described as a large 
tree of rapid growth, reachiog 180 feet in height and 
15 feet in girth The Oevlon plants show no sign of 
such growth. There has been some doubt as to 
whether they are the true C. elastica ; they were 
brought by Cross from Darien (Panama), where they 
were locally known as Caucho, and have been des- 
cribed by some as a different species, G. Blarkhamiana 
Markham (not Collins). Recent research seems to 
show that this form cannot be specifically separated 
from C. elastica, but at the same time it is not im- 
probable that the latter occurs in several different 
varieties, Koschny describes three in Costa Rica, the 
white, black, and red (Ule bianco, negro, Colorado), 
recognised chiefly by the colour of the bark. As this 
ia partly due to lichens^ these colours are probably not 
reliable tests out of Costa Rica. The white foim is 
described as the best, the others giving a poor yield 
and being easily injured by tapping. A considerabls 
number of plants were distributed from the gardene, 
and the tree is now common in Ceylon, especially in 
the Matale District, In recent years some seed has 
been imported direct from Mexico and elsewhere, and 
may prove to be different from the originaly imported 
form. 
When young the tree grows rapidly upwards, and 
forma a number of short lateral branches, which after 
a time drop off, being detached from the trunk by a 
peculiar joint, whose surface resembles a piece of coral. 
The bark is rather soft and thick. The leaves are 
large and oblong. The flowers are borne when the 
tree has reached some considerable size (in the fifth 
year or later) and has begun to form permanent 
branches. They are monociious, male and female ou 
the same branch, enclosed or embedded in a top-lika 
common receptacle, which is covered externally with 
small leaves. This subsequently forms a somewhat 
fleshy fruit, containing numerous small seeds about J 
inch in diameter, with white papery seed-coats. About 
800-1,000 seeds weigh a pound. They do not keep well, 
and should be sown as soon as possible, 
cultivation. 
The seeds are sown an inch deep, and about 8 inches 
apart, in a well-prepared nursery and lightly covered 
with a little vegetable mould, Thay are kept lightly 
