Auft. 1, 1900.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
7. Tiaiuing men au 1 boys in Agricultural 
and Horfcioultural wo;k. (/,'.) Training yonng men 
after leaving school who iafcendsJ becoming Planters. 
(C) Providing lectures for the school teachers of 
the Edncatioual Dapartnaent, who are to teach Ele- 
mentary Agriculture in schools. 
8. Distributing information by Bulletins, Reports 
and Correspouiience. 
9. The impoitiition and growing of newly dis- 
covered plants from various countries. 
10. The mfiintaining of exchaugcs of plants, seeds 
and specimens with JJ jtanicalestabliohmeats — Foreign 
and Colonial. 
11. Conducting Agriculf.ural Examinations of men, 
boys, cadets, school teachers, &c., &o. 
12. Keeping and recording iiletaorological and 
Seismogr-iphical Observations. 
1.3. Overlooking current Foreign and Colonial 
Literature and Exchange, for articles on tropical 
ultnrei likely to be of use locally. 
14. Inspection of Eailway Stations annually, 
Official attendance at Agricultural Society's meet- 
ings, and other miscellaneous duties, 
Mr. Leslie who was appointed to the department 
as Assistinc Superintendent, has immediate charge 
of St. Clair, and is practically its " Curator." The 
work is, boivever, directed by the Superintendent, 
who mikes long visits for the purpose, and who, 
when the department office is ready, will of neces- 
sity spend the gve.xter part of his time at this 
establishmnnt. The St Clair Establishment has 
been procl aimed under the Ordinance No. .3.8 of 
1893 as set apart for the cultivation of vegetable 
pi-oduets, and Regulations have been made for the 
good government thereof. 
PEPPER NI'^RU;vT.— Some few years ago an at- 
tempt was made to grow and fruit Piper Nigrum which 
was partially succes-sful, and ripe berries in fair 
quantity were produced. Ivlauy of the vines 
planted however did not assnme the fruiting 
stage. It was observed that during the vegeta- 
tion period the leaves of the vines were cordate 
in form, but that when fruiting is about to com- 
mence it may be known by the difference in 
the shape of the leaves, as the plant is then clothed 
with leaves which are decidedly lanceolate in form. 
As soon as the latler appear the flowers follow.* 
Grown as we now grow it, the crop sets and ripens 
readily, and we are able to obtain yearly supplies 
of well ripened berries, these have been in some 
demand f.ir seed purposes with European seedsmen, 
onr vines being the most easily available, and prob- 
ably the only source of supply in this hemisphere. 
The vines !i.re planted at the foot of trees of Krythi-ina 
corollodendron, which are planted in rows ten feet 
apart and six feet in the row. There appears to be no 
special diffiaul'.y in grosving regular crops, as we have 
had them under these conditions for the past four 
years. i\Iucli has been said about male and female 
forms of vin.e, but it has been observed here that when 
planted in a proper place and under suitable condi- 
tions, all the forms of Piper Nir/runi will seed freely. 
There is a form, however, wnich if propagated will 
fruit when in a diminutive state and does not climb, 
which produces berries at sne foot from the ground. 
VVe have one-tenth of an acre of Piper ^ignim at St, 
Clair prov.ing extremely well. 
RUBBER -(i/ey«a hrasiliensis) -'Para Uubher."— This 
tree grow J well with us but the yield of latex appen-s 
from a single experiment to be insufficient to warruus 
its beiufi largely )jlanted except on swampy or riverside 
lands subject to floods. Our largest tree has a girth at 
3 feet ab )vo ground of 58 inches, and is 40 feet in 
height. Young trees at St. Clair planted in ordinary 
soil in .July 1893, are now 14 feet in height, and in 
diameter at the grou id line 1-6 inches. Our largest 
tree bo'-e a shot crop of seed this year, but sufficient 
plants hive been raised to satisfy the demand. Trees 
of //(•<■((( ( ■ini'usn are bearing seeds, but these have not 
been largely sown as the rubber produce by this 
tree, so far, is found to be of inferior character. 
