THE FAST-DISAPPEARING FLORA OF SUMATRA 



By HARLEY HARRIS BARTLETT, 



Collaborator, Division of Plants, U. S. National MiiSi'itiii 



The establishment of plantations and the intlux of poinilation are 

 rapidly sweeping away the jnngles of Sumatra. To collect as much as 

 ])ossihle of the fast-disappearing' native flora, I spent the first half 

 of 1927 there under the joint auspices of the University of Michigan 

 and the Smithsonian Institution. Upon arriving in Asahan, Sumatra, 

 December 25, 1926, 1 was occupied for a few days in making prepara- 

 tions for my work and in paying my respects to the Assistant Resi- 

 dent and the Toenkoe Regent, who gave me letters of introduction 

 to other officials and to the native headmen. I was most fortunate 

 in being invited by an old friend, Mr. James Grantham, Director of 

 Plantation Research for the Lnited States Rubber Company, to make 

 his home at Boenoet my headquarters for the whole of my stay. It 

 is a pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to the U. S. Rubber Co. 

 and its stafi:" for their assistance ; to T\Ir. Carel Hamel of the Ameri- 

 can Methodist Mission, who proved an agreeable and helpful com- 

 panion on several short jungle trips; to my former student, Mr. 

 W. E. Cake, who joined me in a rapid trip around the southern end 

 of Lake Toba to Taroetoeng ; to ^lessrs. Stofkoper and Prokopo- 

 vitsch of Loendoet Concession, Koealoe, for their hospitality there ; 

 and to Dr. H. S. Yates with whom I made an interesting, though 

 botanically unproductive, visit to Poeloe Salah Xama, one of three 

 rocky islets in the Straits of Molacca northeast of IJatoc Bara. 



The plantation belt of the East Coast is a region of rapid develop- 

 ment, which had its beginning at Medan, center of the famous Deli 

 tobacco plantations. Other cultures, especially rubber and oil-palm, 

 have extended the belt southward, and now it is growing laterally 

 toward the highlands through plantings of tea and, locally, of irri- 

 gated rice. The great ]:)lantations of the U. S. Rubl)er Co. in Asahan 

 were practically the southern end of the culture area ten vears ago, 

 but now exploitation has reached much farther and has outdis- 

 tanced transportation facilities. 



It is regrettable that the resources of the jungle have not been 

 known and utilized before its destruction. Of course the chief groups 



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