Chims, Resins, 



398 



[May, 1910. 



two individual planters. The whole 

 Territory was represented with the ex- 

 ception of Oahu and Kauai. Six reports 

 were received from Maui and one from 

 Hawaii. The area controlled by rubber 

 companies and by individuals in the 

 islands is 5,599 acres. Of these there are 

 planted to date 1,338 acres, namely, 242 

 acres in Hevea, 1,092 in Ceara and 4 acres 

 in other varieties. The total number of 

 rubber trees planted is 430,140, of which 

 79,940 are Hevea, 349,400 in Ceara and 

 800 of other varieties. 



Four plantations practise clean culti- 

 vation, the managers of two of these 

 considering it absolutely necessary. 

 From reports received there are 11,000 

 rubber trees that may possibly be tap- 

 ped commercially during the year 1910. 

 Fertilisers are considered too expensive 

 to use in sufficient quantities at present 

 to be remunerative. 



The first speaker, Mr. C. J. Austin, 

 dwelt at length upon the relative merits 

 of Hevea and Ceara as an Hawaiian rub- 

 ber crop. Although Ceara is a somewhat 

 quicker producer than the former, the 

 speaker gave his preference in favour 

 of Hevea, which is now doing exceeding- 

 ly well on the island plantations. The 

 average time, after planting, for tapping 

 Hawaiian trees was stated as not ex- 

 ceeding six years. 



Mr. L. F. Turner read an interesting 

 paper upon inter rubber crops and 

 brought forward much invaluable in- 

 formation. Such catch crops as corn, 

 cucumbers and melons were recommend- 

 ed to be grown between the young trees, 

 as by this means expenses during the 

 initial stages of the plantation can be 

 greatly reduced. Care should be taken 

 to grow crops which do not make too 

 great demands upon the soil. A method 

 which has been tried with success is to 

 let out certain portions of the planta- 

 tions to Japanese cultivators, who 

 attend to the young rubber trees in re- 

 turn for the use of the intervening 

 spaces for growing other crops. 



Dr. Wilcox, Director of the local 

 Federal Experiment Station, delivered 

 an instructive address upon the culti- 

 vation of rubber, chiefly with reference 

 to the question whether a man with a 

 small area of cultivated land was likely 

 to be able to derive an income from 

 rubber trees, and also his opportunities 

 for disposal of the latex. 



One of the first difficulties that meet 

 the man in connection with rubber is 

 where the best locations for rubber-tree 

 growing are to be found ; that is, for 

 planting small areas, The first question 

 that arises is what crop he may grow 



and receive sufficient for to make a 

 profit while waiting for his tree to 

 mature, Dr; Wilcox felt that a man 

 with a small holding of a few acres must 

 be close to a larger plantation which is 

 provided with all the machinery for 

 working up the latex. 



There are many small locations which 

 a larger plantation does not care to use, 

 where a man could have from five 

 hundred to a thousand trees or perhaps 

 more. The speaker said it would be a 

 wild scheme to suggest to a man with 

 four or five acres that rubber could be 

 made a source of income therefrom. If 

 a man with a small area developed other 

 products from which he could make a 

 living, then he saw opportunities to 

 enlarge. He believed, however, that the 

 operation of a small rubber plantation 

 not so situated with regard to a larger 

 one that it could dispose of its latex, 

 would not meet with any great success. 



Dr. Wilcox was also very certain that 

 when the growers began to tap the trees 

 on a large scale it would be necessary to 

 set a standard of grade. It is obvious 

 that the market wants certain kinds of 

 rubber more than others. If the Rubber 

 Growers ' Association wants a rubber 

 standard in Hawaii it will be necessary 

 to adhere strictly to that standard. The 

 easiest way to destroy confidence in 

 the standard of rubber is to fail to 

 maintain it. 



To make the rubber business a success 

 it is necessary to grow other crops as 

 well. Of course, the difficulties confront- 

 ing the small farmer in Hawaii were 

 greater than those which confront a 

 mainland farmer, owing to the transpor- 

 tation cost, and other disadvantages. 



Taking bananas as an instance, Dr. 

 Wilcox said there have been dozens of 

 shipments fi'om Honolulu to the main- 

 land which have arrived in San Francisco 

 in good condition, but the receipts have 

 been so small that the freight could not 

 be paid. A man on Maui cannot there- 

 fore raise bananas and other like pro- 

 ducts and expect to market them in San 

 Francisco. 



The pineapple situation is somewhat 

 similar, especially as to shipping fresh 

 fruit. Tremendous loss is sometimes 

 sustained from rot, and the enormous 

 cost of shipping in cold storage, to 

 prevent that rot, is almost prohibitive. 

 He instanced shipments from one pine- 

 apple plantation which has practically 

 lost $4,500 on its crop, the receipts not 

 having even paid for the freights. 



Under these conditions there are left 

 only a very few crops which can be 

 safely grown by the small grower with 



