July i, 1890.] 
THE TROPICAL AQRIOULTURiST. 
53 
twenty years ago indiambber, or caoutchouc, was 
known to be produced only from Hevea braziliensis, 
then knoivu as Siphonia eiastica, from Para, and from 
I'icus eiastica, from Assam, the researches of the 
authoritits at Kew have since shown that the rubber 
of comnurce is drawn from stveral different plants, 
belonging to the natural orders Euphorbiacei)e,Uiticacese, 
and Apueynem. The first-named family, including the 
Para sort, or tievea rubber, which is still imported in 
large qu lutities, and holds its own as the best quality, 
though in its native forests the trees are said to be 
moie and more difficult to get at, as the collectors have 
to xreneti ate further each ) ear into the more inaccessi- 
ble parts. The natural consequence of this is, that 
more alt ntion has been given to other sources, and 
another Euphoibiaceous plant, the growth of which 
has bee me considerably developed of late, and which 
yields th^' rubber known in commerce as Ceara scrap 
(Mauihot G-laziovii), his been introduced into Oeyion 
and other countries, where it has grown rapidly. This, 
as its name implies, is a Brazilian species, and though 
the rubb r has been known in trade for a long time, 
the plain jieldiiig it was not known till about fourteen 
years ago, when a consignment of plants was received 
at Kew, propagated, and widely distributed to India 
and Oey on. The success of the plants in these coun- 
tries has oeeu recorded and fully detailed in the Kew 
reports before referred to ; as also that of another 
well-known source, namely, the Oastilloa eiastica, 
which furnishes the bulk of the rubber from 
Central America, such as that known in trade as 
Guatema o rubber. 
Mr. Morris, in his little book on The Colony of 
£ritish Honduras, gives some interesting notes on this 
treSj ami details as to the cultivation aud the extrac- 
tion and preparation of rubber from it. He says ; — 
“The tro ; is very abundant in some places, although 
daily beromiug scarcer in the immediate neighbour- 
hood ol lettlements. It glows to the height of about 
40 or 50 feet, has a thick clean stem about 2 feet m 
diameter at the base, and in habit of growth much 
resembles a Bread-fruit Tree, to which, indeed, it is 
closely a lied. . . . The Castilloa Rubber-tree is fit to 
be tapped for caoutchouc, or the elastic gummy sub- 
stance pi ocluced by its milk, when about seven to ten 
years old. The milk is obtained at present from trees 
growing wild by men culled rubber gatherers, who are 
well acquviuted with all the localities inhabited by the 
Toonu (under which name the plant is known in 
Hondura-i. The proper season for tapping the trees 
is after ihe autumn rains, which occur some months 
after the trees havs ripened their fruit, and before they 
put forth buds for the next season. The flow of milk 
IS most copious during the im iitbs of October, Novem- 
ber, December, and January. The rubber gatherers 
commeuc' opotations on an untapped tree by reaching 
with a ladder or by means of lianes, or tic-tics, the 
upper poi tions of its trunk, aud scoring the bark the 
wtiole length with deep cuts which extend all round. 
The outs are sometimes made so as to form a series of 
spirals a 1 round the tree ; at other times they are 
Bhaped simply like the letter V, with a small piece of 
hoop-iro.i, the blade of a eUilass, or the leaf of a 
Palm pia led in the lower angle to form a spout to lead 
the milk into a receptacle below. A number of trees 
are treats 1 iu this manner, aud left to bleed for reveral 
hours. At the close ot the day the rubber gatherer 
collect.s a 1 the milk, washes it by means of water, 
and leaves it standing till the next morning. He now 
irrocures a quantity of the stem of the moon plant 
(Ualouyctyou spsciosum), pounds it into a mass, and 
throws ii into a bucket of water. After this decoctiou 
has been strained, it is added to the rubber milk iu 
the proportion of one pint to a gallon, or until after 
brisk stirring, the whole of the milk is coagulated. 
The niassos of rubber floating on the surface are now 
Btraiueil from the liquid, kneaipd into cakes, mul p'aced 
under heavy weights, so get rid of all watery particlcj. 
