240 



cut also induces a greater flow than a vertical cut. I do not see 

 how an oblique cut made upwards instead of downwards can help 

 the flow of rubber ; but I have never tried it as yet, and it might 

 be quite feasible. 



The President : The point with regard to that is this : you 

 want to have a rough cut in order to wound the edges of the ducts. 

 I have heard that with an upward cut you go against the grain 

 more than with a downward cut. I do not know if that is true. 



Mr. Hart : Nor am I aware of that. I have here an instrument 

 for tapping which I have had made here in Trinidad : it works 

 very satisfactorily and with greater rapidity than the mallet and 

 chisel. I have also here machines for cleaning and repairing the 

 rubber, the working of which I shall be glad to explain to members 

 of the Conference. 



With regard to manure : I believe that anything that will tend 

 to improve the growth of the trees can be usefully applied. Cas- 

 tilloa appears to grow almost anywhere and to thrive in different 

 classes of soils. I am not prepared to state what are the constit- 

 uents which suit it best, but it is found that almost any fairly good 

 soil for cacao will also grow Castilloa. I am unable to give any 

 reason for the increase in the flow of rubber from Hevea after 

 frequent tappings, but I believe the fact to have been fairly estab- 

 lished. As to the greater flow of latex from trees of the same 

 size, I think that is accounted for chiefly by the position of the 

 trees in the ground, and the amount of moisture in the particular 

 tree. The difference, however, is in the flow of latex and not the 

 yield of rubber; that is to say, there is a larger amount of water 

 in the tree ; but in our case the yield of rubber is found to be the 

 same. 



The Hon. Wm. FA WCETT (Jamaica) : Our experience in Jamaica 

 differs from the experience in Trinidad in regard to shade. At 

 Hope Gardens, which are in a dry district, and at Montego Bay, 

 which is also a dry district, and in another district which has an 

 average rainfall of 70 inches, we find that Castilloa does better 

 without shade. Attempts have been made to grow it with shade, 

 but they failed. Mr. Hart says that Castilloa will not grow in 

 Trinidad without shade, but is it not strange that in Tobago, which 

 is not very far from Trinidad, and where one would expect similar 

 climatic conditions to prevail, there is a large number of Castilloa 

 trees growing as shade for cacao and not requiring shade them- 

 selves, except for a short time in the early stage of their growth ? 

 Professor Cook, in a Bulletin* lately published by the Department of 

 Agriculture at Washington, has given his experience in Central 

 America, and it is that Castilloa grows better without shade than 

 with. My experience is that after germination, Castilloa trees do 

 not require any shade beyond that provided by themselves. 



The Hon. B. HoWELL JONES (British Guiana) : The experience 

 in British Guiana is exactly as in Jamaica. Castilloa grows with- 

 out shade. I have recently planted 200 young trees and have not 

 planted any shade trees with them. 



* The Culture ( f the Central American Rubber Tree. 