We recently sent seed eafe'y by post from 
Trinidad to British Honduras. From seels of the 
Orinoco rubber sent us by Dr. Bovalliua only font 
plants were raised. These have been planted out and 
are growing slowly on our south-western boundry, 
St Clair. Kicksia Africana or " Ire Bubber."*— Oar 
block of this, is one-fifth of an acre in extent, the 
oldest trees of which are over 8 feet in height. 
They commenced flowering early in 1899, and to- 
wards the ead of the year several have seed we'l 
advanced to maturity. In my last Annual Report, 
I called attention to the fact that a species of Kick- 
sia wns said not to produce rubber. That our plant 
produces good rubber is not left to doubt, as rubber 
of excellent quality has been made fro)n it. A speci- 
men of the fruit has been sent to England by requeft 
of the Kew Authorities to determine points cf 
nomenclature which had arisen. The tree appeal a 
to thrive in our climate, and if it will produce 
sufficient rubber must become valuable. We shall 
be able at an early date to test the trees. So far 
there appears to be abundance of tatex even in the 
driest weather ; altho'agh the tree can stand a large 
amount of sun, it appears to grow quicker in the 
young stage when it is fairly shaded. 
Central American Huhher. — (Gastilloa Elastica). — 
This plant thrives well in Trinidad and has proved 
itself very hardy under trying conditions. We have 
reports which show that although the weather haa 
been extremely dry, many lots of plants have stood 
the hardship extremely well. Several thoufjands of 
plants have been sold and also lai'ne quantities of 
seed. Our largest tree planted by Mr. Prestoe many 
years ago is over 60 feet in height and yields large 
crops of seed yearly. A tree planted in 18^8 is over 
40 feet in height and ■51 inches in girth at 3 feet 
from the ground. It yields abundant latex. The 
plantation of this rubber made at St. Glair in July 
1898 has grown well, some of the plants are 11 feet 
high and over 2'86 inches in girth at the ground line, 
Later on, it is intended to test these trees for latex, and 
they are planted thickly for the purpose. 
A simple machine haa been brought out by Messrs. 
Christy & Go. ot25, Lime Street, London, for preparing 
the latex from Gastilloa. It is called the "Beta" 
Separator and is au improved creaming or washing 
process. Rubber made with one of these machines haa 
been shown and pronounced very fine inMinciug Lane, 
Loudon. The machine is simple in the extreme, and 
its working easily understood from the concise diree- 
tion issued. It can be worked by a man and a boy, and 
will c- agulate 50 to liiO lb of rubber per day. The ma- 
chine is small and sufficiently handy to be carried to 
the trees, but a stream or well of clean water is requir- 
ed for washing the latex. Cast^illoa promises the best 
of any of the rubbers, so far local cultivation. 
THE DATE PALM, (Phoenix dactylif era J— Foi 
many years seadliugs of this plant have produced fruit 
and seed very freely, the size of. the fruit varying on 
different plants. Learning that the best kinds of 
dates were borne by trees raised from " suckers," 
an application was made to the Government to 
allow of an importation being secured of the best 
marketable kind. It was ascertained that these could 
be obtained from Algeria, and a vote was sanctioned 
in 1899 Estimates for this purpose, a part of which 
^vi3 expended in preliminary expenses. It is intended 
I J plant these trees in a small grove p. t St. Clair, 
The Date Palm has always been associated with 
the arid Desert, and formerly everyone was content 
to grow them in the driest and poocest possible 
position. It now appears that the best. Dates are 
grown in rich valleys. By foUowiLg this initiative, 
it is hoped that we may succeed in producing good 
yearly crops. Our trees are expected to a: nve during 
1900. The fruit of our .seedling trees liki all other 
seedlings, is variable in quality, cut in some instances 
sweet and wholesome, though too small to be of value. 
Coffee. — Cqfea Slenophi/lla.— The pUmtation of 
Coffea Stenophijlla in common with everj thing else has 
snfiered from drought, but in the best shaded por- 
* S.-^c! figures I. and II. 
