164- 



of these 400 were retained at Kew and 680 (140 with leaves and 

 540 without) were handed to Mr. William Bull. In a letter to 

 Kew dated May 11th, 1877, Mr. Bull reported that it had not been : 

 possible to save more than 14 of the Heveas, although the greatest 

 possible care was taken of them. The result was only in keeping 

 with the expectation formed at Kew when the plants were sent off 

 to Mr. Bull and by Mr. Bull when he received them, ' for they had 

 no fibrous roots but were merely tap-rooted seedlings and nearly 

 dried up.' The result was the same with the 400 kept at Kew, 

 only 3 per cent, of them grew. "Whether a single plant brought 



home by Cross ever became fit to send to Asia I do not know. I 



cannot find any entry in our archives which could be so interpreted. 

 "3. I am puzzled over your two trees marked 1875 and received 

 from Kew. It is true that in that year, 1875, Kew received a few 

 seeds from Mr. Wickham on July 7th. He speaks of despatching 

 them in a letter to Dr. Hooker dated April 18th, 1875. It is also 

 true that on August 17th Kew received a' few seeds from Mr. 

 Wickham, but there is no indication that any one of these seeds 

 germinated. It is also true that Kew got a quantity of seeds of 

 Hevea from the India Office on July 16th, 1875, none of whicb 

 germinated. Who collected this seed I do not know, but you will 

 find in Br. King's report of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, 

 for 1875-6, an account of how he had received in September, 1875, 

 a consignment of 378 seeds from the India Office so badly packed 

 that none of the seed germinated. In a letter from the India 

 Office to Dr. Hooker, dated July 16th, 1875, it is said: 'I am 

 desired by Dr. Forbes Watson to inform you that a bag containing 

 all that remained of these seeds was sent to your address yesterday 

 in the hope that some may germinate, having first found it impos- 

 sible to have the order for shipment of original cargo counter- 

 manded.' It is clear from this that the seed was sent to Calcutta 

 from the India Office without Dr. Hooker being consulted, and 

 that by the time that Dr. Hooker did know of it the consignment 

 had already gone. The balance left over was sown at Kew as soon 

 as it was received. But none of it germinated, so that the lot sent 

 to Dr. King for Calcutta had probably lost its vitality before it 

 was despatched from London. I have no doubt that it was their 

 bad success with this shipment of 1875 that led the India Office to 

 send out Mr. Cross in 1876. 



"4. With regard to the statements that have got into various 

 publications concerning seeds collected by Mr. Collins you will 

 perhaps be prepared to find them as inexact as those regarding 

 seeds collected by Mr. Cross. 



" Mr. James Collins published in 1872 his Report on Caoutchouc 

 and was much interested in the subject. On June 2nd, 1873 Dr 

 Hooker had a letter from Mr. Markham- to say that Mr. Collins 

 had heard about 2000 seeds of the Para Caoutchouc tree which 

 had just arrived in England, and which he could purchase'; 

 further, that Mr Markham had asked Mr. Collins to purchase 

 them on behalf of the India Office. Mr. Collins on May 31st had 

 however, already written to Dr. Hooker to tell him that he had 

 that morning received a letter from a Mr. Farris, late of Camela, 

 informing him that m compliance with a request which Mr. Coll 



ms. 



