29 



quantity, and were soon followed by blossoms, and as the days and 

 weeks passed on, it became more and more evident that Dame Nature 

 in her bountiful goodness had decreed a rich and plentiful harvest. 

 During September and October, several gentlemen to whom [related 

 my success, treated it as a huge .joke. " it is an unheard of thing' 

 remarked one. " I know a friend who has a vine these three years and 

 it shows no signs of fruit*' said another. On this I asked my friends 

 to come and see it and my invitation was accepted when it was found 

 to h<' bearing 1-27 bunches of fruit, all hanging in full view. My 

 friend suggested that the spectacle was so unique that I might photo- 

 graph the vine as it then appeared. About 75 per cent, of the crop 

 weighed from 16 to 20 ounces per bunch, and I estimate that 

 quite 110 lbs. of fruit were realize 1. At the rate of 50 cents 

 a pound, my vines product valued £11 i) 2 and 1 am looking forward 

 confidently to a June crop. Several persons advised me that to im- 

 prove the size of the grapes 1 should reduce the number of berries the 

 bunches contained when quite young. If it will be of any interest to 

 you 1 will take pleasure in advising you of future results. 



596. REPORT ON SAMPLES OF CASTILLO A AND 

 PUNTUMIA RUBBER FROM TRINIDAD. 



By Professor Wyndham R. Dunstan, M.A., F.R.S., Director. 



The samples of rubber were prepared in connection with the 



•experimental cultivation of various rubber-yielding trees in Trinidad 



and were forwarded to the Scientific and Technical Department of 



the Imperial Institute chiefly with the object of ascertaining by 



■chemical investigation supplemented by commercial valuation the 



influence of the age of the tree on the quality of the rubber it 



furnishes and also by the same means to determine the effect of the 



method of coagulation employed on the quality of the rubber fur- 



nished by the latex. 



I. — Two Samplks of Castilloa Rubber. 

 Two small samples of rubber prepared respectively from old and 

 young trees of Castilloa elasfica were forwarded to the Imperial 

 Institute for comparative chemical examination by the Superintendent 

 of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Trinidad. In the accompanying letter, 

 dated June 2nd, 1902, Mr. Hart stated that the rubber had been 

 prepared from the latex by creaming and draining, and pointed out 

 that in physical properties the rubber derived from young trees was 

 much inferior to that yielded by the older trees of the same species. 



1. — RUBBER FROM YOUNG TREES (4: YEARS OLD.) 



The specimen showed very little resemblance to true rubber and 

 was evidently highly resinous. It was almost black, rather hard in 

 the himp but could be moulded by pressure and was easily indented 

 with the finger nail : small fragments were soft and sticky. It 

 exhibited very little tenacitv and no elasticity. 



2. — Rubber from old trees. 



This was a specimen of good rubber, almost black, only slightly 

 ^ticky, very elastic and exhibiting considerable tenacity. 



