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planter in Hawaii has to confine himself to four species, the 

 Hevea^ the Manihot or Ceara rubber, the Castilla and the Sapinni. 

 We shall briefly refer to the requirements of the three former 

 plants. 



The main difficulty in establishing a 'Hevea rubber plantation 

 is the matter of obtaining seeds. On account of the extensive 

 cultivation now being made in Ceylon, and in the Orient gener- 

 ally, the demand for seed is very great and orders have to be 

 booked months ahead. Then comes a long transportation during 

 which the seeds are packed and the germination kept back. When 

 the consignment finally reaches here it is found that a great num- 

 ber of seeds fail to germinate, and even when germination has 

 taken place the development of the plant is for some time very 

 slow. At Nahiku, on Maui, where a quantity of Hevea has re- 

 cently been planted the growth of the seedlings was for a long 

 time very slow, until the plants became thoroughly acclimatized. 

 The best source for obtaining Hevea seeds for these islands is 

 naturaly Singapore. 



As regards the planting of Hevea in Hawaii it would be ad- 

 visable to plant rather close, say loxio feet. This will give op- 

 portunity for selection and from time to time a thinning of the 

 inferior trees should be made. It will always be found to be 

 more advantageous to plant close at a start than to have to re- 

 place failures. During the first years of its existence the Hevea 

 tree grows mainly in length and its rapid increase in growth is 

 not noticeable before the tree has reached an age of about three 

 years. In Ceylon, a growth of about 6 to lo feet in height every 

 year for the first three or four years is considered the average. 

 The circumference of the stem at three feet from the base in a 

 two-year-old tree varies from 2 to 8 inches. A very important 

 factor in rubber cultivation is the development of a good root 

 system. In 6 to 7 years the lateral roots of trees planted at a 

 distance of 10x10 feet may be expected to meet. If shade trees 

 have been planted during the first few years these should give 

 room for rubber alone as soon as crowding commences. The 

 question of planting any catch crops between the rubber is still a 

 debatable one. With the system of clearing which apparently is 

 the best in Hawaii, that is strip clearing, no inter or catch crops 

 could be grown. 



The Para seedlings develop best if slightly shaded for the first 

 and second years. After that time they grow satisfactorily with- 



