JULV I, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



79 



and can be ufecl like it, haviug a slightly nutty flavour. 

 In its liquid state it is often employed as a luedioine 

 by tho Aniiamites and Cambodians. The bark, after 

 being dried (usually by fumigation) i.s sold at the 

 rate of from 20 to l.'5 frs. the picul (133 lb.) and sent 

 to China, where its medicinal properties are much 

 appreciated. It is to be had in all the markets of Cochin 

 China under the name of " dau " or "do tarn" in 

 the Annamite, and of "wahrr angkot" or "whole 

 angkuf'in the Khmer language. 



The method employed for tbe procuring caoutchouc 

 is of tho veiy simplest nature ; it is only necf-ssary to 

 pour the juice drawn from the creeper (either by iuci- 

 sions or cutting it up into small lengths, if a larger 

 qunntity is wanted at once) into a basin of water of 

 the temperature of 40° or 50° (presumably centigrade, 

 equivalent to 104° or 122° Fahr.), when, on being stirred 

 with a rod, the milky mass is instantly couveitid into 

 an excessively pure rubber of unrivalled quality. 



Tliie plant 13 propagated by cuttings with astonishiug 

 rapidity. Introduced into the botanical garden at Saigon 

 in 1874, it had, by climbing up trees, reached in 1877 

 a height of from 26 feet to 33 feet. It could be planted 

 so as to economise space without harm under any forest 

 tree not less than ten years old, when the now devastated 

 forests of Cochin China are regularly taken in hand ; 

 or it could be trained at the foot of fruit trees jirown 

 as hedges. In this way tbe almost entire want of any 

 necessity for cultivation, and the double utilisation of 

 land generally considered worthless, would combine 

 to render the jilant the source of a very paying revenue. 

 As to the now possible working of the creeper as it 

 grows in a natural state in the forest, tbe only way 

 would be to apply to the Chinese and tbe native 

 traders (•"specially the Cambodians), who tor an adequate 

 ofier would collect the juice. It is solely a want of care 

 and the present state of infancy of French commerce 

 which have caubed the product of so valuable a p!ant 

 to be hitherto neglected, says Dr. Pierre, who mentions 

 among other Apocijnece in the Botanical Garden a species 

 of Williirjliheia, very vigorous and a rapid spreader, 

 and yielding a very abundant juice, though its lubber 

 is possessed of but slight elasticity. 



As india-rubber is apparently now increasing in 

 market value, it may be worth the while of our settlers 

 in British Burma and the Straits Settlements to pay 

 careful attention to the rubber-yielding Apocyunous 

 plants growing wild in those countries, which are in 

 about the same latitude as Saigon, and preeent similar 

 climatic and geographical conditions, being also parts of 

 the Indo-Chinese peninsula. Economic botany has not 

 been neglected in them, it is true ; Ficus elastica has 

 been introduced into British Burma and thrives as 

 far as mere growth gots, though it is yet too early 

 to judge whether it will retain its quality out nf its 

 natural limits. Chevanesta escukiita, a caoutchouc- 

 yieldiug creeper, has also been planted in the i\Ja-ua-ree 

 Forest (British Burma) and grows vigorously ; but 

 it is to the native plants that attenti n could apparently 

 be profitably turned, and of these, Jfirus Inccifeta 

 (in Burmese " Gnyoung"), which grows in the evergieen 

 tropical forests 01 Pegu ai d Tenasserim, is s'ated to 

 jieid a very good rubber, equal to that of tkiis 

 elaslica ; and there are many other native species of 

 Ficus and AUoairpns yielding caoutchouc of differeni. 

 qualities. Another plant. Isunandra poli/nntha, found 

 in tiie forests of Arakan, yields guttapercha probably 

 not inferior to that of Singapore (according to Spi-ar- 

 man's British Burma Ga^etUer, 1880) ; but it is evidently 

 to the resinous gums that most attention has been paid 

 by Colonial botanists here. 



As regards gu'ta-percha, Dr. Pierre points out the 

 present state of uncertainty as to the exact trees which 

 furnish the very varied qualities of that commodity 

 coming into the market under the names " Macassars," 

 " Borneoe," " SiimatraB," " BanjermassinB," and 



" Siugapores" — purely commercial designations, which 

 affordno indication of the local origin of the species. 

