September 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



571 



Trinidad and Its Rubber — III. 



By the Editor of "The India Rubber I! arid." 



A Notable Agricultural O&nference — Interesting: Addresses — Important Paper 

 hy Mr. CoUens — His Description of the Uongrel Hevea — The Island of Tobago 

 — The Original Home of Tobacco — Where Eobinson Crusoe Had His Wonderful 

 Adventures — The Birthplace of Two Good Ideas — Tapping Castilloa and Its 

 Coagulation — Castilloa Tapping Results, 



1WAS fortunate in being in Trinidad at the time of the great 

 agricultural conference this year. Dr. Francis Watts, the 

 president, was good enough to see that I was made an hon- 

 orary member, which admitted me to all of the sessions and func- 

 tions. It was also a great time saver for me, as the heads of 

 departments 

 from the Gui- 

 anas and all of 

 the West Indian 

 Islands were 

 present. Thus, I 

 did not have to 

 go to British 

 Guiana to see 

 Professor Har- 

 rison, to Dutch 

 Guiana to meet 

 Dr. Cramer, or 

 to any of the 

 i s 1 a n d s to see 

 those interested 

 in rubber. They 

 were all there. I 

 was glad as far 

 as the Guianas 

 were concerned, 

 for a great 

 drouth prevailed 

 there all winter, 

 and travelers 

 were not com- 

 fortable. Fortu- 

 nately, drouths 

 occur about once 

 in a hundred 

 years only, and 

 it is hardly like- 

 ly that in the 

 writer's life time 

 at least, the beau- 

 tiful Guianas will 

 again be places 

 to avoid. 



Of the many 

 lectures and dis- 

 cussions upon 

 rubber, one of 

 the most notable 

 was a scholarly 

 paper read by 

 Mr. A. E. Col- 

 lens, F. C. S., the assistant analyst and lecturer on botany, and 

 the officer in charge of special investigations. He has in the 

 past few years visited almost all (if not all) of the plantations 

 in Trinidad and Tobago, examined the rubber, tapped, coagulated 

 and tested, and in addition kept close watch upon the growth and 

 production of the trees in the government gardens in Trinidad. 



His paper gave from the beginning rubber planting in the two 

 islands; Heveas, Castilloas, Funtumias, etc. 



T. 



vrpi.NX "Castilloa" Trees. 20 Feet Up, on Ba.mboo Ladder 



In his description of the experimental work at the St. Clair 

 Experiment Station, he touched upon the supposed hybrid of the 

 Hevea Brasiliensis and the Hevea Confusa. It will be noted that 

 he did not affirm as an established fact that the trees are hybrids, 

 as that has not been proved. His description of the mongrel 

 Hevea is as follows : 



"Bark, coppery or rust-colored, instead of grey; bark, thin 

 and usually only slightly over J^-'nch in thickness, in some 



cases much less; 

 atex, creamy yel- 

 low; rubber, 

 slightly sticky 

 and inferior irn 

 elasticity; leaves, 

 semi-transparent, 

 with reticulated 

 or criss-cross 

 veins, especially 

 noticeable when 

 the sunlight is- 

 passing through 

 the leaves. Seeds, 

 arger than those 

 of H. Brasilien- 

 sis; rounded 

 angled, greyish- 

 blot ch e d and 

 somewhat elastic 

 or yielding when 

 pressed ; these 

 seeds are fairly 

 distinct from the 

 -eeds of the H. 

 confusa, they 

 somewhat resem- 

 ble H. pauciAora 

 in general aspect, 

 but are larger. 

 General charac- 

 ters of tree, tall, 

 good growth, 

 imibrageous, fair- 

 ly dense foliage. 

 "As there were 

 two large trees 

 at Government 

 House Gardens, 

 one yielding 

 white latex and 

 the other yellow, 

 both identified at 

 Kew as Hevea 

 Brasiliensis, it is 

 possible that 

 these may be offsprings from the seeds of the latter. Unfortu- 

 nately, the yellow latex-yielding tree was cut down, some two or 

 three years ago, and it is impossible to obtain any record of the 

 nature of the bark, seeds, etc., for comparison. It has been sug- 

 gested that they are hybrids between H. Brasiliensis and H. con- 

 fusa, but this can only be assumed for the present, since as is 

 stated by Huber (1911); 'It is not proved that Hevea can hy- 

 bridise, but it is not impossible.' 



