4 PARA RUBBER. 



The cultivation of rubber trees has already been so success- 

 fully accomplished in India, Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, 

 South America, and some other countries, that the attention of 

 large numbers of persons interested in tropical planting has been 

 directed to the possibility of recuperating their losses, due to the 

 over-production of some other products, by planting rubber 

 trees. Hevea brasiliensis, the tree producing the Para rubber of 

 commerce, has been the one most favoured by planters. 



The successful manner in which the Para rubber tree was 

 introduced to our Eastern tropical possessions by the Indian 

 Government in 1876, through the agency of the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens, Kevv, at a cost of over 1,500, is well known, and need 

 not be detailed here. 



As the result of this introduction, an important agricultural 

 industry has developed in the Malay Peninsula and Ceylon. An 

 illustration of one of the parent trees of this industry, now 

 growing in the Heneratgoda Botanic Garden, Ceylon, is given 

 (Fig. 2). Para rubber has practically ruled the market price of 

 rubber since its first introduction to commerce. But the product 

 of the cultivated trees, being more carefully prepared than that 

 from the indigenous trees in Brazil, is often rated at a much 

 higher price than the latter. 



It is estimated that there are now about 155,000 acres 

 planted with this tree in Ceylon, while in the Malay Peninsula 

 there is a still larger area under Para rubber cultivation. The 

 small amount of cultural skill required to successfully cultivate 

 the Para rubber tree, coupled with the high prices paid for the 

 rubber which the cultivated trees produce in comparison with 

 that paid for other grades of rubber, has no doubt largely 

 influenced planters in selecting the Para tree in preference to 

 other rubber-producing plants. 



The following reports illustrate the high prices paid for the 

 rubber obtained from cultivated Para rubber trees, as against 

 those obtainable for rubber from other sources : 



44 AND 45 FENCHURCH STREET, 

 W. H. JOHNSON, ESQ., LONDON, E.G., nth February 1903. 



ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 



DEAR SIR, In reply to yours of the th inst, we give you below 

 comparison of prices of Ceylon fine rubber and hard cure fine Para 

 rubber : 



