PLANTATION RUBBER INDUSTRY OF THE EAST. 467 



Meanwhile, the Ceara rubber produced seed in abundance, 

 and from 1878 onwards Ceylon was able, not only to scatter 

 Ceara seeds over the entire tropical belt, but to supply the 

 Ceylon planter with all the seed he required. Unfortunately, 

 Ceara proved a failure, as it still is, from a Ceylon planting 

 standard, everywhere ; and the would-be rubber planter was 

 compelled to wait for another ten years or so before the better 

 known Para rubber tree was available. It has been stated 

 that the failure of Ceara made the Ceylon j)lanter averse to 

 experiment with Hevea. But the records scarcely bear that 

 out. Of course, after the failure of coffee, the Ceylon planter 

 found tea a profital)le investment, and Hevea did not for 

 fifteen years afterwards promise a greater return, even in the 

 opinion of its most enthusiastic supporters. But there was 

 never any difficulty in disposing of Hevea seed, and the crop 

 of the Botanic Gardens was generally in such demand that 

 only a Umited number was allowed each appUcant. The 

 statements that the Ceylon planter planted Hevea as a 

 shade tree and was astonished to find later that it yielded 

 rubber, and that he had to be persuaded to plant lubbei- in 

 1904, are, of course, merely the pleasantries of after-dinner 

 oratory. 



The first real opportunity of the Ceylon planter came in 

 1889, when about 8,000 seeds were advertised for sale locally. 

 6,000 were purchased by Mr. Farquharson and 2,100 by the 

 Eastern Produce and Estates Co. In 1890-1892, however, 

 the planter was again unable to obtain much seed, as the 

 greater part of the crop was reserved for the Ceylon Forest 

 Department. There was a great demand for seed in 1892, 

 but only 16,000 could be suppHed to private purchasers. In 

 1893 seed was again advertised for sale at Rs. 5 per thousand, 

 and there were so many demands that though 91,000 seeds 

 were available, only 2,000 could be allotted to each applicant. 

 In 1894 86,000 were sold ; in 1895, 76,750 at Rs. 10 pei- 

 thousand : and in 1897, 88,500 (1896 is not recorded). In 

 1898, though a large quantity of seed was then availal:>le 

 from private estates, the Henaratgoda crop (70,000) was sold 

 by auction at Rs. 27 per 1,000, under guarantee that the 

 seed would be planted in Ceylon. In 1899 the price realized 



