178 
A VISIT TO RUBBER PLANTATIONS 
was only experimental, and that he expected before long to work down 
to a simpler and more practical system. At the same time, he claimed, 
that cumbersome as his present process was, it 
proved most thoroughly the profitableness of 
rubber planting. 
During the rest of our stay on this group of 
plantations, we made our headquarters at Man- 
hattan, riding out in various directions and ex- 
amining the rubber, and discussing it with vari- 
ous planters, who were much interested in mak- 
ing a success of it. There are in the vicinity, at a 
conservative estimate, about four hundred thous- 
and cultivated Castilloa trees, the largest single 
plantation being the Canada plantation, of which 
Mr. Waldron is manager and chief owner. This 
plantation has about two hundred thousand trees; 
next to that comes the Manhattan, with about 
one hundred and forty thousand. This group of 
plantations lies in the form of an eclipse, about 
five miles long and two miles broad. 
After having visited the typical plantations, 
collected samples, and secured all the infor- 
mation possible, the whole crowd saw us down 
to the Cukra pier, where we again embarked on 
the Nat. Jr., and started down the river on our 
way back to Bluefields. 
We reached this Americanized city early in 
the evening, and found that a fruiter was starting 
for New Orleans the next morning, and that the 
governor had promised to hold it for us, so that 
we could not miss it. In the meantime, our 
friends began to make it easy for us to leave the 
country. One of the first things to be done in 
leaving Nicaragua is to secure a passport, for 
which one pays a dollar. Mine described me as 
being about thirty-five years old and having red 
hair, but so long as it sufficed to let me out of the 
country I didn’t care, particularly as the descrip- 
tion of the Importer and the Manufacturer were even less flattering. 
I have already mentioned that the custom house at Bluefields is 
“castilloa” stem 
ATTACKED BY SCALE. 
