May 1, 1912.; 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



371 



We were fortunate in meeting Mr. Jackson, curator o£ the 

 Gardens, who gave us nuich information regarding rubber ex- 

 periments, successful and unsuccessful. He seemed to believe 

 that so far the Diclwloina showed the most promise, and that 

 there was the possibility that some day Antigua might do some- 



fact that he had forsaken the land of the footlights and was 

 happy in his quiet tropical enterprise was in itself an instance of 

 the adaptability of the modern Anglo-Saxon. 



Castries, the port at which ue landed, is unusually level for a 



At the Experiment St.stion. A\tigu.\. 



thing with it on a conunercial scale. Certainly with a rainfall 

 of from thirty to fifty inches and often times a prolonged drought 

 no other of the rubber producers were to be seriously considered. 

 St. John is very healthful, has fine stores, a good hotel, is well 

 governed, excellently policed and one of the pleasantest towns 

 in the West India Islands. 



ST. LUCIA. 



When yon enter the beautiful harbor of St. Lucia, by the big 

 empty fort that guards the entrance, and tie up at the pier, be 

 sure that it is raining, or else get ashore at once and far from 

 the pier, for it is here the steamers take on coal, the work being 

 done by hundreds of husky blacks of both sexes, and the soft 

 coal dust is very penetrating. 



St. Lucia has the best natural equipment of any of the islands 

 for rubber manufacture. It has a plantation of Castilloas, a 

 mountain of fine 

 chalky earth and 

 a great deposit 

 of sulphur. Ap- 

 parently all that 

 would be needed 

 is a factory and 

 an expert com- 

 pounder. To be 

 sure, the rubber 

 plantation is 

 not yet mature 

 enough to pro- 

 duce, but that is 

 only a detail. 

 Sulphur is being 

 worked by n 

 New York com- 



C-\STRiES, St. Lucia. 



paiiy, the head of which is an American, who once was manager 

 for Joseph Jefferson. I became very well acquainted with him 

 and his storie^^ of life upon the island, native idiosyncrasies, and 

 g^ii^ii ^hat,f)oisQnous and dreaded serpent, the Fer-de-Lance, were 

 most interesting. He wr.s possesscfl of a gentle humor and a 

 manner that really was suggestive of Jefferson himself, and the 



I.m;i,i Ficiis, Botanical Gardens, Antigua. 



West Indian city, has broad streets and a prosperous look. It 

 is a British naval station and therefore very strongly fortified. 

 The city is not healthful and at night is practically deserted. 

 There is a Botanic Station in Castries and we sawr some large 

 Castilloas and a huge Ficus Eiasiica. Rubber planting had not 

 much hold there; indeed this island, which has excellent soil and 

 a wonderful climate, is only slightly developed. The interior 

 contains thousands of acres of Crown Lands open for settlement, 

 but the alleged unhealthfulness, together with the presence of the 

 deadly Fer-de-Lance, has led settlers to choose places free from 

 such drawbacks. 



DOMINICA. 

 Dominica is really tropical, mountainous, rugged and fertile. 

 -Although only 29 miles long and 16 miles wide, it has 70,000 

 acres under cultivation. The interior of the island is still cov- 

 ered with virgin forests. A roadway suitable for horseback 



riding encircles 

 the island and 

 several bridle 

 paths cross it. 

 This island is 

 volcanic, and ca- 

 cao, limes, coflfee 

 and spices are 

 produced in 

 great abundance. 

 In spite of the 

 heavy rainfall, 

 80 to 200 inches, 

 it is extremely 

 healthful. Insect 

 pests, poisonous 

 reptiles and even 

 malarial mosqui- 



tos are conspicuous by their absence. The people, of course, are 

 black, except about 1 per cent, of whites, and the capital, 

 Roseau, is an enterprising modern little city. 



A diminutive black boy insisted on guiding us to the Botanic 

 Gardens, and amazed us with his knowledge of botanical names. 

 Here, we saw some hundreds of Castilloas. There was also an 



