INTRODUCTORY 13 



Gardens at Ke\v, writing under date 18 June 1890 

 to the India Office as follows respecting a pro- 

 posal to introduce the Sapium (Colombian rubber 

 tree) into our Eastern possessions. He advises 

 the Government to reject the offer, and goes on 

 to say : 



" I still remain of the opinion expressed in my letter 

 of 8 July last year that the slender results which have 

 accrued from the large outlay incurred by the 

 Government of India in introducing South American 

 rubber plants into that country are not such as to 

 justify any further present expenditure in the 

 matter." The Sapium was rejected accordingly, but 

 the situation was saved by the remarkable success 

 of another tree the Manihot Glaziovii of which 

 more anon. Meanwhile planters and Government 

 experts alike were struggling bravely w 7 ith such 

 of the Heveas as had by accident been planted in 

 soils and situations suitable to their nature. And 

 here it would be as well to recount the story of the 

 introduction of the rubber tree into our Eastern pos- 

 sessions, if only for the excellent reasons that it will 

 always bear re-telling and because it is a tale soon 

 told. 



It was in 1875 that, acting under a commission 

 from the Government of India, Mr. Wickham the 

 botanist, who was then living at Santarem, set out 

 to obtain seeds of the Hevea brasiliensis in the 

 seringhals of the River Tapajos. He arrived at Kew 

 with 70,000 seeds on 14 June 1876. They were 

 immediately sown ; not more, however, than 4 per 

 cent, germinated. But their vitality was great, for 



