57£ 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



present very scanty, and accurate and reliable 

 data must be gathered by exact observation and 

 experiment. The position in regard to the rub- 

 ber industry in Trinidad is not unsimilar to 

 that which obtained in Ceylon and Malaya some 

 ten years ago. The mass of statistics and ob- 

 servations which have been carried on by the 

 scientific officials of these places, as well as by 

 intelligent and painstaking planters, has given 

 these countries an industry upon which they 

 have exact knowledge and the prospects and 

 profit of which they can accurately gauge. 



It is, however, certain that both Hevea Brasi- 

 liensis (Para) and Castilloa elastica grow vigo- 

 rously and yield latex in good quantity in 

 Trinidad and Tobago. No data exists as to 

 yields, only spasmodic tappings having been 

 made and no rubber has been prepared but by 

 the crudest methods; but all these attempts have 

 been encouraging and contain no evidence that 

 the trees of Trinidad and Tobago possess any less 

 of the profitable characters than the Para and 

 Castilloa trees of rubber-producing countries. 

 Future Experimental Work. 

 Through the kindness of Mr Boos, I have had 

 placed at my disposal for experimental purposes 

 97 Para rubber trees of 9 or 10 years old, aver- 

 aging in girth at 3 feet from the ground 2 feet 

 10£ inches, and at the base 3 feet 8$ inches. I 

 am making arrangements to carry on a conti- 

 nuous series of tappings every other day for two 

 years or more, and all data of yields, quality of 

 rubber, &c, will be carefully recorded. 



I propose to begin a series of experiments on 

 a large scale with Castilloa directly the experi- 

 ments I am carrying on with a small number of 

 trees have given some information as to the best 

 shape of puncturing instrument and the most 

 effective way of forcing it into the bark. 



For this purpose the estates below mentionod 

 have placed plots of trees at the disposal of the 

 Department of Agriculture and therefore while 

 regretting the lack of information on important 

 points which this paper show I hope that in the 

 course of a few months the knowledge which we 

 so much desire may be obtained. The planter 

 who is at present waiting timidly on the bank 

 will be encouraged to plunge and will also have 

 figures to enable him to choose between the 

 rival merits of Hevea and Castilloa : — 



Santa Aneta Longdenville Mr F Moos. 



Santa Jose Guaico Mr J Gde Gannes. 



Verdant Vale Arima Mr J Wade 



Poole Savana Grande The Poole Estate 



Syndicate. 



Richmond Tobago Captain Short. 



Louis IJ'or Tobago Mr T VV M Orde. 



Monte Cristo Cumuto Mr H Monceaux, 



The illustrations distributed through this 

 issue show the various species of rubber culti- 

 vated in Trinidad. In all cases the plants 

 have been grown without continuous weeding, 

 and this factor should be taken into considera- 

 tion in considering the size of the trees as 

 compared to trees of the same species in other 

 countries. 



Plate 1- Castilloa elastica 6 years old. 



,, ^—Funtumia elastica 3j ,, 



,, 3- Castilloa elastica 6 ,, 



4— 12 ,, 



,, 5— Hevea brasiliensis 3 ,, 



„ 6— Funtumia elastica 12 ,, 



,, 7— Castilloa elastica W „ 



" J. B. C. 



—Trinidad Bulletin of Agriculture, April 1910. 



CASTILLOA RUBBER. 



DISAPPOINTING EXPERIMENT. 



The Indische Mercuur quotes a speech made 

 by Mr. Tobias, at a meeting of the Mountain 

 Cultivation Section of the Agricultural Union 

 at Djember, on the subject of the cultivation of 

 Castilloa, which contained the following : — 



Th6 cultivation of the Castilloa was held to be 

 of little account at the last Rubber Congress in 

 1907. It was barely mentioned. A few planters 

 had yet tapped it, so results could rarely be 

 reported. Although I could have started early 

 to tap, I made several journeys to other lands 

 to learn how to handle it. And with several 

 rounds of visits at my back and a number of 

 figures which I took down I was able to com- 

 pare my experience with those of other planters. 



Amongst the plantations visited was the Simo, 

 where a beginning was made with planting the 

 Castilloa in 1899, so the oldest trees have about 

 ten years' growth. As many as 3,606 of them 

 have been tapped, with a result of 11341b. good 

 rubber, and 42 lb. scrap, or 2.1J grammes per tree 

 about. On the -Soember Telogo estate, about 

 1,800 to 2,000 feet high, the first planting of 

 Castilloa took place in 1901. Fresh planting 

 was clone in 1903 and 1904, and in the early part 

 of 1909 there were 9,080 trees ready to be tapped. 

 The first tapping took place in 1908. But the 

 first yield was not clean. It was not rolled out, 

 and so was full of watery hollows, and even the 

 later yield of tappings could not be called dry. 

 The proportion of latex to dry rubber was 6Jto 1, 

 and the yield per tree was about 10 grammes. 



At Kali Mrawan, on spurs of the Majang 

 Mountain range, the Castilloa trees are on 

 rough ground, about 1,000 to 1,600 feet high. 

 The first were planted there in 1900; then 

 followed plantings in 1901, yearly on to 1905, 

 and then again in 1908. The oldest (about 

 1\ years old) trees were tapped in 1909, 

 when 156| grammes latex were collected, or 

 about 19! grammes dry rubber per tree. The 

 second tapping yielded only 16 grammes per 

 tree. The six, five and four-year old trees were 

 also tapped in order to learn the quality of 

 rubber from young trees. There were tapped 

 140 six-year old trees. They yielded 18J grammes 

 dry rubber per tree. Five-year old trees (200 

 wore tapped) yielded 16^ grammes per tree, and 

 four-year olds (of which 150 were tapped) 

 yielded only 10J grammes dry rubber per tree. 

 Comparative Tests. 

 Comparative tests were made with incisions on 

 both sides of the tree, thus tapping practically 

 the whole circumference of the trunk. But the 

 extra yield, in the opinion of the lecturer, was 

 relatively insignificant. It made no difference 

 in the six-year old trees, and not much in the 

 five and four-year old ones. Thus tests had 

 been made in three different parts of Java at 

 different heights above sea-level, with different 

 soils, climates and rainfalls. The Solosehe ground 

 had been well cultivated for a long time, but 

 such was not the case at Uhlang and Besoeki. 

 Some reports from Soember Telogo date back to 

 1880, 1882, 1885 and 1888. The oldest plantations 

 at Kali-Mrawan date back fourteen years. 



Taking the yield of the Solo trees at 1934 

 grammes, the Soember Telogo trees at 94 gram- 



