93 
“We have submitted the samples to M. Léauté, an authority on 
the subject, and he has been so kind as to authorise us to say that 
he considers the gutta percha of good quality. We have but one 
plant under observation in the Jardin Colonial, but eceRne 
are being made as to the methods of propagating. As at present 
Eucommia ulmoides is only known to exist in China, it is not 
easy to get a quantity of ‘seed ; and, further, at ataiien seems 
slow and irregular. One sowing produced a single seedling after 
the lapse of six weeks, a second after five months, and others later. 
Fortunately cuttings seem to eve better results. They will strike 
root at any season, and give vigorous plants; but spring, when 
the branches aS igs estes seems to be the most favourable 
time for taking 
Hucommia ies promises to be hardy at Kew Fe 
November, 1897, M. Maurice L. de Vilmorin presented a plan 
the Royal Botanic Gardens, where it has been grown sete 
in the open without protection 
In Paris, where the winters are more severe than at Kew, the 
plant has survived through them, as testified by the following 
answer dated November 13, 1899, kindly sent by M. M. de Vilmorin 
to a question from Kew :— 
“Two plants of ee ulmoides remained unprotected 
against a wall in our Paris garden during the two last mild 
winters, and stood piacened through as low a temperature as 
ao or 1 F,” 
The Jardin a = already experiments in hand in Annam, 
ae ae North Afri 
The bark of Tu ang had attracted attention long before the 
discovery. of the tree to which it belon ae The following notice 
appeared in the Kew Report for 1881, p 
Chinese collections of Materia Medica oe contain specimens of 
ped yes of blackened fragments of bark and small pieces 
wigs. These when broken j 
(with the Chinese name 7w chung), and from the Smithsonian 
Institution, Washington. The bvtanical origin has been hitherto 
altogether uncertain, li seems, however, probable from a notice 
b 
erre has obligingly communicated to Kew prove that the 
plant i is identical with a species which abounds in Southern India. 
M . Pierre states that “the sap which flows from the stem has 
exactly the bop ackios of milk, and may even be used asa sub- 
stitute for it; it has a slight t nutty flavour. In the liquid state 
e 
i yt 
bodians. The bark, after being er apes eee in Smoke, is sold 
at 20 to 25 francs the picul (= 1333 lbs.), and exported to China 
The bark is a medicinal product, a by the Chinese.” 
