459 



RUBBER IN JAMAICA. 



The Director of Agriculture of Jamaica publishes in his annual 

 report an account of the failure to cultivate Para rubber in that 

 island. His remarks on the subject in the previous report occasioned 

 a good deal of comment and criticism, and it was stated that his pes- 

 simistic views had a material effect in preventing the rubber boom 

 from extending in Jamaica. His evidence that he now produces 

 seems certainly to justify his condemnation of the cultivation. 



The first plants of Hevea braziliensis he says were planted as 

 Castilla in 1872. This is interesting because the first plants im- 

 ported, by Collins, arrived at Kew in 1873, Where did these plants 

 come from ? Did Collins leave some at Jamaica on his return from 

 the Amazon ? One of these trees, still standing, and consequently 

 38 years old, only measures 43^ inches in girth at three feet from the 

 ground and produces with difficulty only a little scrap. Six tappings 

 on a thorough going scale only yielded 4 ounces of rubber per year. 

 In the Straits a tree of this age should be at least 120 inches round, 

 and give 30 to 40 pounds of rubber, and produce over a thousand 

 seeds. 



This tree is not the only failure, for reports have been sent in from 

 twelve other localities in Jamaica, all giving the same verdict, " Trees 

 weak and spindly and in some yield of latex very poor. One corres- 

 pondent states : From what I saw of Para rubber in Singapore 

 and Ceylon last summer (1909) I am quite convinced that it is no 

 good here as the girth of my largest tree (four years old) is not as 

 big as one of eighteen months growth in Singapore." 



The seeds seem to have germinated fairly well as in 1906. Mr. 

 Fawcett writes that of 7,500 "we shall hardly lose 500," one unlucky 

 lot from an estate sent there however came to grief. In 1905, 5,642 

 plants were distributed to planters from a lot of 10,000 seeds sent 

 from the gardens in Singapore, but if this was all that germinated 

 this was under the usual germination for seed to Guiana, etc., 86 to 90 

 per cent, an equally long voyage. 



The evidence now brought forward by the Director seems to 

 be conclusive. The plant has been tried everywhere in Jamaica, and 

 the Department has given it a good trial. The result has been uni- 

 formly the same, for some reason the tree will not grow and if it does, 

 produces little or no latex. 



More hope is entertained about Castilloa, but there it is reported 

 that under favourable conditions trees of ten years old produce but 

 one pound of rubber, and trees of 14 to 20 years of age 2 lbs. and over. 

 This seems a very poor return. Should rubber fall, as it certainly 

 will do in a few years, to a low figure, it can hardly pay on this return 

 especially as the labour in Jamaica costs four times as much as in the 

 Straits Settlements. 



Fruit, Coconuts, and Cocoa seem to be the most successful pro- 

 ducts in Jamaica. — Ed. 



