JuLV 1, 1912.; 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



473 



series of spicy epistles which were received with grim amuse- 

 ment by the sturdy head of the British Guiana Department of 

 Agriculture, but with no change of front. 



It was while this matter was still being discussed that I was in 

 Trinidad. A s 

 soon as possible 

 I visited the 

 plantation that 

 was at the source 

 of the trouble. 

 The place was of 

 exceedingly easy 

 access, situated 

 on the railroad 

 that runs from 

 Port of Spain to 

 San Fernando, 

 with a station on 

 the property. A 

 neighborin g 

 planter, with true 

 tropical hospital- 

 ity, induced us to 

 stop off before 

 reaching our 

 journey's end 

 and visit his 

 bungalow for 

 breakfast, a n d 

 take a look at his 

 own cocoa which 

 was extensive, 



and his rubber which was only a beginning. From there 

 we drove to the Boston plantation. There certainly were two 

 types of Hcvea there, and when the differences were once seen 

 they were pronounced. About half the trees were true Hevea 

 Brasiliensis ; the rest were apparently hybrids. The latter were 

 of lusty growth, full-branched and densely leaved; the leaf was 

 much broader toward the point than that of the Brasiliensis. 

 The bark also 

 was exceedingly 

 thin, being hard- 

 ly an eighth of 

 an inch in thick- 

 ness, and the 

 latex produced a 

 rubber that was 

 very short and 

 far inferior lo 

 Fine Para. 



After the latex 

 had ceased flow- 

 ing a yellow 

 green resin oozed 

 out and rolled 

 down over the 

 bark and there 

 remained as 

 sticky as the sur- 

 face of fly-paper. 

 Another differ- 

 ence in the tree 

 was in the outer 

 bark, the surface 

 of which was 

 broken by many 

 minute spines, 



whereas the bark of the Brasiliensis, although nearly smooth, 

 shows tiny vertical ridges. Still another was the dark reddish 



Six-Ye.\r-Old Hevea, Experiment St.\tion, St. Cl.^ir 



Funtiitiiia Elastica at Experiment Station, St. Clair. 



color of the bark as compared with the silvery appearance of 

 the other. The tree was withering differently from the Brasil- 

 iensis in that it had a full crown of bright green leaves, while 

 the true trees were either entirely or partially denuded. The 



seeds were 

 larger, squarer 

 and lighter in 

 weight than 

 those of the 

 Brasiliensis, al- 

 though showing 

 practically the 

 same mottled 

 coloring. 



Naturally after 

 such an unusual 

 experience, one 

 sought the Bo- 

 tanical experts at 

 St. Clair Experi- 

 ment Station for 

 further informa- 

 tion. Professor 

 Carmody, the 

 head of the De- 

 partment of 

 Agriculture, very 

 courteou sly 

 opened every 

 door of informa- 

 tion for us and 

 we were at once 

 shown a group of the same type of trees'; some nine or ten years 

 old, which were being regularly observed. There were also in 

 the nursery seedlings of both the Brasiliensis and the Hybrid 

 for the purpose of determining the differences of the two growths 

 from the beginning. There had already been noted a suggestion 

 of a difference when, the leaf-shoots first appeared, the leaves 

 of the Brasiliensis hanging almost vertically, while those of the 



Hybrid stood 

 out from the 

 stem almost 

 horizontally. Mr. 

 CoUens, of the 

 St. Clair staff, 

 who is specializ- 

 ing on Hevea, 

 was of the opin- 

 ion that there 

 was a difference 

 in the venation 

 of the leaves, and 

 was devoting 

 time to that line 

 of investigation. 

 The original 

 source of the 

 seed from which 

 the trees on the 

 Boston planta- 

 tion grew, was 

 probably a fine 

 thirty - year - old 

 Brasiliensis of 

 undoubted purity 

 growing in the 

 Botanic Gardens 

 at Port of Spain. About one hundred feet from it was an 

 equally large and thrifty Hevea Confusa. The theory, therefore, 



