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Question. — Have they yet produced seeds or flowers ? 



Answer. — No — although two or three trees in the garden are near ten 

 years old. 



Question. — At what period of the year does the tree make most rapid 

 growth ? 



Answer. — At the commencement and close of the rains. 



Question. — Have you observed any difference in the size and colour 

 between the stipules of healthy and weak-growing plants ? 



Answer. — Yes, when planted in swampy or badly-drained localities, 

 the stipules turn yellow, and the whole plant (or tree) looks sickly. _ 



Question. — Does your experience show that the Ficus rfastica is a tree 

 that delights in shade, or that it thrives better in the open ? 



A nswer. — In the open, in properly-drained localities. 



Question. — Is a moist state of the atmosphere, in your opinion, abso- 

 lutely necessary for the proper development of the tree or its secretions ? 



Answer. — Three or four of the larger trees in the garden receive no 

 water at all between November and April (planted out in the open) and do 

 not appear to be much affected (if affected at all) with the intense heat of 

 the sun during March and April. They yield milk very freely in these 

 months. 



Question. — Do you consider that the mineral composition of the soil, 

 apart from its physical properties — such as humidity, depth, compactness, 

 &c. — has any material influence on the growth of the Funis elastiea .' 



Ansicer. — The surface soil of the garden is of a reddish, sandy nature, 

 poor, and unproductive. Several pits and thanks, sunk in different parts 

 of the garden, have shown that after a depth of six, seven, or eight feet of 

 this reddish sand and a little clay, the lower strata to a depth of ten or 

 twelve feet is more like laterite in course of formation (I have used it for 

 the garden walks) ; after sinking below that again, clear yellowish sand is 

 met with, with water. The trees grow very well in this soil ; but, as stated 

 before, the only thing that appears to have affected then growth, was when 

 the drainage was bad. 



I may mention that I heard the other day from the Eev. Mr. A. 

 Bunker, Toungoo, that a box of cuttings which I gave him, when he was 

 here in December last, have all struck and have been planted out among 

 the Karen hills with coffee, tea, and cinchona, and were thriving vigorously. 



355. In Mason's Burma, published in 1860, we also find the 

 following encouraging mention of the Ficus elastiea: " Within a 

 " dozen years the true caoutchouc tree of Assam has been introduced 

 " into the Tenasserim provinces, and appears to grow as well as an 

 M indigenous plant." 



356. The number of plants I brought from the Laymyo and 

 Mogoung Districts between lat. 24° 16' aDd 25° 30', were 178. 

 AYith the exception of a few seedlings of a season's growth that 

 were found growing on a rubbish heap (the debris of a deserted 

 Kakhyen settlement) in the open on the banks of a river, my collec- 

 tion consisted of epiphytic plants that had either germinated in the 

 forks of trees, or in the cup-like receptacles formed by the peculiar 