When iicrfectly drained and dry, the rubber cakes are 
fit for the market, aud exported generally in c.ibks.” 
“A large tree of Castilloa, say 2 feet iu diameter, 
will yield 8 gallons ot milk whon first cut ; each gallon 
of milk, iu the proper season, will make about 21b. c f 
rubber. Hence, a tree of this size will give a return of 
16 lb. of rubber, of the value of 10 dols.” 
Mr. Morris further refers to the use of the Oastilloa 
as a shade-giving tree in connection with the cultiva- 
tion of Bananas, Cacao, Liberian Coffee, Oranges, &c., 
and records the fact that at the time he wrote in 1883, 
the Cacao planters in Trinidad were gradually dis- 
carding their recognised shade-tree, the Erythrina 
umbrosa, and adopting others more suitable aud moro 
profitable, none of which, however, could compare with 
the Castilloa, “ either in quickness of growth, in shade 
giving properties, or in the return which it is likely to 
give the planter year after year, if properly treated.” 
Our engraving on p. 649, taken from a photograph 
kindly seut us by Blr. Hart, represents a Castilloa tree 
growing iu Trinidad. 
It will be sufficient to say that the jilants already 
referred to are the principal sources of the American 
rubbers ot commerce. Quantities, however, come from 
India, and from other parts of the East, the former 
Irom Ficus eiastica, and the latter from various plants 
belonging to the Apocynaesa, being species of Willough- 
beia, Leuconotis, and Chiiocarpus ; while on the East 
and West Coasts of Africa, severals species ot Landol- 
pnia yield rubber of excellent quality. A detailed 
accouut of these species, and of their distribution into 
various parts of,the world, is given in the Kew Reports 
before alluded to, aud it forms one of the most 
valuable and interesting records of work done at Kew, — ■ 
J. R J. — Gardeners’ Ohrorvicle. 
Ceylon Planting Entbepaise. — An ex- 
perienced planter who writes congratulating us on tue 
completion of another Edition of the “ Handbook 
and Directory,” deals with the Planting Statistics as 
follows : — ” 220,000 acres of tea at 260 Ih. are sure 
to give us 60,000,000 lb. of tea. Coffee, — Well, the 
less said about it the better. A crop of 3 cwt. 
one year aud 1 the next, just about pays its way 
at present prices and that is only what you get off 
the best estates. Coffee is a delusion and a snare. 
Cinchona is ditto ditto unless it rises to 2gd a unit.” 
But what about Cacao and Cardamoms, and 
Rubber if the talked-of “ boom ” in the home 
markets comes on ? 
Tobacco. — With all the able remarks made by Mr, 
J. Berry White at the meeting of the British Deli 
and Langkat Tobacco Company on the disastrous 
attempia to grow tobacco similar to that prouuoed 
in Sumatra we fully agree. Borneo is the only 
other place that can cultivate it sucoeesfuliy but, 
in common fairness to that country, we would point 
out that the statement “if it fetched $1 per lb.it 
would not cover expenditure,” is scarcely acaurate* 
It is almost too soon to say what Borneo will 
eventually do in the way of growing tobaoco, for the 
country is now going through the difficulties of labour, 
sickness, &c., which the earlier planters in Sumatra 
know so well. But one company which has been 
established for three years, and whose 1888 crop 
was sold at an average is lOd per lb. (covering 
a large proportion of broken leaf), earned and paid 
a dividend. Without laying down any hard-and- 
fast line, it seems that Borneo will be able to 
produce tobacco which, if sold at a guilder a pound, 
will yield a fair profit. In any comparison between 
thj cost of producing tobacco in the two countries 
it must be rememberd that there is no poll-tax on 
Clnneso entering Borneo, and that food supplies iu 
mosii of the districts are muoh cheaper than iu 
Dell. We hear a rumour — though we have no oon- 
lirmation of it — that an offer of 4s per lb. has 
been made for the 1889 tobacco crop of the Darvel 
Bay (Borneo) Tobacco Co., the estate which was 
launched by Baron von Stsiu, — L, and L', J^xinxss 
