August 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD. 



521 



Trinidad and Its Rubber — II. 



By the Editor of "The hidia Riihher World." 



A Yellow Fever Souvenir — Port of Spain — Bejrinnings of Rubber Planting 



St. Clair Experiments — Many Castilloas in Trinidad — A Big Producer — Fun- 

 tumia — Hevea the Present Hope — Tapping and Coagulating Processes — Yields 

 of Hevea Brasiliensis and the Confusa Type — Mr. Hart and the Annual Crop — 

 Professor Carmody on Castilloa Resins — Tapping by Pricking — List of Trinidad 

 Rubber Estates. 



I HAVE as a souvenir an official document bearing the coat- 

 of-arms of the colony of Trinidad, which was thrust upon 

 me when I returned from my trip up the Orinoco. It read : 

 "Take notice that you, being a person permitted to land subject 



tc, surveillance in 

 this colony from 

 a place infected 

 with yellow fe- 

 ver," etc. 



This kept me 

 reporting to the 

 port physician 

 daily for a week. 

 1 here was no 

 yellow fever up 

 the Orinoco when 

 I was there, but 

 as all the rest of 

 the West Indian 

 against Trinidad's 



Railway Station from Entrance to Rubber 

 Lands Estate. Ukvciienville. 



Dragon's Mouth, Trinidah. 



world, and Venezuela as well, quarantine 

 bubonic plague, I suppo.'e they do this to get even. 



Trinidad is very English, as is natural, and most of the gov- 

 ernment positions are held by Englishmen, from the Governor 

 down. The residents have about the same distaste for Ameri- 

 cans that the Londoners have for Trinidadians. 



It is doubtless the fault in part of the hordes of winter tour- 

 ists who invade the chief hotel — the Queen's Park — at stated 

 intervals, and whom the management allow to seriously in- 

 commode regular 



patrons. But thai 

 would hardly 

 account for 

 the newspaper 

 attitude, which 

 editorially com- 

 ments upon the 

 tourists as gum 

 chewing, 1 o u d - 

 voiced and ig- 

 norant. Still they 

 reach eagerly 

 for American 

 money. There 

 are exceptions 

 among the island 

 residents, a n d 

 they stand out 

 in bold relief, cor- 

 dial and friendly. 



The little is- 

 land takes itself 

 very seriously, 

 and has all sorts 



of ponderous functions that the Governor opens and closes, and 

 a social system that is made up of innumerable circles that have 

 for a common center "Government House." 



Port of Spain, the capital, is a rather flat city, with a number 

 of beautiful government buildings and a wonderful Botanic 



^- 



^'%rS::^ 



Queen's Park Hotel, Irixid.nu. 



Garden. The late J. H. Hart, whose contributions to this 

 paper will perhaps be remembered, more than any one else laid 

 out and beautilied these gardens. 



Fully thirty years ago a few rubber trees were planted in 

 these gardens, and during the past half-dozen years much has 

 been done in the way of tapping, coagulating and e.xperiiuenting. 

 Close to tile 

 gardens is the: 

 St. Clair E.x- 

 perinient Sta- 

 tion. When first 

 I visited this 

 station it was 

 in charge of the 

 late J. B. Car- 

 ruthers, \\ h o 

 had come from 

 the Middle East 

 in the midst 

 of the rubber 

 boom, full of 

 the determina- 

 tion to make 



rubber profitable here. His sudden death did not stop the work, 

 which, under Professor Carmody, is now being carried on by 

 Mr. Freeman, who is much more of an organizer and practical 

 man of affairs than his predecessor could ever have been. 



There are in the island a great many rubber trees ; indeed al- 

 most every cacao plantation has at least a few. In driving 

 through the country one continually sees Castilloes, Funtuiitias 

 and Hcveas, but as a rule the trees are young, and in many cases 

 where they are fully developed they liave not been tapped. I 



[|uestioned sev- 

 eral planters 

 about this and 

 they freely ac- 

 knowledged that 

 they were afraid 

 of injuring the 

 trees, and were 

 w a i t i n g until 

 they could be 

 s'.;re of the best 

 way before be- 

 ginning the ex- 

 traction of latex. 

 There is more 

 Castilloa than 

 any other rubber 

 producer, the 

 number of trees 

 being consider- 

 ably over one- 

 half million, and 

 as elsewhere, the 

 tree is uneven in 

 its growth and 

 production. As a basis of hope, however, there is the record 

 of a Castilloa in the Botanic Gardens that gave 4 pounds and 15 

 ounces in two tappings one month apart. The tree, to be sure, 

 is 30 years old, and grown in a little valley where it has the 

 rich wash of the hillside. It is a big one. some six feet in girth 



