^58 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[August i, 1882. 



tbe bark and catching the juice, it is no reason why 

 this course should be followed, when it is necessary 

 to obtaiu the juice from a different class of tree to- 

 the Ficiis elasticns. If any of your readers who are 

 growing this species of " Landolphia " will take a 

 dead bough or " runner " and cut it through the 

 bark up to tbe stem, without quite severing the 

 piece, they will find thai it is full of gum, and so 

 elastic in qunlity that, if the woody piece of bark 

 is separated and the gun fibre left, it will spring 

 back to its former position, carrying the bark with it. 



This tree throws up every year runners from the 

 roots, and, in my opinion, it is advisable that these 

 should be allowed to mature, and that, when they 

 can be out down, it will be necessary to find some pro- 

 cess for extracting the rubber from the dry bark or 

 from the stems. With this aim Im a truug some ex- 

 periments, but I need hai'dly add under what diffic- 

 ulties I labour in this country, only being able to 

 obtain such small pieces. I have written over and 

 over again to tbe west coast for branches and ti-ees 

 to be Bent over to me, but my correspondents say that 

 I have no idea of the expense and trouble of send- 

 ing into the woods for tliese faggots and then hav- 

 ing to transport them tlirough the surf to tlie steamers 

 which lie in the roadsteads. There are plenty of 

 substances that will melt the indiarubber, but the 

 object is to find a chemical that can be relied upon, 

 that when treated will return a commercial product 

 in the pure state of "gum clastic." 



It must be also noted that, if any experiments are 

 tried, the strength of the spirit should be recorded, for 

 some strengths will melt the resins as well as the rubber 



Very little is as yet known respecting the rubbers 

 that come to the London mavket further than that 

 the merchants classify them as they can turn 'them 

 to commercial purposes. I have placed before a man, 

 who knew rubber at sight, three samples, all taken 

 from the same tree, the juice or milk having been 

 treited differently. He could hardly believe that the 

 native form which he was accustomed to irarchase 

 could be treated so as to yield a clean, clear gum. 

 This proves what may be done by careful collection. 

 —Yours truly, THOS. CHKISTY. 



(By Our City Corresj^omhnt.J 



Sometime back I asked Mr. Heilbut, of Messrs. Heilbut, 

 Syraons & Co., the great uidiarubber merchants, to ob- 

 tain some seed for me from their correspondents. At 

 the time Mr. Heilbut gave me little encouragement 

 of being able to do this, but a week back I received 

 the pleasant intelligence that one hundredweight was 

 waiting for me at his office. Upon calling there a 

 glance at the seeds told me they were worthless, but, 

 unwilling to believe this, I took them over to Mr. 

 Cluisty, who confirmed my impression. There were 

 some five hundredweight in all. I am suppl3'ing Mr. 

 Heilbut with the necessary details for proper iiackijig. 



I hear that Mr. Chippindall is to go out to Boraeo 

 to choose land for the Sub-Company which is being 

 formed in London to take over 500, 000 acres or square 

 miles (I am uncertain which) from the parent Company. 

 The Sub-Company has the right to choose its land 

 where it pleases. 



Your Tropical Arjriadturist is not half well enough 

 known in England yet. I handed a copy to a gentle- 

 man in Messrs. Lewis & Peat's office yesterday. He 

 takes the greatest interest in cinchona, and has large 

 experience in the article. He had never heard of it, 

 and cannot say too much m favour of it. 



Dr. Kirk at the Liimean Society last night exhibited 

 several specimens of indiarubber from the east coast of 

 Africa. He explained the value of the rubber plants 

 exhibited from Kew, the Landolphia florida, L. kukii, 

 L. petersiaua, and the L. watsouiaua. He said that 



owing to merchants sending out for seed in quantities 

 the natives went into the woods, and collected it 

 promiscuously. This will cause planters much dis- 

 appointment, though it is difficult to see how it is 

 to be avoided. He (Dr. Kirk) values first and fore- 

 most the Landol. kirkii, because it hai'dens very 

 rapidly, next Landol. floiida, because it yields a very 

 fine rubber. The other varieties, he states, are of 

 little value. Mr. \y. T. Thistleton Dyer exhibited 

 Paramaria giaudulifera China. This variety was shown 

 at the Linneau Society in 1881 by Mr. T. Christy, but 

 it has only been recognized owing to some dried sped 

 mens being sent home from Coclun-China. The dried 

 stems as sent to Europe certainly exhibit a lai'ge per 

 centage of elastic gum, which can be drawn out when 

 the bark is severed. I understand that a specimen of 

 this bark was sent to Ceylon last year. The native 

 name is To-tong. I enclose with this letter another 

 specimen which I send in case you have lost the first, 

 for which I am indebted to Mr. Christy*. It is said 

 tlxat this plant is shipped to China, as the natives 

 use it for smoking. Dr. Kirk does not give much 

 encouragement to cultivators, stating that he con 

 siders it doubtful if the growing of indiarubber 

 will be found to pay. But the fact that it can be 

 wound off from the trees of the Landolphia species 

 in a film direct from the tree in a perfectly pure state 

 should prove that machinery can be brought to bear 

 upon its collection. The natives on the east coast 

 destroy not only the stems but also the roots. The 

 shipments of imliarubber from the east coast have 

 risen from £400 in 1873 to £250,000 in 1881. The 

 specimens of Malay and Borneo rubber exhibited from 

 Kew shewed that there was some chance of obtaining 

 supplies in these countries, but o^ving to the natives 

 employing salt-water ill the preparation of the gum 

 it is much depreciated in value. 



Indiarueeek.— It is very desirable that the cult- 

 ivation of this should be extended as rapidly as possible. 

 Messrs. S. Euckei & Co. assure me that they find it 

 entermely difficult to supply current requirements 

 and prices are rising daily. At Silvertown, I am told 

 by Mr. Silver, they find the utmost difficulty in 

 obtaining the quantity necessary for their extended 

 operations, and, if Ceylon would but come early to 

 the front with anything like a good supply, she 

 would obtain a firm hold of the market. — Loudon Cor. 



AGRICULTURE ON THE CONTINENT 

 OF EUROPE. 



[Special Litter.) 



Paris, June 17th, 

 Denmark is very justly proud of her reputation 

 for good butter ; the mark is appreciated wherever it 

 is known. But, as nothing succeeds like success, 

 Denmark wants to become celebrated for her skim- 

 milk cheese : to achieve this end, she is tormented 

 by American competition, and still more so by her 

 neighbours, the Dutch. Butter farming cannot be 

 financially successfnl, save that a profitable outlet be 

 found for their milk cheese, in the event of the 

 non-existence of a local demand. The average price 

 of such cheese is about lAd to 2d per lb.; it reaches 

 double that price in some seasons ; Dutch makes real- 

 ize as much as 4A lb. The principal outlets for second- 

 milk cheese are wann countries, as toft, rich cheese 

 will not stand a long voy.ige. In Denmark, there is 

 no uniformity in the prep.aration of cheese, as in the 

 case of that of butter : less attention is paid to vari- 

 ations of temperature, that which exercises so im- 

 porlant an influence on tbe production of cheese; in- 



* The specimen received we took for a piece of rene wed 

 cinchona bark. — Ed. 



