224 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. ], 1901. 
of its ramification, foliage, &c. As a matter of fact, 
while the barji of the Hule Blanco and HuiB 
Negbo splits in the longitudinal (verticalj diieotion, 
that of the Hull Coloeado is smooth but presents 
quite a curious aspect by virtue of the light fur- 
rows running over it in a very oblique direction. 
By these furrows the bark of the Hule Coloeado 
appears as it were garlanded. These garlands or 
ribbons have jet another peculiarity: they are 
ornamented with little round knobs, disposed in 
vertical and horizontal series. At a given moment, 
these knobs breakup; they then coniribute towards 
making the bark take on that general reddish dis- 
coloration characteristic of the Hule Colorado. 
Apart from these oblique furrows, this be-ribboned 
arrangement, and these knobs, the bark of the 
Hule Oolokado is absolutlely smooth, without the 
least fissure, if we except the twigs and young 
branches of which the bark has not yet taken on 
its final form. The bark of the Hule Colobado is 
much thinner than that of the two preceding 
varieties ; the bast is scarcely developed at all. 
This variety is found everywhere mixed with the 
others, both in the high forests and in the mixed ; 
as a rule it is rarer than the Hule Elanco ; still 
there are placts where it predominates. I should 
not be surprise d if the poor results of Castilloa 
cultivation in Java and Ceylon were due to their 
having unsuspectingly planted this worthless variety. 
Should it turn out that the Java and Ceylon cul- 
tivation has b( cn of the Hule Colorado, the re- 
lative check to this culture would be explainable 
by the fact tl at this variety is much more shade- 
lovlLg than ti e Hule Blanco; now it is very likely 
that in those islands the Castilloa may have been 
grown without any shade. " * 
"4. Castilloa Tanu. This tree is called Tanit 
by the Mosquito Indians ; the huleros call it (jutta 
percha. The bark is very like that of the Hule 
Blanco, but rather greyer in colour; to distinguish 
this Castilloa from its three fore-runners, the easiest 
feature is that offered by tbe prolongations of the 
base tf the trunk (gamlas), which are more salient, 
much slenderer and with the upper edge more 
acute. This Castilloa does not exist in the valley 
of San Carlos ; f it is only to be met with start- 
ing from the outskirts of Blewfields (on the Mos- 
quito Coast) and further to the north ; on the Pacific 
slope there are certain places where the Tanu is 
very fi equent. 
"The leaf and all the bearing of the tree sug- 
gest the Hule Blanco; the latex is very abun- 
dant, but in drying it resinifies and hardens ; as 
for elf.sticity, this so called caoutchouc is no- where '' 
About Castilloa Tunu, Hemsley. 
Just as we are going to press we receive from 
Mr. Godefroy-Lebeuf to whom we had commuicated 
Mr. Koschny's study, s note in favour of the Cas- 
tilloa Tunu, Hemsley. Mr. C udefroy-Lebeuf works 
out in a more circumstancial ftshion the idea ex- 
pressed by us in our annotations on the account of 
observations published by Mr. Koschny under the 
title " Good and Bad C'astilloa. " We cannot do 
better than reproduce just as it stands the letter of 
Mr. Godefroy-Lebeuf. 
"We must not scatter discredit on the Castilloa 
Tunu, Hemsley. Should all the Tanu's or Tunh's of 
CoHta Rica be deemed unfit for any purpose, the Cas- 
tilloa Tunu, Hemsley, will still stand out as a most 
excellent caoutchouc, equal to the best Castilloa 
rubbers. 
* Editor s Note. — The discussion as to whether Cas- 
tilloa should be grown in the sun or in the shade 
will be found fully set forth in Mr. Wavbutg's book; 
but besides that wo shall give, in a coming number, 
gome more extracts from Koschny's pamphlet. He 
is a decided advocate of shade, 
f Editor's Note, — Where the author has his property, 
" This species has been determined by Hemslef 
chiefly on the specimens of my collaborateur, Eugene 
PoissoD, who has brought back from Costa Rica 
not only herbarium specimens but samples of latex 
and of caoutchouc drawn from this species. 
" That the tree known in Mr. Koschny's country 
as'Tann' or 'Tunu' gives bad caoitcbouc is quite 
possible, but the plant is undetermined botauically. 
Is it alone a Castilloa? 
"There is another proof of the good quality of 
Hemsley 's Castillo i Tunu, in the care taken by 
planters to use this kind alone. Mr. Eugene Poisson, 
now actually in France, can give us more definite 
information.* It is unfortunate that Koschny did 
not accompany his particukrs with botanical »peci- 
mens ; one cannot trust to simple descriptions. The 
genus Castilloa, notwithstanding the small number 
of species described, is terribly mixed. here does 
Castilloa elastica begin ? Is Castilloa Marhhamiana 
a true species ? Is Castilloa atistralis distinct from 
the Costa Eica species ? 
"I only know one thing, and that is that the 
Castilloa Tunu of Hemsley gives an excellent gum. " 
A. GODEFROY LEBEUF. 
PINE CULTIVATION. 
There has been a very great interest taken of 
late in Pine Cultivation. Pines have always been 
grown more or less in Jamaica, but given very 
scant attention, and comparatively few have been 
shipped abroad. Since good hopes of a direct line 
of fast steamers, especially fitted to carry freeh 
fruit between Great Britain and Jamica, were firsf 
held out, there has been a considerable planting ot 
pines, and since the "Direct Line" became a 
certainty, still greater attention has been 
directed to pine cultivation as a probable source of 
profit. There have come to Jamaica men from 
Florida who were engaged in the growing of pines 
there, and who have taught us a great deal in 
better ways ,o deal with the plants ; at the same 
time they have also learned that they had to adapt 
their ideas to Jamaica conditions as these are in 
many ways different to Florida. These Floridians also 
brought with them suckers of pine-apples new to 
Jamaica, some of which may be very useful to us. 
Oh, it is easy to plant pines 1 says somebody. Of 
course it is ; it is also just as easy to plant bana- 
nas, cocoa, or oranges, that is, by just sticking 
them in holes in the earth : but there are also 
ways of dealing with all plants that are expected 
to produce as high a return of a marketable 
product as possible, that will tend to this end, 
while the merely sticking in process will always give 
only a precarious change of producing something. 
Now in dealing with Pines we have first to choose 
the land. Pines will grow almost anywhere, but 
if the land is not naturally dry such as around 
Kingston, and on the plains on the south side, it 
is best to have a natural drainage and so the best 
plan is to choose sloping land ; the freer the soil 
is naturally, the better, although some varieties of 
* Editor's Note. Our mutual friend, Mr, Poisson 
Jonr., has just returned to Paris after a long and 
difficult journey of exploration ; agricultural and 
commercial, through Dahomey. We would ask him 
to spare a few moments from his well-enrned 
rest to give the readers of the Jonrnal d' Agricul- 
ture Tropical an account of how he collected the 
specimens ot leaves, fruits, and caoutchouc which 
have served Mr. Hemsley in his description of 
Castilloa Tunu in the ' Icones Plantarum' of Hooker 
2. Unless we have mis-read the German text' 
which by the way is none of the clearest, Mr! 
Koschny has sent botanical specimens of his Tunu 
to the Botanic Gardens of Berlin. The ' Tropenpf- 
lanzer ' will no doubt let us have the result of their 
study, which we will duly notice. 
