A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



LIBRARY 



NEW YORK 



BOTANfCAL 



CJARDEN. 



Vol. V. No. 113. 



BAEBADOS, AUGUST 25, 1906. 



Price Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Arrowroot in Bermuda ... 



Avocado Pear 



Bee Keeping : — 



Bees'-wax 



Getting Bees out of 

 Hou.ses 



St Lueia 



Broom Corn in Montserrat 

 Cacao Cultivation in 



Guam 



Cacao Disease in Trinidad 

 Castor Oil Seed Trade ... 

 Cedar Trees, Planting ... 

 Chillies or Capsicums. 

 Cultivation of .. 

 Cocoa-nut Water, Composi- 

 tion of 



Cotton Notes : — 



Antigua Cotton Crop ... 



Carriacou, Cotton from 



Leaves of Cotton Plant... 



Nevis Cotton 



St. Kitt's, Prospects in 



St. Vincent Seed 



Cultivation of Para Rubl)er 



270 

 262 



270 



270 

 270 

 267 



265 

 266 

 269 



270 



... 269 



269 



260 

 264 

 260 

 264 

 261 

 261 

 2.57 



r.\GE. 



Department News 207 



Departmental Rejtorts : — 



St. Lucia Botanic Station 271 



Tobago Botanic Station 271 



Trinidad Stock Farms 271 



Fruit .Seeds, Waste of ... 26.5 



Gleanings 268 



Green Limes, Trade in ... 264 

 Hayti, Exports of 265 



Market Reports 272 



Notes and Comments ... 264 

 Pig Breeding in Trinidad 269 

 Planting Trees too Deeply 263 

 Rats, Destruction of by 



Virus 207 



Rubber Trees in Uganda 265 

 Sugar Industrj- : — 



Antigua Central Factory 250 



Porto Rico 259 



Value of Sugarin Cattle 



Feeding 259 



Surinam, .Agriculture in 263 

 Tobacco from Jamaica ... 203 

 Zanzibar, Exports of ... 265 



Cultivation of Para Rubber. 



X view of the interest that is being taken in 

 the West Indies in the matter of the 

 cultivation of rubber-yielding trees, it may 

 be useful to review briefly a recent book on Para rubber 

 by Blr. Herbert Wright, A.R.C.S., F.L.S., Controller 



of the Government E.xperiment Station, Peradeniya, 

 Ceylon.* 



Although, perhaps, more attention has been paid 

 in the West Indies to the Central American rubber 

 tree {Castilloa elastica) and the West African {Fun- 

 tumia elastica), the prospects of cultivating Para 

 rubber have not been lost sight of In the last Annual 

 Report on the Botanical Department in Trinidad,^ 

 Mr. Hart states that the supply of seeds and plants of 

 Hevea hrasiliensis had been unequal to the demand. 

 The St. Lucia Agricultural Society is importing seed 

 of this tree from Ceylon, while seed has also been 

 imported by the Imperial Department of Agricultui'e 

 for Dominica. 



Important e.xperiments have been conducted at 

 Peradeniya in connexion with all phases of Para rubber 

 cultivation. The area at present planted in this tree 

 in Ceylon is estimated to be about 60,000 acres. 

 Mr. Wright's experience in Ceylon, together with that 

 obtained by others in the Straits Settlements, West 

 Africa, and other places, is recorded in this book. 



In regard to the question of shade for Para 

 rubber, it would appear that the trees develop better 

 if lightly shaded for the first two years after planting. 

 After that they grow satisfactorily without shade. 

 Wind-breaks are generally necessary only during the 

 early stages of growth. 



Drainage is as necessary for rubber trees as it is 

 for any other plant. Attention should be paid to 



* Hevea hrasiliensh or Para Rubber: Its Botany, Cultiva- 

 tion, Chemistry, and Diseases. Colombo : Messrs, A. M. d- J, 

 Ferguson. 1906. 



