IRubber tn Bssam, Bsia, 399 



east of the meridian of Greenwich. I deem it useful to insert here the 

 principal data. 



A short time ago, Mr. William Griffith published a report upon the 

 Asiatic rubber-tree called Ficus elastica, in which he stated that it was 

 sometimes found isolated, at other times in pairs, and at others in 

 groups of three. It is larger and gives more shade than all the other 

 trees of the forest where it is found ; and can be distinguished from them 

 at a distance of several miles by its picturesque appearance, due to 

 the great height and dense foliage of its top. The trunk of one that 

 was carefully measured, had a circumference of 74 feet; the area of its 

 branches a circumference of 610 feet; and its height was 100 feet. On 

 an area of 30 miles long by 8 miles wide, near Ferozpoor, in the dis- 

 trict of Chardwar, in Assam, 43,240 trees of that kind were counted. 



Lieutenant Weitch afterward discovered that the Ficus elastica was 

 equally abundant in the district of Naudwoor, where it is met with on 

 the brow of the hills at an altitude above the level of the sea calcu- 

 lated to be 22,500 feet. 



The sap of the Ficus elastica of Chardwar is better in the old trees 

 than in the young ones, and more abundant in winter than in summer. 

 It is drawn off by means of incisions in the bark, around the trunk and 

 the branches, as far as the top, and at a distance of one foot from each 

 other. The quantity of the sap increases in proportion to the height 

 of the incisions. The liquid flowing from them is of the same con- 

 sistency as that of cream and extremely white. Each tree yields forty- 

 two pounds for every extraction ; that is to say, every fortnight. The 

 sap contains from four to six tenths of water and from six to four 

 tenths of rubber. 



Mr. Griffith affirms that the best kind is obtained from incisions 

 made in the woody parts of the large roots that are a little above the 

 surface. Below the line of the incisions, the inhabitants of Assam dig 

 a hole in the ground in which they put a leaf of the Phrynium cdpitalum 

 rudely shaped as a vase. 



The United Rubber Co. of London has recommended that the sap 

 of the ficus elastica be put in bottles of from i to 2\ inches in 

 diameter, and from 4 to 5 inches long; but in Mr. Griffith's opinion, 

 this is the worst way to prepare rubber because it requires more 

 manipulation, causes the rubber to become black in drying, and does 

 not prevent the viscosity of the sap when exposed to the sun. He ad- 

 vises, as the best method, to work it by hand, to wash it in water and 

 to press it. 



It has already been shown that the rubber called Ficus elastica is in- 

 ferior in quality to the American species called Siphonia elastica y and, 

 for this reason, cannot compete with it. 



