Dec. 1, 1898.] THE TROPICAL AGEICULTUEIST. 
381 
We had difficulty in geftint:; any photograph 
of Thomas Wood and had at last to fall back 
on a rather faded portrait, taken with one of his 
"SLnna Durais ", now a well-known planter, who 
writes as follows to us on seeing the collotype 
(which was with difficulty reproduced) and in 
reminiscence of his old superior : — 
" The collotype is very good considering the 
poor picture the artist had to go by. The photo 
was taken early in 1866. Coftee planting in 
1864, the jear I was at Spring Valley, did not 
differ from later days. Only, on that estate. 
Wood followed the West Indian way, and planted 
Indian corn between the lines of young coftee. 
Watchmen were put on to guard it, when it 
began to ripen. There was some difficulty in 
finding a market for such a quantity, but in 
tlie famine year they scored, by issuing 
it to the coolies. I remember a gang of 
coolies were constantly employed in palling 
stumps in the jungle — plants grown from monkey 
coffee. These were sent to Madukima which 
was then being opened. This may have been 
one cause of the origin of leaf-disease. The young 
coffee 2 to 3 years old on Spring Valley gave from 
10 to 12 cwt. per acre." 
^ _ 
RUBBER : 
SOME RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN 
RUBBER-CULTIVATION. 
Durinc; a trip of several months through the old 
rubber-producing regions of Central America and 
the northern states of South America, I found a 
great interest in rubber cultivation, and preparations 
were beiag made to start very considerable under- 
takings, particularly in the British West Indies, where 
the fact that rubber never has been indigenous to 
those islands ia not considered in the enthusiasm 
of the people. On the island of Trinidad I found 
this enthusiasm increased to a substantial boom. 
Rubber seeds were selling at five cents each, and 
young trees were wanted at fifty cents, though owners 
were refusing to sell year-old trees about two feet 
high for less than a dollar a piece. It was reported 
that two English companies were about to begin 
operations in Trinidad and wera proposing to in- 
vest a combined capital of 85,000,000, while private 
enterprise would probably bring §-.',000,000 more to 
the . island, making a total of !^7,O00,000 prospective 
capital to be invested in that one locality. Other 
iplands were becoming interested. In Grenada seeds 
were in demand, with the prospect that a very con- 
siderable acreage will be set out. 
The most interesting point under discussion in 
relation to rubber-planting in the British West Indies 
is a series of experiments now being carried on 
in London and Trinidad, by which it ia proposed 
to secure rubber from year-old trees of che Castilloa 
elastica. It has been found that seeds sown broad- 
cast over a prepared field will yield an abundant 
crop of young trees, which at about a year old can 
be cut and sent to a factory where, with ordinary 
machinery operating a simple process, S per cent, of 
fine rubber can be extracted from the young shoots. 
This can bo done iu the laboratory. It is claimed 
that the process is a simple one, that but little 
machinery is necessary, and that in future the 
world's rubber supply will be secured from an annual 
crop of young trees sown on cultivated estates, and 
not from remote forests as at present. A scries of 
experiments has shown that the young tree contains 
about 8 per cent, of rubber, which would at present 
prices return an estimated profit of g200 to §400 
per acre. The extraction of rubber from young 
shoots has been accomplished chemically in the 
laboratory, but whether it can be applied to the 
economic production of rubber on a lai'ge scale re- 
mains to be seen. 
Castilloa elastica will grow almost anywhere, but 
it will yield a profitable flow of milk only under 
favourable conditions, and these conditions are de- 
pendent on the geological formations and topogra- 
phical features surrounding the trees. To form an 
opinion in regard to these m.atters requires an eco- 
nomic geologist of some skill, and because of the 
fact the greatest losses will be made, for, as it is 
in mining and kindred enterprises requiring tech- 
nicle skill, uninformed people always considered 
themselves competent to judge and most of them 
will have no use for the trained observer. As rubber - 
trees will grow almost anywhere, aud as the perio d 
of waiting before a crop can be expected is a long 
one, the successes that some will make afford an 
example on which to secure money and lose it to 
tlie profit of promoters and their associates who will 
claim to be thoroughly posted and to control Ian da 
that fulfill every requirement. 
By forestry cultivation I meau the care of rubber 
trees in their natural forests, assisting nature to re- 
produce them; by husbandry I mean the cultivation 
of rubber-tx'ees in plantations and an attempt to 
force them under conditions different from their 
natural surroundings. 
Opinions in regard to suitable rubber lands vary 
to an unusual extent. This is because many observers 
have noted one species of rubber-producing tree 
and its special surroundings, but have never noted 
all the conditions common to the several species. In 
America rubber is mostly produced from Castilloa 
elastica, and several species of Hevea, each of which 
is found under quite distinctive surroundings. As a 
result, general opinions on rubber lands, are three 
times differently expressed. One man will feel 
assured that rubber to be successful must be planted 
on land that is inundated a few feet at least once 
a year; another will say that low ground near a 
wet swampy country is the only available locality ; 
while still another will talk of the medium upland 
country aa the most promising. 
These are widely different opinions, yet each ia 
correct. Some species of Hevea do best on low 
ground that is subject to slight annual floods. 
Other species of the tree thrive over low, rich 
woodlands just beyond the reach of floods. Castilloa 
elastica does well on the foot hills wherever there 
is a rich, clean soil and abundant water. It is also 
found in low, swampy ground, but amid such sur- 
roundings does not yield aa tine rubber as in the 
healthier localities. 
Rubber is taken from a number of trees and 
vines, but the species that I have noted yield the 
commercial supplies of America; of these Castilloa 
elastica is of the most interest to people who think 
of planting, because it does well on healthy ground 
where a man from the temperate regions can ex- 
pect to live and see his trees develop. 
The proper land should be clean, rich, and abun- 
dantly watered, with a good drainage. Such lands 
give the best returns. The trees grow abundantly 
on low unhealthy lands, but do not yield so good 
a quality of rubber, for which reason if one pro- 
poses to cultivate it is well to have the best, and 
on this much will depend, for it will have an im- 
portant bearing on results. Of the two methods of 
cultivation that are being tried little has been done 
with forestry as yet, but the few experiments 
that have been almost universally successful and 
promise important developments for the future. 
Husbandry so far has not been a groat success, aud 
in n!i\ny places rubber-trees have beeu carefully 
pliuilrii and tended for a long term of years but 
iiavo not given any returns, though it is claimed 
that iciae of the trees are twenty to forty years old, 
