Aprii- 



1911. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



233 



The Late John Hinchley Hart. 



THE sad news that Mr. John Hinchk-y Hart, ¥. L. S., passed 

 away at his home in Trinidad, West Indies, on February 

 20, recalls his many years of service as a tropical agri- 

 culturist. 



Nearly ten years ago the editor of The India Rubber World 

 received some most interesting samples of rubber extracted 

 from Castilloa shoots less than a year old. The sender was 

 Mr. Hart, who accompanied the samples witli an interesting 

 paper on the possibility of making the Castilloa or some other 

 rubber producer an annual crop-giver like sugar cane. This in- 

 cident is cited simply to emphasize the alert interest with which 

 the scientist mentioned regarded rubber planting and production. 



Beginning at the age of 20 in one of the great horticultural 

 establishments in London, he soon had an offer to go to Canada, 

 where he ranked high, both as a landscape and an horticultural 

 expert. In 1875 the Imperial Government sent him to Jamaica, 

 where he was in practical charge 

 of all government gardens and lands 

 and accomplished much. He explored 

 the island very thoroughly and added 

 numbers of new species to the flora 

 of Jamaica. Later he took full charge 

 of the government cinchona planta- 

 tions, wdiich work he followed until 

 his promotion as superintendent of the 

 Royal Botanical Gardens at Trinidad. 



In twenty years he made them noted, 

 as the most beautiful and complete of 

 any tropical botanic gardens in the 

 world. 



Retiring three years ago on a maxi- 

 mum pension, he purchased a house 

 close to the gardens and prepared to 

 enjoy a well-earned rest. 



His mental and physical activity, 

 however, kept him at work. He wrote 

 much, advised on tropical agriculture, 

 and even made arduous trips to dis- 

 tant countries in the interest of his 

 profession. 



His particular specialty was ferns, 

 on which he was an authority. He 

 also did much research work in con- 

 nection with plant diseases ; work that 

 has been of value in tropcial agriculture. 



A great controversationalist on paper, Mr. Hart loved the 

 give and take of wordy warfare. His strictures, however, were 

 wholly without personal animus and those who knew him ap- 

 preciated his warmth of heart and the generosity of his nature. 

 The editor of The India Rubber World, penning this inade- 

 quate sketch, a stone's throw from the gardens, beautified by 

 twenty years of conscientious work by Mr. Hart, confesses to 

 a sense of great personal loss, a loss that is shared by the whole 

 planting world. 



WILLIAM YEEDON. 



William Yerdon, Fort Plain, New York, inventor and manu- 

 facturer of Ycrdon's improved double hose bands, extensively 

 sold by rubber goods dealers, died at Fort Plain on March 19. 

 Deceased, wdio has been ailing for several years, was sixty-three 

 years of age. He was highly esteemed in the community and was 

 for some time postmaster at Fort Plain. He leaves a widow, 

 a son and a daughter, and the business of manufacturing Yer- 

 don's improved double hose bands and other specialties, wiy be 

 continued by the widow as executrix of the estate, with the as- 



sistance of Mr, J. E. Barker, who has been active in its man- 

 agement for the past four years. He is thoroughly familiar with 

 the technical features of the device as well as with its manufac- 

 ture and .innounces his intention to maintain the standard of 

 quality for which it is famous. 



OBITUARY NOTES. 



Moses Dwight W ells, who died recently in Chicago, was one 

 of the pioneer merchants in that city, and founder of the cor- 

 poration, M. D. Wells Co. Mr. Wells was a native of Massa- 

 chusetts, and went to Chicago in 1852, at once becoming inter- 

 ested in the shoe jobbing trade with a brother already estab- 

 lished there. The business in which Mr. Wells was interested 

 was conducted at various times under different names, and when 

 the firm took on the manufacture of shoes it was the first enter- 

 prise of the kind in the West. The firm were large distributers 

 of rubber footwear. Mr. Wells re- 

 tired from active business when the 

 firm became a corporation, in 1902. Ac- 

 cording to his will, filed for probate 

 m Chicago, the estate is estimated to be 

 worth $1,200,000. 



The Late John Hinchi.ey Hakt, f.l.s 



The death is reported of John Hall, 

 for many years a member of the firm 

 of Hall & Hamlyn, Limited, rubber and 

 leather merchants, Hull, England. The 

 business, in which he took an active 

 interest, was established twenty-nine 

 years ago, but for several years, ow- 

 ing to ill health, deceased had practi- 

 cally retired from its management. He 

 was widely esteemed, in business cir- 

 cles and as a public-spirited citizen, 

 and at the time of his decease was but 

 55 years of age. 



The recent decease is reported, at 

 Leicester, England, of Robert Edlin, 

 who is credited with having built, in 

 1888, the first velocipede to be fitted 

 with a pneumatic tire, of the type now 

 so universally employed. When a 

 young man, he made a hobby of veloci- 

 pede construction and acquired a repu- 

 tation for his success in this field. When, in 1887, J. B. Dun- 

 lop devised the first pneumatic tire, Mr. Edlin was suggested as 

 the man who could furnish a machine to fit it and the result was 

 the first pneumatic-tired bicycle. 



I'hrough a United States Consul in Germany, the Department 

 of Commerce and Labor, at Washington, D. C, has received 

 a request for quotations from American manufacturers of rub- 

 tier cloth for printing rolls, prices to be quoted per square meter 

 on cloth about 80 centimeters wide and 2 or Zyi millime 

 thick. The weight per square meter would have to be given 

 and shipments made in rolls packed in cases. The consul's 

 communication was accompanied by a sample of the material, 

 whicli can he obtained from the Bureau of Manufactures. 



To the general reader, interested in topics of a geographical 

 character. The Rubber Country of the Amazon, by Henry C. 

 Pearson, affords a fund of interesting and instructive reading. 

 To the n'ljber ma?i the information it furnishes is indispensable. 



