■238 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



July 28, 1906. 



RUBBER GROWING IN ST. LUCIA. 



The following has been prepared by Mr. J. C. 

 Moore, Agricultural Superintendent, St. Lucia, and 

 issued as a leaflet for distribution in that island. 

 Mr. Moore deals fully with the subject of rubber grow- 

 ing in St. Lucia : — • 



The demantl for rubber in connexion with various 

 manufactures appears to be growing so rapidly that the 

 establishment of ruljber plantations in the countries adapted 

 to its cultivation is receiving much attention from planters 

 and capitalists. 



The few plantations, established about twelve to fifteen 

 years ago in different parts of the world,.- are now reaping 

 the benefit of the present high prices for rubber ; and as the 

 result of having the trees in plantation form, instead of 

 scattered about in forests, as in the natural state, the owners 

 are able to collect and prepare the rubber at a minimum cost, 

 and also to place on the market a superior article. 



The attention of planters is invited to the possibilities of 

 rubber growing in St. Lucia, where there is an abundance of 

 land suited to its cultivation, and there appears to be every 

 prospect of such an industry proving remunerative. 



The successful cultivation of Central American rubber 

 trees under plantation conditions and the production from 

 them of a very good quality of marketable rubber have been 

 experimentally demonstrated in the island. 



THE TREE TO rL.\XT. 



of the many rubber-producing plants, the three most 

 important sources of commercial rubber are : — 



Para rubber {Hevea bras i/ien sis), Central American 

 rubber (Castilloa elastica), and West African rubber 

 (Ftmtumia elastica). 



The Castilloa elastica was introduced into St. Lucia 

 about eighteen years ago. It has been successfully cultivated 

 on a few estates during the last twelve years, and is the 

 kind now recommended to the notice of planters for extended 

 cultivation, either in separate plantations, or as a permanent 

 shade tree in cacao fields, for which it has proved itself 

 suitable. 



SOIL ASiD CLIMATE. 



The Castilloa requires a warm, humid climate, a good 

 annual rainfall, averaging not less than about 70 inches, and 

 a deep, rich soil ; in fact, the land most suitable for growing 

 cacao may be regarded as suital^le for this rubber tree. 



It is not desirable to plant above an altitude of 1,.500 

 feet, and in selecting situations preference should be given 

 to alluvial soils in valleys, or rich, deep soils on the slopes of 

 the lower ridges. 



Although plenty of water and a humid atmosphere are 

 required by this tree, the greatest care should be taken to 

 secure good drainage, either natural or artificial, at the roots, 

 as anj'thing approaching a swampy condition is most 

 detrimental to the growth of the tree. 



SHELTEK. 

 A plantation should not be open to the full force of 

 strong wind, and if natural protection in the form of forest 

 belts or ridges cannot be secured, it would be necessary to 

 regard the planting of suitable wind-breaks as one of the first 

 operations in establishing a plantation. 



SHADE. 



While the tree benefits by shelter from very strong 

 winds, it does not appear to suffer from occasional winds of 



moderate force, and on this account is very suitable for 

 planting amongst cacao as a sun-shade, and to deflect winds, 

 which, after being lifted above the cacao field by a g6od 

 shelter-belt, are liable to strike the cacao trees at some 

 distance from the belt unless kept above by trees such as the 

 Immortel and rubber. Although shade is not required for 

 the Castilloa as a tree, it is necessary while the plant is 

 young, and in this respect Castilloa thrives well under 

 conditions similar to those obtaining in young cacao fields, 

 where banana.s, pigeon peas, tannias, etc., are used as 

 temporary shade. 



The Castilloa does not appear to require shade from the 

 sun after it reaches a height of about 8 to 10 feet. 



PL.VNTING. 



Three or four seeds may be sown in nicely prepared 

 vegetable soil at each place where a tree is required, and the 

 seedlings subsequently thinned out to one plant. This plan 

 is not, however, recommended, since much better results will 

 be secured by planting out young plants from bamboo pots 

 or boxes, as the plants raised under nursery conditions are 

 stronger, grow more rapidly, and soon become established in 

 the plantation. 



At each plant station, holes about 2 feet in diameter and 

 18 inches deep should be opened and the bottoms loosened 

 with a fork and left to ' weather ' for a week or two, and 

 then filled in with surface soil to a height of about 6 inches 

 above the general level. One plant should then be planted 

 in the centre of each station, and in doing so care should be 

 taken to transfer from the pots or boxes as much soil with 

 the plant as possible, in order to avoid disturbing the roots 

 too much. The same precaution should be taken in removing 

 plants from nursery beds to the field, and before removing 

 them from the nursery bed or pots the soil should be well 

 wetted. 



After the plant is placed in position, the soil drawn over 

 the roots should be firmly pressed with the hand or feet, to 

 make the plant secure and bring the soil into close contact 

 with the root.s, but at the same time care should be taken to 

 avoid making the soil hard by too much pressure. 



If the soil is not very rich, the plants will be greatly 

 benefited by mixing a handful of bone meal with the soil 

 when planting. 



Planting operations should, if possible, be carried out in 

 cloudy or rainy weather, preferably between the months of 

 June and October. If a spell of dry weather should 

 immediately succeed planting, precaution should be taken to 

 prevent the plants suffering for want of water ; a light 

 covering of trash on the soil around the plants will be very 

 useful for this purpose. 



DISTANCE TO PLANT. 



If planted as shade trees through cacao, a distance of 

 -to to 50 feet apart will probably be found close enough. 

 The former distance will give twenty-seven trees to the acre, 

 and the latter seventeen. In separate plantations, devoted 

 entirely to this tree, the distance at which they should finally 

 stand should not be less than 20 feet apart each way. They 

 may either be planted at this distance at the outset or be put 

 out at 10 feet by 10 feet with the object of thinning out the 

 trees to 20 feet by 20 feet about the ninth year, after they 

 have been tapped once or twice. 



