34 Pimehri. 
One, at least, of our own sugar-planters, remembered the Ceara rubber experi- 
ments in that island, we refer to the late Mr. Henry G. Messervy, at one time 
Manager of Pin. La Bonne Intention, who used to delight in recalling his experience 
in filing the seeds of Manzhot glaziovii (the Ceara rubber), an operation necessary 
for encouraging rapid and successful germination. 
But if we are all indebted to Goodyear for his discovery of vulcanisation, we 
are no less indebted to Dr. J. C. Willis, Director, Royal Gardens, Ceylon, who, 
carrying on the experiments started by Dr. Trimen in 1877, with the trees at 
Heneratgoda, discovered that wonderful phenomenon known as “ wound- 
response.” It is this wonderful power which places the Para rubber tree 
(Hevea brasiliensis) in a class apart from nearly every other rubber-producing 
plant in the world. 
Dr. Willis found that the Heveas, on their first being tapped, gave a small 
amount of latex as compared with other latex-yielding plants, but that on the 
old wound being re-opened, quite a larger amount of good latex was yielded, 
and that this increase in the flow of latex was even more marked on subsequent 
tappings. That is to say, if one were to tap some well-known rubber-yielding 
tree other than Hevea brasiliensis, the first incisions might yield some four 
or five times as much latex as that furnished by Hevea brasiliensis, so that, in the 
absence of any knowledge concerning wound-response, one would naturally 
conclude that the Hevea was the inferior. But if fresh cuts, a day or two 
afterwards, are made, either by shaving off the bark of the old wounds 
or making fresh incisions quite close to the first tappings, the result will be that 
the one tree will furnish little, if any, latex, all the lactiferous vessels having been 
drained on the first occasion, while in the case of Hevea brasiliensis, not only 
will there be a flow of nearly double the quantity of latex, but this increase will be 
continuous and very often in increasing quantities. 
There does not appear, therefore, very much chance of other rubber-producing 
trees being able to compete with H. brasiliensis, though they may be com- 
mercially exploited with the price of rubber atits present rate. Presumably, 
when normal prices are reigning, such trees as Castilloa elastica, Funtumia 
elastica, Sapium Jenmani, Manihot glaziovii, and the various other rubber- 
producing trees, all of which do not appear to possess any indications of 
‘‘wound-response,” there will be small chances of their being cultivated with 
prospects of commercial success. At present any plant which yields 
commercial rubber will, naturally enough, have attention directed to it, and so 
we find Guyuale rubber (Parthenvum argentatum), the latex of Asclepias 
curasavica and the latices of various species of Manihot, Plumeria, and other 
plants, of commercial value to-day, but the future of the rubber planter, because 
of “ wound-response,”’ apparently lies with the cultivation of Hevea brasiliensis. 
Growers would be well-advised to trust to this plant, its extraordinary power of 
adapting itself to various soils and conditions apparently marking it out 
as an exceptionally safe investment to the intelligent and practical agriculturist. 
There is evidently still room for a fuller microscopical investigation, in connec- 
tion with the arrangement of the lactiferous system of Hevea brasiliensis and other 
“rubber trees,” for the fact remains that, even with such trees as possess a 
