Sum % 1902. J THE TROPICAL 
old, rose apple, tamarind, gnava, cotton tree, naseberry 
(sapodilla), ponciana regia, and many tropical palms. 
This affords substantial evidence of the capabilities of 
Boil and climate. The widely dispersed pine forests 
cover great tracts ; oaks are scrubby. In this region, 
therefore, many tropical as well as sub-tropical forms 
flourish, forms that withstand the reduced temperature 
of the cool season. At the same time the sub-tropical 
conditions are typical, for oranges, grape fruit trees, 
&c., grow with remarkable vigour. 1 have had a wide 
experience in the cultivation of valuable economic 
plants at altitudes ranging from the sea level up to 
10,000 feet in the tropics. lu this connection, near 
the equator it is interesting te observe that at an ele- 
vation of 6,000 feet mangoes, avocado pears grow side 
by side with exceedingly fine oranges, just as they do 
in Florida. At this elevation in the Colombian 
Andes up to 8,000 feet one of the most important 
species of rubber is indigenous, I started the culti- 
vation of a plantation of this tree in its native habitat. 
This plantation was abandoned at the time extensive 
Cinchona plantations were abandoned. The rubber 
tree grew with great rapidity, twenty feet high in 
three years. It is a very distinct form of Sapium 
biglandulostim. More than a year ago I had the plea- 
sure to direct the attention of the secretary of Agricul- 
ture to this important plant. I now beg to eay that I 
have carefully considered at the suggestion of Mr. 
Smith of the Botanical Garden, the conditions 
at Miami compared with those on the Andes at 
6,000 feet. In the forest at this elevation 
Oak tree abound ; there are several species of conifer- 
ous trees. Close to Miami I found many indigeni- 
0U3 species belonging to natural orders that grow 
at 6,000 and 8,000 feet in the Colombian Andes, 
for instance, many forms of Rubiaceae a charac- 
teristic order at this elevation (amongst Urtioaeae 
1 detected at Miami a congener of Ramie with 
a beautiful fibre) Thefe analogous conditions 
couple with the fact that Oranges, &c., flourish at the 
same elevation at which this rubber tree grows led 
me to the conclusion that the conditions presented 
near Miami on the beautiful lands of the Everglades 
distinctly point to the practicability of growing sue 
ce'sfully this species of rubber thereat. Where this 
tree grows the rainfall is more than one hundred inches 
a year ; it delights in water at the roots when thoroughly 
drained. Hence irrigation from the beautiful Miami 
Kiver could be made subservient. 
Halfway Tree, August 27th, 1901. 
^Board of Ayriculture, Jamaica. 
— ♦ 
THE HCEVIA ♦'PARA," INDIAN 
RUBBER : 
ORIGIN OF THE INTRODUCTION AND 
CULTIVATION OF THE TREE. 
BY H. A, WIOKHAM* 
Although advertisements for sale of the seed of 
Para rubber (Hccvia) at so much a thousand have now 
been commonly seen for some time past in all the 
planting journals in Oeylon and the East, it is not 
generally known that to the initiation of the Govern- 
ment of India is due the fact that they are within 
the reach of the planting community at all. Any 
planter who has had practical experience with the 
seed of this tree will understand the difficulty which 
had to be encountered in getting the original stock 
plants established in the Eastern tropica at such 
distance from their primitive home in the highland 
forests of the valley of the Amazon. 
'Planter, and some time Commissioner for the Intro" 
' / dtiction of the Sojvta (Para) Indian rubber for the 
' Government of India , and inspsctor of forests.— B.H. 
lOI 
AGlJICULTURisT. m 
la the first instance, so far back as the seventies, 
the initiation of the Government of India in backing 
liberally the recommendation of Sir .Joseph Hooker 
enabled me to seize an opportunity, singularly oconring 
for specially chartering a steamship which happened 
to bs up the Amazon River at the exact time of 
the fall of the ripe ^eed in the rubber forest. Had 
this not been so, I should never have been able to 
accomplish the feat of securing the large original 
stock from an only seed so prone to quickly lose 
vitality. 
Just now there seems to be a disposition in some 
quarters to deprecate the efforts made by the Indian 
Government as bearing on the method "best for the 
cultivation of the Bcevia. This seems to be exceedinglv 
shoro-sighted and ill-advised. As a matter of f.ict, in 
the hands of the Government of India, through their 
forestry, officers, all such experimental planting or 
cultivation cannot be calculated to be other than 
object lessons of the greatest value to practical planters 
in all the equatorial colonies, in that it will furnish 
them with authoritative data (especially the Ilfvoia) 
of a nature to be depended upon. 
The true " Para," Indian rubber iHaoia) is to be 
found growing naturally within the immense foreat- 
covered area of the valley of the Amazon and in the 
tributary rivers, including the head streams of the 
Orinoco. I found it abundant high up on the Orinoco, 
above the junction of the Guaviare (the latter stream 
by right, indeed, should be styled the head stream of 
the Orinoco). It is plentiful on the banks of the 
Cassiquiare— that curious bifurcation by which the 
Orinoco gives of a stream to the Rio Negro, and so 
converts Guayana into an immense island. I also 
found it growing in the interior betwixt the Tapajos 
and the Xingn. The rivers from which the laigest 
supply is drawn now by traders are the Purus and 
the Made ira. In its native forests it grows dispersed 
among the other forest trees, two or three' trees 
rarely being found in juxtaposition. In appearance 
the Bievia is a handsome tree, with straight cylindri- 
cal trunk— differing wholly from the Ule— the Indian 
rubber tree (Castilloa) seen in Moskito and Nicaragua 
to South Mexico. The wood is soft and perishable. 
The bark, as in the great majority of tropical trees, 
is not very thick, and is of a grey colour on the 
surface, but when scraped, approaches the appearance 
and colour of a light bay horse's coat. This clean- 
ing haa to be done, as in moister regions the bark 
is thickly coated with growths of moss, ferns, and 
orchids. The seeds grow, three together, in a sort of 
hard pod. This pod, becoming heated by the sun, 
bursts when it is ripe with a sharp popping sound, 
and scatters the seed for a considerable distance 
around the tree. The seed is exceedingly oily, and 
the oil extracted therefrom, closely resembling lin' 
seed oil, is a valuable product. The range of tern-' 
perature in the Bcevia forest is between 70deg. and 
90deg. throughout the year. Rainfall varies consider- 
ably in different districts where Bcevia are found, 
some districts being nicely divided into wet and dry 
seasons, each of about six months' duration, while 
in others it rains more or less the year round- lu 
such districts it is more difficult to collect the 
caoutchouc profitably, as if the stem of the tree is 
very wet when it is worked, the latex, or rubber- 
milk, spreadd over the surface, of the bark, and is 
in large part lost. From what has been said it may 
be seen that the main part of the Indian rubber 
must be collected during the dry season, although 
" siringaros," who live near their " siringals," or 
rubber walks, improve their opportunity by tapping 
their trees whenever flue- days occur during the 
rainy season. But thQ_ trees are doubtless better 
for a half-yearly rest, 
When the native hunter has discovered for himself 
a district of the forest in which " siringa " trees 
are sufficiently numerous and near together he first 
connects them together by cutting a " picado," or 
path, with his bush knife. Having thus discovered 
their relative bearing, he "next straightens and clears 
out his paths, endeavouring at the same time to 
