440 FETCH: 



Wickham collected his seeds, from trees which were being 

 tapped, " in the forests covering the broad plateaux dividing 

 the Tapajos from the Madeira rivers." ^ They were shipped 

 immediately on board the ss. Amazonas,^ which happened to 

 be about to return to England at the time the seeds were ripe.^ 

 Wickham reached England in June, 1876, arriving at Kew on 

 June 14.'* The following daj^ the seeds were sown, and 2,700 ^ 

 subsequently germinated, some as early as the fourth day 

 after sowing.^ 



As it had already been demonstrated that Hevea would 

 not thrive in Calcutta or in any of the more readily accessible 

 Botanic Gardens of India, Cejdon was chosen, in accordance 

 with Dr. Brandis's suggestion four j^ears previously, as the 

 centre where the plants should be established and whence 

 they might be transmitted to different parts of India. In the 

 folio ^\^ng August, 1919 plants were forwarded to Ceylon in 

 38 Wardian cases per the ss. Duke of Devonshire, in charge of 

 a gardener, and about 90 per cent, arrived in good condition.'* 



In addition to the main consignment to Ceylon, two cases 

 were sent to Singapore, and small parcels of plants were sent 

 to Africa (West Coast), Burma, Dominica, Jamaica, Java, 

 Queensland, and Trinidad.^ " In the case of Singapore the 

 result was unfortunate. Omng to the delay of the India 

 Office in paying the freight, the cases did not come into the 

 hands of the Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens to whom 

 they should have been consigned until the plants were nearly 

 all dead.'-' "* Ridley states that none of these plants survived ^ ; 

 but that is evidently a mistake, since in the Kew Report for 

 1877, an extract from a letter from Murton (September 6, 1877) 

 is quoted, to the effect that the Hevea sent last year {i.e., 1876) 

 were making good growth. 



All the plants consigned direct to Burma died ; but later in 

 the year Duthie took out another case to Calcutta, of wliich 



» Wickham, "Para Rubber" (1908), p. 40. 

 » Wickham, " I'ani Hubber" (!!•(»«), p. 47. 



•'' There is ju) moiition of rubbor .seeds on the ship's manifest : 141 

 cases of rubber were shipped at Manaos. 

 * Kew Keport, 1876. . 

 » Trimen. MSS. 

 " Straits Bulletin, IV., p. 308. 



