37b 



The Supplement to tfie Tropical Agriculturist 



The acreage planted at date is 1,338 acres. 



Acreage planted : Hevea, 242 ; Ceara, 1,092 ; 

 other varieties, 4 ; total, 1,338. 



Total trees planted : Hevea, 79,940 ; Ceara, 

 349,400 ; other varieties, 800 ; total, 430,140. 



Average of girth : Hevea, 2 years 6, 3 years 8; 

 Ceara, 2 years 8, 3 years 14. 



Four places practice clean cultivation. Two of 

 them consider it absolutely necessary. One 

 manager reports that it is entirely too expensive 

 and two have not tried it. The approximate cost 

 of cultivation per acre runs from $14'00to $24'00 

 per acre for the first year and lighter for fol- 

 lowing years. Inter-crops, such as corn, potatoes, 

 beans, oats, and green vegetables are planted on 

 parts of two plantations. While one manager 

 reports that pineapple has been tried, but with- 

 out success. 



One manager reports that inter-crops are pro- 

 fitable only as the returns reduce the cost of 

 cultivation, but would not be profitable otherwise. 



Only experimental tapping has been done and 

 the result is yet undetermined. One manager 

 reports very good results. 



From reports received there are 11,000 trees 

 that may possibly be tapped commercially during 

 the year 1910. One plantation reports that 

 fertilizers are too expensive to use in quantities 

 enough to be beneficial. Two have not used 

 them. Three places report the use of fertilizers 

 with excellent results and one with fair returns. 



For the purpose of getting statistics for next 

 year that might be more reliable and more de- 

 tailed, I would suggest that a committee of three 

 be appointed ; one on Oahu, one on Maui and 

 one on Hawaii, and each one attend to the secur- 

 ing of data on the island on which he resides. 

 These results could then be tabulated as desired. 

 — Hawaiian Forester & Agriculturist, Dec, 1909. 



RUBBER AND HEMP IN GUATEMALA. 



Attention is being drawn in South American 

 quarters to the prospect offered to rubber- 

 planters in Guatemala. Certainly, in respect 

 of humidity, the Atlantic coast of this Re- 

 public seems to be well favoured, the average 

 annual rainfall there being 95 ins, as com- 

 pared, for example, to the 80 ins averaged 

 in Sumatra. The Dutch Colony is taken pur- 

 posely as a case in point, for some years ago 

 a Dutch rubber-grower imported some Manna 

 hemp-seed for inter-planting with rubber, with 

 apparently very good results ; and as the Manils 

 hemp is grown to a great extent in Guatemala it 

 is not unnaturally agreed that, with the good 

 soil, warm climate and high average rainfall, 

 the conditions for succesful rubber-growing 

 are all at hand inthe Republic. The Manila 

 hemp (Musa textilis) attains a growth 18 months 

 after planting which is sufficient to form a 

 very good shade for the young rubber plants, 

 has veiy few roots and does not impoverish 

 the soil. Its leaves may be cut and allowed 

 to fertilise the land. — Financier and Butlionist, 

 March 17. 



EXPERIMENTS IN COTTON G 

 ING IN HONDURAS. 



H.M. Consul at Truxillo (Mr A E Melhado) 

 has forwarded a copy of a report made by the 

 Manager of the Honduras National Railway 

 Company of an experiment in the growth of Sea 

 Island cotton made on the experimental farm 

 of the Company near Truxillo. The seed was 

 planted about the middle of August last, at an 

 elevation of about 50 feet above sea level, on a 

 hill-side sloping slightly to the west and well 

 drained. The cotton plants have grown up. 

 healthy and strong, to a height of 10-12 feet. 

 The first bolls matured and opened in Decem- 

 ber, but, that being in the course of the rainy 

 season, the rain stained the cotton and ren- 

 dered it unfit for use. Since the heavy rains 

 have lessened, the cotton produce has been of 

 very good quality, and, notwithstanding the loss 

 of the first bolls, the production bids fair, says 

 the manager, to be double that of any he has 

 seen in the United States. The manager is en- 

 tirely satisfied that cotton can be produced in 

 Honduras at about half the cost of production 

 in the United States, that the production per 

 acre in Honduras will be fully double that in 

 the United States, and that the former country 

 will be entirely free from the boll weevil. It is 

 stated that the cotton plant will grow into a 

 small tree and will continue to produce, so that 

 it will not be necessary to replant the ground 

 each year. There are in Honduras, between 

 the mountains to the south and the sea to the 

 north, 100,000 acres of ground similar to that 

 upon which the experiment is being made, and 

 along the line of the Honduras National Rail- 

 way the land is well watered and there is a fine 

 climate. The land is at present covered with 

 timber. —Board of Trade Journal, March 17. 



MR. COCKERILL'S PATENT FOR THE 

 TREATMENT OF LATEX. 



Mr Hermann C T Gardner in a communica- 

 tion to the Financier writes as follows on the 

 separation of latex :— 



An interesting patent was taken out by T 

 Cockerill, of Colombo, in October last, for the 

 separation of rubber from latex by means of the 

 electric current. In this apparatus the latex is 

 made to fall from a trough on to a suitable 

 filter, through which it is passed, and delivered 

 in given quantities on to the surface of a pos- 

 itive electric pole constructed in trough form, 

 with raised edges. This positive electric pole, 

 or anode, is in the form of an endless travelling 

 belt, whose upper surface is suitably connected 

 with a dynamo. This belt is rotated very 

 slowly, and, whilst travelling, separates, by 

 means of the current, the caoutchouc from the 

 latex, beroming covered with the rubber 

 which is removed from it by scrapers fixed at a 

 certain point and sent from them by rollers into 

 a tank of hot water, where it is washed and 

 scrubbed with revolving brushes. From the tank 

 it is transferred to heated rollers, and passed 

 through them, finally being sent to a cutting 

 machine ; the exhausted latex passes into a tank 



