54 



five years old, and was preserved by the Director to 

 show what might happen to trees similarly planted on 

 poor soil. 



The Giant of the East. 



I remember giving the sizes of the oldest trees in Cey- 

 lon in one of my publications, and placing the credit to 

 that island for being in possession of what I regarded 

 as the biggest Para tree in the East. This was refuted 

 by Mr. I^idley, and I took the opportunity to remind 

 him of the incident. I was forthwith conducted to one 

 of the trees planted in •1-876 and transplanted in its pre- 

 sent position in 1880; this specimen had thrown off three 

 branches at a height of four feet from the ground, and 

 to this fact can be attributed the exceptionally large size 

 of the basal region. The tree girthed, at a yard from 

 the ground, no less than 122J inches, and must there- 

 fore stand as the record for the East, if not for the 

 world. I have no records of a Para tree exceeding that 

 size. The tree has been tapped on almost every system 

 known, and has given considerably over 30 lb. of rubber. 



Psu'a Trees under Forest conditions. 



One of the most interesting features in the Garden 

 is the experimental block of Para trees in and under 

 high forest. The Para rubber tree, on account of the 

 rapidity with which the seeds lose their germinating 

 capacity, has only a poor chance to spread in primitive 

 forest. Long before the seed finds a bit of soil it may 

 have lost its germinating power by exposure to un- 

 favourable climatic conditions; even if it germinates it 

 has to compete with the roots of the surrounding plants, 

 and finally to combat many natural forest enemies before 

 it can top the highest trees. To determine how young 

 plants would survive in forest, Mr. Ridley planted Cas- 

 tilloa elastica and Hevea brasiliensis in a thick forest full 

 of Albizzia, Euii^enia Ccesalpinia and other trees rising to 

 a height of forty or sixty feet. The shade was very 

 dense, and all the Castilloa plants have disappeared. 

 The Hevea trees have, however, survived, and some of 

 them compare very favourably in point of size with the 

 biggest forest trees surrounding them; the largest speci- 



