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never develop but remain in the form of larger or smaller scales. 
At the apex of every fruit is a small hollow in which the dried up 
remnants of the style can be seen. 
The Best Type of a Castilla Tree. 
We have yet to ascertain the cause of the difference in yield of 
individual trees, or at least, we must find out w'hat trees are the 
best producers and the most rapid growets, before we can enter 
upon the problem of determining or developing the best type for a 
rubber tree. On general principles we should require a tall, 
straight trunk, with a dense crown at the top of the tree. But the 
natives hold that a tree which is noidoo tall and which has a taper- 
ing trunk, gives a larger yield and better rubber than a taller tree 
of the same age and with the same girth at the base. I have bepn 
able to verify this by actual ' experience, but I cannot give any 
explanation of this fact. 
The object is to develop a trunk with as large an area as pos- 
sible for tapping. Branches seldom attain a tapable size and a 
rubber stand with clean stems, without intertwining branches or 
underbrush, is easier to work in than in a tangled mass of trees 
growing without order and care. » 
We have many instances of large trees with tapable branches, 
or trees which have branched from the base, being regularly tapped 
and producing a quantity of latex. It may seem an advantage 
to have several stems to tap instead of only one, where a single 
shoot or a single trunk has developed, but there can be no question 
as to the fact that where several branches are allowed to develop the 
growth of the main trunk is greatly retarded. 
It is therefore necessary to have a tree straight and clean 
boled, in a condition to make the best of the period of maximum 
growth, the time of which has not yet been ascertain^!. We 
know for a fact that the best rubber producer has a thick, compact 
crown. The conical form of crown isa'lsotobe recommended as 
it naturally receives more light than a flat crown. After the Castilla 
growing in the wild state has obtained its maximum height the 
crown always becomes flat and rather ovate in shape, while in 
youth, when the tree is growing vigorously under normal condi- 
tions, it has a sharply conical crown. Every kind of tree has a 
maximum height to which it is able to pump water, and when this 
height has been reached the growth of the tree ceases because the 
crown cannot be supplied with sufficient water. The normal 
rubber tree should not, therefore, be very tall as in the best situa- 
tions the wild tree reaches a height of about sixty feet, and the 
over-mature trees always have a very spreading crown. Some- 
times dry topped young trees- are observed. This is due to un- 
suitable conditions in some respect or another, and we recognize 
this as a disease, called by foresters the “ staghorn disease.” 
The leaves should be large, with a fresh green colour, the bark 
thin and smooth. Some trees have leaves with stiff, bristly hairs, 
and I have found on some plantations almost every tree covered with 
these stiff hairs, sometimes resembling prickles. In cases where 
