May 1, 1902.1 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
MORE ABOUT RUBBER. 
Les Pl-vntes a Caoutchouc et leur Cul- 
ture, PAR LK PllOFESSEUK DR. O. WARBUKG. 
Traduction conipl(Stee et annot^e par J. 
Vilbouchevitch.* Tiiis translation of Prof, 
Warburg's able and complete work will be 
invaluable to those to whom the German 
volume was a sealed book. The trans- 
lator prefaces his book by stating that 
M. Warburg is one of the most noted of 
the botanists of the Faculty of Berlin and 
is also professor of the Course on Colonial 
Products in that city. He is the head of 
the Tropenpjlanzer, a monthly periodical. M. 
Warburg has also travelled in the tropics, 
and his work has been written especially for 
practical men who intend to cultivate rubber. 
Scientific knowledge has, however, advanced 
considerably since M. Warburg's volume ap- 
peared. Thus, to take only one instance, the 
Landolphiasof Africa, some of which were said 
to yield good Rubberare now rejected. Again, 
the statistical portion required revising. 
" We have, therefore, completed the German 
text and made several additions culled from 
the personal experiences of such men as M. 
M Ciievalier, A. Godefroi Lebosuf, J. Grisard, 
Dr Heim, A. Michelin and K. de Wilder- 
man. We have also largely increased the 
number of illustrations, thanks to the loan 
of several negatives. Our translation is 
thoroughly faithful, the author himself 
having assisted us in some doubtful parts. 
Thanks to our several additions, &c., this 
volume contains 300 pages as against 150 
pages in the original volume." 
M. Warburg in his Pretace states that 
though when he lirst wrote (1898), most of 
the Rubber of Commerce was procured from 
natural forests; yet Rubber was being planted 
in many directions and the documents about 
the various kinds suitable for cultivation 
were scattered in such a multitude of peri- 
odicals, &c., that he had set himself to 
collect and submit to careful criticism and 
analysis the information thus gained. His 
statistical Introductory chapter on the pro- 
duction and consumption of rubber shows 
how world wide is the problem before us. 
Thus his tables show quantities and countries 
from' which rubber is procured and to which 
it finds its way-also the re-exportation. 
Some 42 pages are taken up with this, ihe 
otherchapters are headed as follows :-ir. Para 
Rubber; III. Castil'oa ; IV. Ceara Rubber 
Tree • V. Mangabeira Rubber ; VI. The 
African Rubber Plants : VII Ficus Rubber ; 
'VIII Various Rubber Trees of minor im- 
portance ; IX. Table of Weights and Monies, 
Index. 2(3 illustrations are included and the 
above chapters occupy about 45 or 50 piiges 
*'Yt* is impossible to give further details of 
so complete a work. The book must be 
possessed by those who make the subject 
their life work, for it is full of interest, as 
much practical, as scie ntific. 
> *Pfuis : Augiistin Challiunel, Efliteni' R«iv. Jacob 
17, Libiairie Marine et Coloniale. 
95 
FORESTS AND WATER-SUPPLY.* 
{An instance from history) 
Everybody has heard ol the monks of La Trappe, 
or Trappist-5, an order whose vows include a life of 
Bilence coupled with 8 hours' hird woik daily, Tha 
monastery was founded in 1140 by Rotrou II., Count 
of Perche, after losing his wife and his brother William 
in the wreck of 'La Blanche uef.' The forests with 
which it was endowed were kept till the Revolntion, 
when they were confiscated to the State. Under 
which of the 'rights of man ' this course was jnatified 
it boots not to enquire. 
Whether the Trappists had been abusing their 
forests is not distinctly explained, but it appears 
that they had certainly been cutting the coppica 
portion (the greater part) too young, for at the Ke- 
formation of 1665 an edict went out against them. 
This no doubt emanated from the great Colbert, and 
ran thus : — ' The religious community, the abbot, 
prior and convent of Notre Dame de la Trappe, ice, 
are hereby forbidden to cut any of Ihe woods attached 
to the said abbey before the age of fifteen years, 
seeing the poverty of the soil. They shall regulate 
their coupes into fifteen equal fellings, and they shall 
leave standing at each felling the number of standards 
required by law ; they shall allow one-third of their 
forest area to grow as high forest on the best soil 
iu proximity to the Abbey itself.' 
This was duly observed till 1700, when the Abba 
de Ranee died, afte» ruling the monastery wisely and 
well for thirty-seven years. After hia death the 
Trappists thought they would launch out into great 
iroujvorks, and the forests had to pay for the dis- 
astrous experiment. An old book ' The Life of Dom 
Pierre, the Dwarf, cleric and former sub-prior of tha 
Abbey of la Trappe,' 1715, states the matter with 
due .Tppreciation : — 'Iron ores have ever been plenty 
about the Abbey of la Trappe, and many times had 
the holy father, the late Abbe, been supplicated that 
he would allow it to be dug out by private persons 
who desired to establish ironworks. The abbey might 
expect much profit and no expense. Never would 
Dom Bouthillier de Ranee yield, for he foresaw 
beneath the promise of large profits the certain ruin 
of the revenues of hia house, coupled with spiritual 
demoralisation and the relax^tion of all the orderly 
life which he had been at so much pains to institute. 
' But hardly was this holy man laid to his rest 
than Dom Jacques de la Cour, the new Abbe, lent 
a willing ear to the proposals of certain monks 
whose vows of solitude, &c, weighed too heavy oa 
their impetuous natures. He took up a contract ta 
run the iron works of la Trappe for thirteen years, 
and agreed to pay 2,800 livres for every year. Their 
destruction ran loose in the forests. Nobody knows 
how wastefnlly the furnaces swallowed up wood that 
might have been simply sold to far better effect. 
The spiHnjs soon dried up and the ponds (they had 
always depended on a series of ponds for water-power') 
hecnine unable to supply more than six iveeTcs' water for 
the year. The fires had to go out. The cost of re- 
lighiing them at intervals was prohibitive. Thus fell 
to the ground all the ambitious hopes of the new 
Abbe. La Trappe became desperately indebted, maoh 
of its property had to be sold, and the monks were 
often in absolute want of the necessaries of lite.' 
Dom Jacques de la Cour became naturally Don 
Jacques de la Sacque, and the ironworks, tha 
monastery, and the forest were involved inacommoa 
ruiu. So far as the forests are concerned, the Stata 
is now working them under a plan of 18y4, in three 
series ; a high forest under sixty years' provisional 
plan, and 2 coppices with standards. 
Such is a story that was printed two hundred yeara 
ago, long before forest officers and their opponents 
began to seek for proofs of another disputed 
matter." F. G. 
— Indian Forester, March. 
* " La Poret de la Trappe, 
Forcts for Novemljer 19(J1. 
