CHAPTER IV. 

 PROPAGATION. 



THE tree may be propagated either by seeds or cuttings, but 

 the former is the more expeditious method. Great care should 

 be exercised in selecting the seeds, as they rapidly lose their 

 vitality ; it is therefore advisable to sow them as soon as possible 

 ^fter they have ripened. A fairly large proportion will, however, 

 survive a long journey. From 500 seeds supplied by a Ceylon 

 seedsman to the Gold Coast Botanical Department in November 

 1900, 200 plants were raised. These seeds were packed with 

 powdered charcoal in tins, and were over two months in transit. 



An experiment was carried out by the Gold Coast Botanical 

 Department, with a view to ascertain the better method for 

 packing seeds sent from the Orient to West Africa, viz., packed 

 with moist soil in Wardian cases or with charcoal and sawdust 

 in ordinary boxes : 20,000 seeds packed by the first-mentioned 

 method at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, arrived at the 

 Tarkwa Botanic Station, Gold Coast, in November 1903, and 

 from these, 3,400 plants have been raised ; while from 30,000 

 seeds packed with charcoal and sawdust in ordinary cases, sent 

 at the same time, 3,650 plants have been raised. 



The Wardian cases were, however, opened and their contents 

 watered upon their arrival at Liverpool, and then again closed 

 up and forwarded. Although the percentage of seeds which 

 survived the journey in Wardian cases was higher than that of 

 those in the boxes, it by no means compensated for the extra 

 expenses incurred, as about 3,000 seeds were packed in each 

 Wardian case, and 10,000 in each box. A Wardian case costs 

 i, as against two or three shillings for an ordinary packing 

 case. Ninety-five per cent, of some seeds germinated which had 

 been sent from Ceylon through the post in canvas bags to the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 



Mr J. C. Harvey, writing from Mexico to the editor of the 

 Straits Settlements Agricultural Bulletin, states : " You will 

 perhaps be interested to know that of the twenty seeds of Hevea 



