45 ° 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jan. r, 1898. . 
artificial agency ; that is, the flowers are coot- 
•pUte, (the two sexes in one). Plants can 
be raised by means of “cuttings,” but 
propagation is best from seeds, which are _ re- 
markable for their power of quick germination, 
taking only about seven days to germinate. As a 
natural consequence, however, they soon lose their 
vitality, so they should be sown immediately on 
being taken from the pulp. In three or four months’ 
time the seedlings are ready for transplant- 
ing to their permanent places. 
VARIETIES : 
Considering that the durian has been 
cultivated, though not on any systematic 
principle, for some centuries now, we cannot be 
surprised to find there are a few varieties, some 
being more prolific than others. It is diffi- 
cult however to discriminate between them till 
they reach the fruiting stage. Closely allied to 
the durian is the “ Katuboda ” {Cullenia tx- 
celsa) of the Sinhalese known also as_ the “ wild 
durian.” This tree is fairly common in Ceylon, 
at low and medium altitudes in moist districts. 
The fruit is not eatable, but monkeys are very 
fond of it. It resembles durian proper in foliage 
and structure of fruit, and in fact the two are 
sometimes contused by botanists unacquainted 
with living specimens. The “Katuboda” how- 
ever can easily be distinguished by the leaves 
being narrower, the fruit much smaller and 
overed with thickly placed, long, slender, recurved 
spines, and of course by the absence of a pro- 
nounced odour. [The “Katuboda” fruit is vari- 
able in the character of prickles : a specimen 
just under examination shews these to be rather 
closely set and sinuated, not regularly recured.] 
THE CULTIVATION OF INDIA-RUBBER 
IN NICARAGUA. 
There has been a revival of interest in Nicaragua 
in the future of the India-rubber industry there, due 
to the decreasing yield and the resulting fear that 
the methods practised by the gatherers hitherto will 
lead to the extinction of the trees. The government 
has manifested its interest by means of the decree, 
published lately in The India Rubber World, pro- 
hibiting the exportation of other than cultivated 
rubber for the next ten years. This decree was 
preceded by laws for the encouragement of rubber- 
planting, and something has been done in this 
direction. But how far any law can prevent the 
exportation of native rubber remains to be seen. 
The United States consul at San Juan del Norte 
reported recently that, “ notwithstanding the law made 
in Costa ?Rica some years ago prohibiting the cutting 
of rubber, much of the rubber shipped from San 
Juan del Norte comes from Costa Rica. It is esti- 
mated that Costa Rica has contributed between 35 
and 60 per cent, of all the rubber shipped from San 
Juan del Norte.” 
Recently many persons in western Nicaragua— the 
Pacific-coast section — have declared their intention 
to plant and cultivate India-rubber in the eastern 
portion of the republic, investing some of the money 
which they have accumulated during several years 
past from their profitable coffee estates. Likewise 
many requests for information have been received 
in Nicaragua from citizens of the United States, 
bearing upon the whole subject of rubber cultiva- 
tion the impression evidently existing in many 
minds that India-rubber is becoming a scarce com- 
modity. These circumstances have led to the 
preparation of some reports of interest published 
recently by the department of state, at Washington — 
one by Thomas O’Hara, the efficient consul at San 
Juan del Norte, and one by J. Crawfords, of Managua, 
the author of a paper, included in the volome of 
special consular reports prepared at the instigation 
of The India Rubber World in 1890, which forms 
the most valuable contribution to our knowledge of 
Nicaragua rubber. 
Consul O’Hara first calls attention to an extract 
from the Bluefields, Recorder, of June, 6, 1896, as 
follows : — 
“ On this subject of agriculture, we may add that 
a great deal of attention is being given to the cul- 
tivation of the India-rubber tree. Several of our 
banana growers on the river, while cultivating the 
product of the more rapid growth (the banana), devote 
some of their time to the India-rubber tree, which 
has the advantage of being a product full of staying 
qualities, yielding handsome profits after it has 
attained its full development, and which has not 
that baneful influence on the soil which is the 
peculiarity of the banana. We do not believe that 
we are beyond the mark w'hen we say that there 
are to be found on several plantations on the Escon- 
dido more than 75,000 rubber plants, vigorous and 
promising, ready for transplantation. Ten or twelve 
years after these shall have been planted, bananas 
will be nowhere ; the very places where they are 
now grown will be exhausted and allowed to lie 
fallow for the subsequent cultivation of other and 
less ephemeral products.” 
The consul has undertaken an inquiry respecting 
the details of such plantations, and be reports hav- 
ing learned through Vice-Consul Henry E, Low, at 
Managua, of two rubber plantations in western 
Nicaragua, with a producing capacity not to exceed 
5,000 pounds a year. Further information on this 
head is promised to the department. 
Mr. Crawfords writes in his report that localities 
in Nicaragua south of latitude 15° north and between 
longtitudes 84° 10' and 85° 35 , in low valleys where 
the soil is deep alluvial or deep vegetable humus 
and sand and capable of being rapidly drained and 
in a climate that is almost uniformly warm and 
humid, are best suited to the rubber tree. Many 
such valleys in central and north eastern Nicaragua 
supported groves of large-sized trees yielding rubber 
until about fifteen years ago, when nearly all the 
trees had been killed by too frequent tapping, or 
by being cut down by irresponsible collectors. There 
are, by the way, several species of rubber trees in 
Nicaragua, some of which are indigenous to a higher, 
drier climate and soil. Mr. Crawfords uses the 
term “ elastic rubber ” throughout his report, because 
some varieties, as the ” tuno, ” for instance, are 
but slightly elastic. 
Next to the Castilloa elastica, the second best 
rubber prodncers, in quality and quantity, are of the 
Ficus family, a variety locally known as ‘matapala,’ 
an epyphite having numerous bodies from a'erial 
roots (like the banyan tree). It is also an inhabitant 
of low, fertile, well-drained lands. By cultivation, 
this tree would, most probably, fully equal the other 
low-valley varieties in quality and annual output of 
rubber. It has the advantage that if one of its 
trunks or bodies is deadened by excessive bleeding 
or drainage of the sap, it has several other live 
trunks from which to obtain supplies of rubber.” 
Evidently the tree thus described by Mr. Crawfords 
is not unlike the rubber tree of Assam and Burma. 
“ The quantity of the annual yield of elastic 
material depends,” says Mr. Crawfords, “ the soil 
and climate being suitable, on the bulk of the bast 
or lactiferous tissues that exist or that can be 
developed in the tree or vine. Some trees of two 
to three feet diameter and thirty-five to fifty feet 
tall will give annually twenty to forty pounds of 
good rubber. The quality of the rubber depends 
largely upon the shape or form of the cells and 
spaces composing the bast, or lactiferous tissue, and 
in part in the process used to separate the elastic 
material from the emulsion-like sap. Quality and 
quantity, therefore, are responsive to cultivation — to 
be increased or decreased.” 
Cultivation begins with sowing the seeds in beds 
and transplanting to a nursery at the end of the 
first year, and to the permanent plantation at two 
