474 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



I July 1, 1912. 



is that bees visiting the flowers of the Confusa conveyed pollen 

 to those of the Brasiliensis and thus were responsible for the 

 creation of this troublesome mongrel. That jt was discovered while 



planting is still 

 young in the 

 Western World 

 is most fortun- 

 ate ; and the 

 scientist w h o 

 spoke plainly 

 regarding the 

 matter in the 

 beginning 

 should receive a 

 vote of thanks 

 from all Hevea 

 planters. 



How many 

 planters there 

 are that have a 

 few, or perhaps 

 many, of these 

 trees m i .x e d 

 with H e V c a 

 Brasiliensis no 



one at present knows. Certain of the plantations that I visited 

 had a few that looked very much like them. The proper course, 

 when they are identified, is to cut them out or at least to pre- 

 vent them from blossoming. It, however, is hard for an owner 



He 



■ii Confusa 1912, Cut B.\ck, TRixiD.\n. 



there are not hybrids, in Hevca plantations outside of the West 



Indies. A botanist, who returned from the Middle East last 



winter, told me that the plantations there had quantities of 



them. The fact, 



however, that 



there has been 



n o complaint 



on the part of 



planters in that 



part of the 



world, regard- 

 ing the quantity 



or quality of 



the late.x that 



their trees 



yield, would 



argue that there 



are very few, if 



any, there. 



Again, if the 



Confusa crosses 



with the Brasil- 

 iensis why not 



the Guianensis, 



the Randiana 

 and others? 

 research. 



In the meantime, to guard against future harm, the branches 

 of the original Confusa have been lopped off, and any blossoms 

 that it attempts to send out will be cut off ere they can open. 



That rubber planters, not only in Trinidad but in the other 

 islands and in the Guianas, were greatly troubled over the new 

 Hevea was very natural. So highly did one value his Hevea that 

 to prevent any possible crossing he planned to cut out both his 

 CastiUoa and Manilwt. He was promptly assured that there was 



Hevea (Confusa Type"), Trinid.\d. 

 Here certainly is food for thought, and room for 



:^,^^^i^|^y^^^ 



Hevea {Conftisa Type), Trixid-\d. 



no danger of hybridization in either of these cases, and breathed 

 freer. 



Then came the inevitable query. "If the good and the bad 

 Hevea cross, why not the good and the bad Castilloas' How do 

 I know that my seeds from Mexico or British Honduras are not 

 hybrids of the CastiUoa elastica and the CastiUoa tunuf" To 

 to destroy a tree that, to his eye, is one of the thriftiest of his this there was only one answer delivered in "purest CastiUoa"— 

 Ileveas. Then, too, comes the question as to whether or not "Quien Sabe?" (To be continued.) 



Hcica Loflusa lylU, Irixidad l;'.or.\Nic G.\kuen; 



