459 
RUBBER IN JAMAICA. 
The Director of Agriculture of Jamaica publishes in his annual 
report an account of the failure to cultivate Para rubber in that 
island. His remarks on the subject in the previous report occasioned 
a good deal of comment and criticism, and it was stated that his pes- 
simistic views had a material effect in preventing the rubber boom 
from extending in Jamaica. His evidence that he now produces 
seems certainly to justify his condemnation of the cultivation. 
The first plants of Hevea braziliensis he says were planted as 
Castilla in 1872. This is interesting because the first plants im- 
ported, by Collins, arrived at ICew in 1873, Where did these plants 
come from ? Did Collins leave some at Jamaica on his return from 
the Amazon ? One of these trees, still standing, and consequently 
38 years old, only measures 43H inches in girth at three feet from the 
ground and produces with difficulty only a little scrap. Six tappings 
on a thorough going scale only yielded 4 ounces of rubber per year. 
In the Straits a tree of this age should be at least 120 inches round, 
and give 30 to 40 pounds of rubber, and produce over a thousand 
seeds. 
This tree is not the only failure, for reports have been sent in from 
twelve other localities in Jamaica, all giving the same verdict, “Trees 
weak and spindly ”, and in some yield of latex very poor. One corres- 
pondent states : “ From what I saw of Para rubber in Singapore 
and Ceylon last summer (1909) I am quite convinced that it is no 
good here as the girth of my largest tree (four years old) is not as 
big as one of eighteen months growth in Singapore.” 
The seeds seem to have germinated fairly well as in 1906. Mr. 
Fawcett writes that of 7,500 “ we shall hardly lose 500,” one unlucky 
lot from an estate sent there however came to grief. In 1905, 5.642 
plants were distributed to planters from a lot of 10,000 seeds sent 
from the gardens in Singapore, but if this was all that germinated 
this was under the usual germination for seed to Guiana, etc., 86 to 90 
per cent, an equally long voyage. 
The evidence now brought forward by the Director seems to 
be conclnsive. Thf: plant has been tried everywhere in Jamaica, and 
the Department has given it a good trial. The result has been uni- 
formly the same, for some reason the tree will not grow and if it does, 
produces little or no latex. 
More hope is entertained about Castilloa, but there it is reported 
that under favourable conditions trees of ten years old produce but 
one pound of rubber, and trees of 14 to 20 years of age 2 lbs. and over. 
This seems a very poor return. Should rubber fall, as it certainly 
will do in a few years, to a low figure, it can hardly pay on this return 
especially as the labour in Jamaica costs four times as much as in the 
Straits Settlements. 
Fruit, Coconuts, and Cocoa seem to be the most successful pro- 
ducts in Jamaica. — E d. 
