200 
of rubber annually, and that exceptionally large trees may give as 
much as ioo pounds ! 
Collins observed “that a six year old Castilloa possessing a 
diameter of 19 inches ” (where can such a developmerit be found ?) 
“ on being tapped in April in the dry season, furnished 20 gallons 
of latex from which 49 pounds of rubber were obtained,” and he 
further declares that this is the average yield of all trees, the trunk 
of which before branching out reaches a height of from 18 to 27 
feet above the soil. 
Dr. Morris, one of the foremost botanists, now, I believe. 
Director of the Botanical Department in the West Indies, states 
that a Castilloa when first tapped should yield 16 pounds of rubber. 
If my memory is not at fault, Dr. Morris has stated that the first 
tapping should take place at six years. 
In Nicaragua it is found (in Consular reports) that a Castilloa 
tree yields from four to six pounds of rubber annually. In the 
U. S. Consular Report for October, 1896, I find that “if the trees 
“ have matured properly in the sixth or seventh year from eight to 
“ twelve pounds of rubber can be taken from each tree biennially !” 
The Bureau des Informations Agricoles de Mexique is more con- 
servative, giving the yield of Castilloa trees when four to five years 
old at 2 pounds 6 ounces of rubber. 
Certainly the range is wide enough according to these statements, 
selected from many similar, showing that the yield of rubber, even 
of trees not exceeding six years’ growth may be anything from 
2 pounds 6 ounces to 46 pounds annually. 
Now, I am not in a position to prove that these statements, 
coming as they do from official and authoritative sources, are not 
correct. I can only say that having given considerable attention to 
all points connected with rubber culture, my own experience does 
not bear them out. And I prefer, in common with all who have 
seriously taken up the cultivation of rubber, to base my calculations 
of the probable returns on facts as ascertained by actual experiment. 
The following are the results as obtained myself of the yield of the 
Castilloa The greatest amount of rubber. I have secured from one 
tree was I2f lbs. which I obtained from 30 lbs. of milk — about 46 
per cent, of solid rubber. This was the result of tapping a tree 
growing on my property which measured two metres nine inches 
in circumference— 87 inches — at six inches from the ground. I may 
here state that an old hulero (native rubber collector), who has 
worked much with me and in whose statements I have learned to 
place exceptional belief, a man of long experience, who has 
collected rubber in all parts of the Republic, told me that the most 
he ever found a tree to yield was 20 lbs. of solid rubber, which he 
obtained from an exceptionally large tree measuring three metres 
in circumference — 117 inches — growing in a wild part of the State 
of Oaxaca. He believed the tree to be from 40 to 50 years old. 
On 24th November last, I tapped six trees, averaging 40J inches in 
crirth with a net result of 7 pounds 1 5I ounces of rubber. These 
trees were comparatively lightly tapped. If they had been operated 
on in the wholesale fashion of the native collector at least half as 
much again would have been obtained. 
