men measured 82 inches in circumference. The trees 

 have shed their seeds and numerous seedHngs are spring- 

 ing up in the forest. It will be extremely interesting to 

 see how the Hevea trees spread through the forest in 

 course of time. This little experiment should give the 

 rubber world very reliable knowledge of special import- 

 ance to those concerned with Para trees in tropical 

 American forests. 



Native and Introduced Vines. 



Experiments have been made with the indigenous vine 

 rubber — Willughbeia firma — and the introduced African 

 vine — Landolphia Hendelotii. Mr. Ridley informed me 

 that the African vine produced a stout stem, and then 

 bushed in a satisfactory manner; of all the introduced 

 vines he considered this the most promising. But com- 

 pared with the indigenous vine it did not show up very 

 well, the rubber from Willughbeia, when properly pre- 

 pared, being better than that from Landolphia. I was 

 surprised to learn this. 



Packing Seeds lor Long Distances. 



The Singapore Botanic Garden authorities have per- 

 sistently refused to recommend Wardian cases for trans- 

 porting Para seeds on account of the expense incurred. 

 Mr. Ridley has always got good results by packing in 

 burnt rice husks. The old rice husks are obtained from 

 the pad! mills and burnt; the residue consists largely of 

 finely-divided charcoal, very light in weight. Before 

 the seeds are packed in it, the dust is sprinkled with 

 water. One kerosine oil tin holds about 600 seeds; the 

 tins are sealed in the ordinary way, and despatched. 

 Mr. Ridley stated that after a journey occupying over 

 four months 60 per cent, of the seeds germinated. 

 Such a result is quite good enough, considering the slight 

 expense to which the purchaser is put. I was told that 

 over 20,000 Para seeds had just been sent for the plan- 

 tations of the Liberian Rubber Corporation in West 

 Africa, from Singapore. 



The Dutch East Indies. 



We have recently given the readers of The India- 

 RuBBER Journal an account of the official work done in 



