307 



The date 1878 o;iven for our own Gardens at Sin.c^apore is the 

 date the management was taken over by the Goveifnment. The 

 original ])art of the present Gardens, the Bandstand Hill, was laid 

 out under the Sinoapore Agri- Horticultural Society in 1862, the 

 site having been acquired in isr)9 when the Society was formed. 



Previous to this a Botanic (iarden had existed near Fort Can- 

 ning, having been founded by Sir Stamford Eaifles in 1822, hut 

 it was abandoned in 1829. 



_ T. F. C. 



Chrysil Rubber. 



To the rubber-producing country of Malay the article appear- 

 ing in the India Rubber World of January 1st, 1920 under such 

 a title as "Three Hundred Million Pounds of Chrysil Rubber" 

 may well draw attention. An ecological survey of the flora of 

 Western Xortli America provided 25 species of plants containing 

 latex. In four of these the percentage of rubber was high enough 

 to warrant the ho])e that the species may serve for the })Toduction 

 of rubber on a commercial scale. Twenty five pounds of the pro- 

 duct of (liry.solhamnus nauseosus, termed Chrysil rubl)er, submitted 

 for examination was stated to be " high grade and average quality, 

 not as good as the best fim^ Para, but a great deal better than most 

 Africans or low grade rul)l)ers." The best samples carried only 

 three per cent of rubber and most of them ran less than two per 

 cent. The article continues, " It should be noted I)y the way that 

 the Chrijsothainuus is not a latex producing plant. The rubber is 

 found in the individual cells of the shrub, as in guayule. Like 

 guayule also it is found principally in the parenchymatous elements 

 of the cortex. It may also be noted that rubber does not appear 

 to be laid down during the first year of gro'svth of a tissue, and, 

 indeed, nnless present in large amount, is not readily detected by 

 the histological method in portions of the plant less than three or 

 four years old. 



" Shrubs of interest as possible rubber producers are usually 

 of good size, measuring three to eight feet high and about as broacl. 

 The rubber is present for the most part in the iinier bark .of the 

 stems, and those portions in average mature plants will weigh from 

 five to fifteen pounds. An exceptionally lar'ge plant found near 

 Lone Pine, California, weighed 60 pounds exclusive of the twigs, 

 and shrubs weighing 20 to -iO pounds are not rare. This is partly 

 because the plants reach the maximum size only under favorable 

 conditions and partly becSuse they are frequently burned or cut oif 

 near the base after \vhicli new stems shoot up only to be again 

 destroyed before reaching maturity. 



" Another shrub that is treated at length is the Uaplopappus, 

 which contains considerably more rubber than the Chrysothamnus, 

 from 6 to 10 per cent. The product is. hoM'ever, soft and resinous." 



An extract is given showing that it is computed bushes that 

 exist to give a vield of three million pounds of rubber. 



T. F. C. 



