282 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



to be of very good quality and worth 4s 4d. to 

 4s 6d. per lb. The clovetree grows well in the 

 red " laterite " soil of the Seychelles, and it 

 is recommended that it should bo planted more 

 extensively, 3 or 4 feet apart, in hedges for regu- 

 lar clipping of the mature leaves with shears. 



Vetiver grass is recommended for cultivation 

 on a large scale, and experiments are being 

 made in the distillation of oil from the roots. 

 Other plants at present under trial for the pro- 

 duction of volatile oils are basil {Ocvmum basili 

 cum), cardamoms, Viextnfolia, Bigarado orange, 

 ylang-ylaug and camphor, and sumples of oils 

 from some of these have been received at the Im- 

 perial Institute for examination (this Bulletin, 

 loc. cit.) and have given promising results. 



Rubber. 



The report alludes to the examination at the 

 Imperial Institute during the year, of three 

 rubbers prepared from Para trees, under five 

 years old. These gave the following percentage 

 results calculated on the dry rubbers : — * 





No. 1. 



No. 2. 



No. 3. 



Caoutchouc 



.. 93-9 



94-1 



93-6 



Resin 



.. 2-8 



2*3 



3-1 



Protein 



.. 2-1 



2 3 



31 



Insoluble matter 



.. 12 



13 



0-2 



Ash 



.. O'l 



0-3 



0-1 



Of these No. 1 



was from trees 



of 



about 17 



near the sea ; No. 2, from trees 16 inches in 

 girth, grown in " lateritic " soil on hillsides at 

 200 to 400 feet elevation, near Victoria ; and 

 No. 3, from trees of 14 inches girth, growing in 

 the same type of soil at 1,000 feet elevation, 

 near Cascade. 



Tapping experiments have given more pro- 

 mising results than in former years : thus a 

 group of 19 Para rubber trees from 4 to 6 years 

 old. and measuring on the average 15 inches in 

 circumference gave the following results in the 

 course of 17 consecutive days' tapping :— 



1st day 113 ccs. ' 7th day 293 ccs. 13th day 340 ccs. 



2nd „ 153 „ 8th „ 287 „ 14th „ 342 „ 



3rd 161 ,, 9th „ 273 „ loth „ 338 „ 



4th , 221 ,, 10th „ 307 ,, t 16th „ 381 „ 



6th „ 216 ,. Hth „ 290 „ 17th „ 429 „ % 



6th „ 226 „ 12th ,, SUl ,, 



* Equal to nearly 6 ccs. per tree. t Equal to 16 ccs. 



per tree. I Equal to about 22 ccs. per tree. 



After 46 days' tapping the best trees, Nos. 2 

 and 14 (of 19 inches girth) were still producing 

 37 and 36 ccs. of latex respectively per diem, 

 whilst the smallest trees, Nos. 7, 8 and 19 (of 13 

 inches girth), were only giving 2 ccs. each. The 

 conclusion is drawn that trees ought not to be 

 tapped till they are 15 inches in girth at 3 feet 

 from the ground. It is pointed out that in the 

 course of 60 days' tapping, trees 19 inches in 

 circumference gave 1 lb. of clean rubber, whilst 

 the same quantity was only obtained from trees 

 low 15 inches girth in 150 days. It is also men- 

 n'ed that in using the double spiral system of 

 apping not more than 2 inches width of bark 



* These rubbers as received at the Imperial Institute con- 

 tained an excessive amount of moisture, and though other- 

 wise of satisfactory composition were defective in physical 

 properties This defect was due no doubt in part to their 

 being collected from young trees, and in part to the large 

 amounts of moisture they contained, 



per annum should he removed, and that conse- 

 quently it is advisable not to tap trees much under 

 18 in. girth by this method. Trees of this size 

 are, however, large enough to allow 60 days' tap- 

 ping each year for 4 years before the whole bark 

 is removed. This is sufficient time to permit of 

 bark being renewed for subsequent tapping. A 

 large number of measurements of Para rubber 

 trees grown in various districts are also re- 

 corded. Allusion is made to the examination of 

 Seychelles "Vahea" rubber at the Imperial Ins- 

 titute, of which details have been published al- 

 ready (this Bulletin, 1909, 7. 262). This rubber 

 vine is being propagated in several parts of the 

 Islands, but a large number of the young plants 

 have been destroyed by " scale insects," though 

 it thrives, in spite of these attacks, at high ele- 

 vations, and when grown in friable soil alongside 

 rivers. These insects also attack Para rubber 

 trees, but in that case confine their attention 

 to the leaves, whereas they attack the leaves 

 and young shoots and even the stems of Landol- 

 phia, Castilloa, and Funtumia species. 



Subsidiary Industries, 

 the manufacture of banana flour 

 is in abeyance, owing to excessive freight char- 

 ges and high cost of suitable packing materials. 



THE PREPARATION OF COCONUT COIR — 



is being tried, and Sisal planting has been 

 started on two estates. 



A special chapter on the " Destruction of In- 

 sect Pests 1 ' is included in the report. This deals 

 more particularly with a variety of 



BLACK ANT 



(Technomyrmex Albipes) which has increased 

 markedly in recent years. It lives in simbiosis 

 with two scale insects (Mytilaspis and Lecanium), 

 which together with " snowblight " (Icerya Sey- 

 cheltarum) do great damages especially to lime 

 trees. It is not thought that insects parasitic 

 on these insect pests will be sufficient to eradi- 

 cate them, and consequeLtly in addition to en- 

 couraging "parasitism : ' of this kind, spraying 

 with soda-rosin solution is recommended. To as- 

 sist in this work the 



COVERNMENT HAS IMPORTED SPRAYING 

 APPARATUS, 



and labourers have been taught to use these, 

 and the services of these trained men are being 

 placed at the disposal of planters to teach their 

 estate labourers the spraying of trees. Atten- 

 tion is also directed to the necessity of cutting 

 away all dead or dying tissue, and burning this 

 so that it may not become a centre of further 

 infection. 



The report concludes with a chapter on 'De- 

 forestation," in which it is pointed out that 

 owing to the hilly formation of the islands 

 comprising the Seychelles group, a serious loss 

 is suffered every year through erosion and the 

 washing away of the surface soil. This loss 

 could be partly obviated by there-aftorestation 

 of the summits of the hills in those islands in 

 which they have become deforested, and by 

 better methods of cultivating the slopes. The 

 latter are at. present largely utilised for the 