 "Borneos" are known to be inferior, but the others are 

 subject to great variation ; and it is a curious thing that 

 no collectors, Chinese, Malays, Dyaks, or others, can be 

 induced to supply specimens of the trees which furnish 

 the gutta they bring. Hooker's original guttatree, 

 brought by Lobbe from Singapore, and described as 

 an Isonamba, is now known with certainty to be a 

 Dichophis ; but it is still not known whether this is ihe 

 tree that supplied the best commercial guttn, for which 

 the southern part of tbe Malayan jjenmsula Borneo, 

 Bantam, and the neighbouring isles, must probably be 

 searched. The only commercial gutta really traced 

 to a tree is that obtained in Larut by Messrs. Brau de 

 St. Paul Lias and De la Croix, through Mr. Low, 

 our Resident at Kuala-Kangsar. The tree from which 

 this came is figured by Dr. Beauvisage under the name 

 of " (Jueutta seundek," and is supposed by him to be 

 the KeraUphorus Leerii of Hasskarl, which is now known 

 to belong to the genus Paycna a Sapotaceous plant. 

 Dr. Pierre notices another species of this geuus Payena 

 alabasterana, from the right bauks of the Mt-kong ; also 

 a BaxHia (called " Sang dao"), a Mimusops (probably 

 M. liauki), Chrysopliyllmn Roxburgii, two species of 

 Sideroxylon, and iJichopsis kranlziana, as indigenous 

 plants worthy of inv.-stigation as yielders of gutta- 

 percha ; and he concludes with pointing out the great 

 commercial and economic importance of scientific obser- 

 vations in this direction, in language equally applicable 

 to British Colonies in the Far Kast. — Colonies and India. 



THE DATE PALM. 



In my garden at Mentone I have planted many 

 Date P;dms (Phoenix dactylifera) which flourish all 

 along the Genoeee Riviera in the more sheltered regions. 

 They are thriving but developing slowly, except in two 

 instances, which throw a light on the peculiarities of 

 the tree. On one terrace there is a row of Palms 

 planted twelve years ago, all healthy, but small. One 

 of these Palms is an exception to the rule. It is six 

 times larger than the others — 2 metres 25 contimetres 

 (7 feet) in circumference, whilst the rest, planted at 

 tlie same time, are only 75 centimetres 1 foot from 

 the ground. It is cpiite a tree, and bears yearly fruit 

 that ripens, some of tbe other Palms bi-ing male plants 

 aud Howermg at the same time. I was long unable 

 to explain why this one Palm should have dev-loped 

 iu so rapid and extraordinary a manner <as compared 

 with its compeers, but one fine day the mystery was 

 solved. Twelve feet below the terrace on which the 

 Palm grows, on tbe other side of a thick masonary 

 wall, is a conservatory iu which there is a water- 

 tank. On cleaning it out a mass of Palm roots were 

 found at the bottom. They had descended to the bottom 

 of the terrace passed underneath the masonry wall, and 

 had reaclud the water. Thus the axiom of the Arabs 

 was liteially accomplished— for a Palm to flour sh, its 

 roots must be in the water and its bead in tbe flames. 



In another part of the garden tbe same bs>on is 

 taught in anotlier manner. One of my neiKhbonrs had 

 a right of waterway ihrongh my piopirty, and Ihe 

 water passed over a terrace which had been carefully 

 trenched to the rock to a depth of about 5 fc et. On 

 this terrace are planted various Palms, and the water 

 passed once a week during 'he sumn.er in the immcd ate 

 vicinity of a Livistona ausiraiis, a Chaiij,x"rrp< australis, 

 a Latania borbonica, and a Cycas revoluta. Ihe recently 

 trenched ground let the water soak in like a sponge, 

 and the four plants named have grown so rapidly that 

 they are now live times the size of all the others 

 iu the terrace. My ueighbonr came to me a year or 

 two ago, and with tears in his eyes accused my plants 

 of drinking up half his water on its weekly passage. 

 Iu the face of their preposterously rapid growth I 



