446 
the  speaker  gave  his  preference  in  favor  of  Hevea,  which  is  now 
doing  exceedingly  well  on  the  island  plantations.  The  average 
time,  after  planting,  for  tapping  Hawaiian  trees  was  stated  as  not 
exceeding  six  years. 
Mr.  L.  F.  Turner  read  an  interesting  paper  upon  inter  rubber 
crops  and  brought  forward  much  invaluable  information.  Such 
catch  crops  as  corn,  cucumbers  and  melons  were  recommended 
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  grown  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  plantations  to  Japanese 
cultivators,  who  attend  to  the  young  rubber  trees  in  return  for  the 
use  of  the  intervening  spaces  for  growing  other  crops. 
Doctor  Wilcox,  director  of  the  local  Federal  Experiment  Sta- 
tion, delivered  an  instructive  address  upon  the  cultivation  of  rub- 
ber, 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  meets  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  ques- 
tion that  arises  is  what  crop  he  may  grow  and  receive  sufficient 
for  to  make  a profit  while  waiting  for  his  trees  to  mature.  Doctor 
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  rub- 
ber 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,  how- 
ever, that  the  operation  of  a small  rubber  plantation  not  so  situ- 
ated with  regard  to  a larger  one  that  it  could  dispose  of  its  latex, 
would  not  meet  with  any  great  success. 
Doctor  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  cer- 
tain kinds  of  rubber  more  than  others.  If  the  Rubber  Growers’ 
Association  wants  a rubber  standard  in  Hawaii  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  adhere  strictly  to  that  standard.  The  easiest  way  to  de- 
stroy 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  confronting  the 
small  farmer  in  Flawaii  were  greater  than  those  which  confront 
a mainland  farmer,  owing  to  the  transportation  cost,  and  other 
disadvantages. 
