174 
bers. This is all the more gratifying, as these results are obtained 
at quite a trifling addition to the cost of production, which addition, 
on the other hand, is compensated for by an increased value of the 
final product by at least 40 per cent. 
Cost OF Rubber. — From what I have shown in an earlier section 
of this article it will be seen that the Castilloa tree should not be 
tapped until it is 8 years of age. The cost of clearing the land for 
planting, transplanting the seedlings, and keeping the planted plots 
tor seven years clear from undergrowth, is astonishingly small, and * 
does not 'exceed, at the utmost, £ 2 $ per 1,000 trees for the whole 
period until they are 8 years old. If, therefore, at the end of the 
seventh vear the trees are tapped for the first time, and only half a 
pound of rubber taken per tree, we obtain from these i,ooo trees 
500 lbs. of rubber, which at the very lowest estimate would be 
worth at least 3*. per lb. in Liverpool. Deducting, therefore, the 
cost of collection, preparation and shipment of the rubber, a return 
of about 100 per cent, would be obtained in the eighth year. This, 
with careful management, would steadily increase for a number of 
^ Cost of Land. — O f course, the cost of the land will play a not 
unimportant part in such a calculation. 1 do not know under what 
conditions and at what price land suitable for rubber cultivation 
may be obtained in the various Central American States. In Co- 
lombia, at any rate in the territories adjoining the Isthmus, /and is 
obtained on the old Roman principle, “ res nullius cedit pnus occu- 
panti, ” or, in elementary English, “ first come, first served. Tha, 
is to say, anv land not in private occupation may be taken legal 
possession of by “denouncing” it before a land commissioner, a 
very simple procedure involving merely payment of a nominal re- 
gistration fee. For the maintenance of the title it is sufficient to 
Drove the working of the grant. Labour to any amount is easily 
obtainable from Jamaica, and if the steady influx Rom this Island 
should not suffice, the authorities of Barbados would be only too 
aladto grant facilities for the drafting of labour into Colombia from 
Their enormous coloured surplus population, from whom no work 
can be found in Barbados. Wages for plantation workers (machete 
men) range at about $ 1.20 per day (Colombian money), equal to 
%oao gold, say, 2s., the men finding their own food. 
PLANTING. — In planting Castilloa, it would appear that great 
care is required to make quite sure that the seeds used, or the seed- 
lings obtained, are really those of the best variety of Castilloa 
elastica. It appears that there are at least three varieties of this 
Castilloa, which are respectively distinguished as Castilloa alba 
Castilloa negra, and Castilloa rubra. There is not the shghest 
difference between these three varieties as regards the general form 
of the tree and its branches, and also the flowers and seeds are in 
aU t h r ee apparently identical. The above descriptions refer to the 
colour of the bark. The difference even there is, however, so small 
that it requires a practised eye to recognise the different varieties. 
These, differ nevertheless, very greatly in their value to the rubber 
planter. 
