44 



labours of Curtis, some eig-hty trees were planted along 

 Ayer Rajah Road as an experiment to determine their 

 suitability as shade trees along road sides. The trees 

 appear to be about 8 to lo years old, and many vacancies 

 occur. Last year the local government authorities 

 allowed an enterprising native to tap the trees on pay- 

 ment of fifty dollars. Bad tapping was done, and I was 

 glad to learn that the business had been stopped. Muni- 

 cipal enterprise is all very well in its way, but there is 

 something in this transaction which seems canny. 



In the Botanic Gardens there are very few Para trees, 

 but one specimen, in full flower on the occasion of our 

 visit, is of particular interest. The tree is probably about 

 20 years old, has bifurcated at a yard from the ground, 

 and has a basal circumference of seven feet. It has been 

 tapped regularly during the past few years, and accord- 

 ing to Mr. Derry's Annual Report of 1907, has yielded a 

 grand total of 37 lb. 13^ oz. of rubber. Judging from 

 appearances, I imagine it can be made to yield double 

 that quan(:ity before being killed by tapping. 



There were some miserable specimens of Ficus elastica 

 (Gutta Rambong) and Funtumia elastica (Lagos silk 

 rubber); one tree of the latter, 5 or 6 years old, had a 

 height of ten feet and a basal circumference of only six 

 inches. There were also some nursery plants of the 

 Jequie or Manicoba rubber, the balance of the plants re- 

 ceived from Kew having been planted in one of the 

 forests in Wellesley. 



Gutta-percha plants were being propagated in the 

 nursery, a very large number of Palaquium oblongifolium 

 seedlings being ready for transplanting. The real Gutta 

 — Palaquium Gutta — though in its native home, is not 

 growing very satisfactorily in the poor soil provided for 

 it; one tree, planted in October, 1900, was only 8 feet 

 high, and had a basal diameter of i^ inches. When in Java 

 I hope to find out the truth about the yields from the 

 gutta-percha trees grown on the Government Plantations 

 in that island. 



The Straits Settlements. 



It is dangerous to give details from observations made 

 while travelling in a train, but Eastern ones are not equal 



