103 



Wet 



The following note, dated Peradeniya, 



Will 



"At the Ceylon Rubber Exhibition it was suggested by 

 Dr. Willis that it might be advisable, instead of as at present 

 drying the plantation rubber till it only contains about 5 per 

 cent, of moisture, to block it in the wet freshly coagulated condi- 

 tion. Experiments with this object were at once carried out by Mr. 

 Kelway Bamber, the Ceylon Government Chemist. He prepared 

 the rubber with creosote (to prevent decay and mould), and 

 blocked it at once, getting blocks containing about 9 per cent, of 

 water. These sold in London for 5*. Qd. per lb., against 5*. Id. to 

 5a. 9d. for the ordinary dry Ceylon rubber, thus really getting a 

 much better price. A circular (' Circular and Agricultural Journal 

 of the Royal Botanic Gardens,' Peradeniya, Vol. IV., Xo. 1) has 

 been lately issued dealing with this matter, and it would seem 

 likely that the old way of making dry biscuits or sheets will soon 

 be extinct." 



Distribution of Rubber Plants from Kew.— The importance of 



rubber as a cultivated crop in our Asiatic possessions engaged the 

 attention of the India Office about the year 1872, and the intro- 

 duction into India, through the agency of Kew, of the principal 



American rubber-yielding plants was shortly thereafter decided 

 upon. 



The first stock of Central American Rubber, Castilloa elaMica, 

 was raised from cuttings brought by Mr. R. Cross in 1875. In 

 June 1876, 70,000 seeds of Para Rubber, Hevet brasiliensis, were 

 brought to England from the Rio Tap:ijos by Mr. H. A. Wickham, 

 who had been commissioned to collect them. These were 

 followed in November by about 1,000 young plants obtained by 

 Mr. Cross, who had been sent to South America to bring home 

 living plants in the event of its proving impossible to transmit 

 alive to this country the very perishable seeds which Mr. Wickham 

 had been commissioned to procure. As a matter of fact only 

 about 3| per cent, of the seeds germinated and an extremely 

 small proportion of the plants ultimately survived. At the same 

 time Mr. Cross brought home seeds and plants of Ceara Rubber, 

 Manihot Glaziovii. At a later date Hevea Spruceana was 

 obtained. 



For the introduction of African Rubbers belonging to the genus 

 Landolphia in 1878-9 Kew was indebted to Sir J. Kirk, then 

 H.B.M. Consul-General at Zanzibar. Store recently the introduc- 

 tion of Funtumia elastica was effected from West Africa. 



The following tabular statement shows the distribution of living 

 plants of the various rubbers mentioned. In addition to plants, 

 seeds were obtained from time to time and distributed to places 

 **rVi^*.o +v>^t- w£jro nnnffirlprfid likelv to thrive. 



