447 
Taking  bananas  as  an  instance,  Doctor  Wilcox  said  there  have 
been  dozens  of  shipments  from  Honolulu  to  the  mainland  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  can  not  therefore  raise  bananas  and  other  like  products  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  pineapple  plantation  which  has  practically  lost  $4500 
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  skfely  grown  by  the  small  grower  with  the  idea  that 
there  is  to  be  a certain  market  for  the  product.  The  speaker  had 
no  hesitation  in  saying  that  rubber  can  be  grown  that  will  give  a 
reasonable  price,  provided  it  is  brought  to  the  market  in  a standard 
form. 
He  spoke  of  his  recent  visit  to  the  mainland  and  the  fact  that  in 
many  instances  where  he  registered  at  a hotel,  rubber  men  came 
to  him  and  asked  if  rubber  was  being  produced  in  Hawaii.  They 
wanted  to  know  how  much  they  could  get  here.  He  believed  that 
cotton  could  be  grown  as  a by-product  with  rubber,  but  did  not 
recommend  tobacco,  as  the  latter  depleted  the  soil  too  much  and 
would  therefore  have  a bad  effect  on  the  rubber  trees. 
Mr.  F.  T.  P.  Waterhouse  now  gave  an  instructive  address  on 
the  methods  of  tapping  rubber  trees  as  practiced  in  the  Straits 
Settlements,  from  which  he  has  recently  returned.  Mr.  Water- 
house  reported  that  a great  advance  had  been  made  in  this  de- 
partment of  production,  since  his  visit  to  the  rubber  plantations 
there  a year  ago.  Whereas  on  the  former  occasion  many  different 
methods  were  in  operation  and  various  tools  were  in  use,  now  a 
general  standard  of  procedure  was  observed.  The  coolies,  who 
are  employed  for  tapping,  have  become  more  expert  and  better 
results  are  obtained.  Owing  to  the  increasing  demand  for  rubber 
the  trees  are  tapped  at  an  earlier  age.  Disc  harrows  are  being 
used  in  Java  to  cultivate  between  the  rows  of  trees,  and  much 
benefit  is  derived  from  this  operation. 
Speaking  on  the  pests  of  rubber  trees,  Mr.  E.  M.  Ehrhorn, 
superintendent  of  entomology,  cited  che  shot-hole  fungus  and  the 
blight  which  disfigures  the  banyan  trees.  For  these  enemies  he 
recommended  an  application  of  bordeaux  wash  before  the  trees 
had  attained  too  great  a height. 
The  addresses  delivered  by  Messrs.  Anderson,  Hosmer,  Wal- 
dron, Turner  and  Lindsay  are  presented  at  length  in  this  number. 
