261 



nights bit off, and otherwise destroyed, 715 two-year old plants put 

 out in the previous June. Supplying was done at once, and one or 

 two of my inert, brought to the bungalow a lot of the bitten off stems. 

 These were left lying in a heap for seven or eight days when I be- 

 thought me, in a spare moment, of sticking them in the nursery, too, 

 to see if they would succeed as cuttings. These, too, were well looked 

 after and watered as required. Altogether 85 stems were put in, having 

 first had their gnawed and bitten ends cut off clean with a sharp knife. 

 Now in March I find I have 56 of these alive and well and looking as 

 if they had thoroughly rooted themselves. The shoots they have 

 thrown up (pruned off to one each) are vigorous and in full growth. 



How often one's best efforts result in failure and things more or 

 less carelessly done and under adverse circumstances prove successful ! 



I am sorry that in the first experiment I did not count exactly 

 how many of the cuttings had small fibrous roots and how many had 

 none, but to the best of my recollection certainly not more than 50 per 

 cent were, more or less, generally less, rooted. 



J. G. F. Marshall. 

 (India Rubber Journal, May 1908.) 



RUBBER PLANTING IN THE WEST INDIES. 



Rubber planting on an experimental scale, was begun in suitable 

 localities in the West Indies several years ago, and a remunerative, if 

 at present somewhat small, industry is gradually being developed in 

 more than one colony, notably in Trinidad and Tobago. The Central 

 American rubber (Castilloa elastica) is the kind which has received 

 most attention, since it is apparent that it is well suited to the nat- 

 ural conditions prevailing in this part of the world, and moreover, is 

 well adapted to serve as a shade tree in and around cacao plantations. 

 Para rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) is also being planted and is almost 

 everywhere regarded with favour. For practical purposes, it may be 

 said that planters in the West Indian Islands are limiting their atten- 

 tion to these two varieties. In British Guiana, probably more than 

 one species of Sapium are found, which have been proved to yield a 

 good supply of valuable rubber. In that colony, therefore while ex- 

 periments are undertaken with Castilloa and Hevea, it is possible that 

 the best returns may be obtained from the cultivation of the native 

 rubbers in preference to other kinds. 



Considering the great and continually increasing number of uses 

 to which rubber is applied in every-day life, it is manifest that the 

 market for the raw product is in no danger of falling off to an appreci- 

 able extent. The rapid displacement of horse traffic by motor vehicles, 

 that has taken place of late years, has alone brought about an enor- 

 mous and permanent increase in the demand for rubber, while its 

 peculiar physical properties are continually creating fresh uses for it in 

 the arts and industries. 



The world's supply of wild rubber, the chief sources of which are 

 the Amazonas district of Brazil, Mexico, and other parts of Central 

 America, and Africa, is being exploited as rapidly as collectors can get 



