TREES THAT COUNT FUNTUMIA ELASTICA IO/ 



last few years, had already committed itself to ex- 

 penditure wholly beyond its means, unless the new 

 industry was adequately and immediately protected. 



Writing from Government House, Lagos, on 

 24 June 1897 to Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, then 

 Secretary of State for the Colonies, Governor 

 McCallum (now Governor of Ceylon), referring to 

 the wholesale destruction of rubber trees in the 

 hinterland, reported that he had sent two officials of 

 the Botanical Department to Ibadan to make an in- 

 vestigation into the subject. Their statements were 

 enclosed. These officials had already visited and 

 reported on the ruined condition of the Jebu and 

 Ibadan forests, and they were now in a position to 

 make a comprehensive survey of the situation ap- 

 plicable to the colony as a whole. Not a district re- 

 mained that had not been spoiled by the destroyers, 

 and as a result peremptory orders were sent to the 

 kings, chiefs, and headmen of the various localities 

 concerned to prohibit rubber collecting in the forests 

 for two years, to stop all strangers from entering 

 the forests, and to compel the planting of a young 

 tree for every Funtumia destroyed or ruined by the 

 collectors. 



Very promising are the results following such a 

 policy. Gradually year by year the output of Fun- 

 tumia has increased, until at the present time there 

 is a possibility of the trade reaching before long the 

 records marked down for the famous seasons of 

 1894 and 1895. 



Meanwhile Funtumia elastica has been tried in 

 Ceylon and other places in the Middle East, but it 



