The Hawaiian gazette., 1906-03-23

vast tangle of dead and rotting tree
ferns. To plant rubber it is not neces-
sary to remove the fern stumps and
the trunks of the felled trees. There is
little or no hard wood in the district
and the plan followed is merely to
cut out the underground and to fell
I the trees and leave them to rot where
| they fall. The process of disntegra-
I ton is exceedingly fast in that moist
and humid district and the dead wood
| rapidly becomes new soil. In the midst
Of the heaps of fallen trees and piles
! of fern stumps at regular intervals
spaces a few feet square are cleared
and here the young plant just emerged
from the seed is brought from the
nurseries and set out
HOW RUBBER TREES PROGRESS.
The progress of the growth of a
rubber tree from seed to plant, plant
to sapling and sapling to it's full
growth is interesting to study. The
seed of the Ceara when green looks
like a young lime; as it grows to full
maturity its shell bursts with a loud
pop like a torpedo and the tree
seeds-brown and shiny and notified
very like tiny turtles with head, legs
and tail drawn in-ny in all direc-
tons The seeds are first filed or
ground at the sharper end to aid in
the process of termination and they
are then planted in nurseries, low
structures, covered with wire netting
to keep out the rats, which abound in
the surrounding forest, and in two or
three days two little green leaves APP
pear above the surface. At once they
are transplanted to their permanent
abodes. Mr. Anderson has devised a
very ingenious plan for transplanting.
A piece of sheet iron or brass about
eight inches long Is shaped into a sort
of square-slded handleless trowel. This
is pushed into the soft soil beside the
young plant and when withdrawn
brings the plant, earth and all with
it. This trowel is placed in Il rack,
another is used for the next plant and
when the laborer has a rack full he
carries his load to the field where the
holes have been dug. Placing the
trowel in the hole he heaps the earth
around it and carefully withdraws the
trowel, leaving the young plant be-
hind. This method of transporting
the plant from nursery to field in it's
oNl toIlu saves llS TOolS tA-
posure to the air and lessons the dam
ger of injuring the tender stalk 1t
has been one of the reasons why so
few of the young trees have died in
the first few months. After It is set
in its permanent home the plant is
protected for a few weeks from the
depredations of the cut worm by plac-
ing over it short cross-section of
bamboo. Once the young shoot has
grown to three or four inches in
height it will take care of itself,
neither rats nor cut worms attacking
it, and then it needs but occasional
cultivation of the soil about it for the
next year or so of its life.
WHEN TO TAP.
Experts in different parts of the
world have fixed different ages al
which II is safe to begin tapping rub
ber trees for commercial purposes
Some trees may be tapped without in
jury after three to four years, while
Others are of slower growth and six
years is the minimum age at which
, they should be tapped. The Ceara
tree, which belongs to the same fam
lily as the castor oil plant and the cas-
sava, and has smooth bark some
what like the birch, and a large many
lobed leaf is the tree which has beer
most largely planted I'm Nahiku thus
; . FAR, Il produces rubher early aud n
; considerable quantities I'm recen
; monograph on Rubber In Hawaii
; Mr., Jared G. smith of the United
} states Agricultural station In Homo
lulu stated that Ceara was especially
suited to the climate of these island