i4 
Castilloa, the Kew Report for 1882, p. 40, gives an account of the first 
pels of caoutchouc obtained from this plant i in the Old World. 
n October 1882, the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens 
5 Poradent niya, Dr. Trimen, forwarded to Kew a ee Ke ‘the rubber of 
“ Castilloa elastica grown in the I 
“ Ceylon. This was sent from Ke w in 1876 (see Kew Report, “1876, 
“ p. 9). The sample was or spent to S. W. Silver, Esq., F.L.S., who 
“ very kindly reported upon it :— On working and drying a portion of 
‘ this sample, the loss is 12" 3 per cent; it is necessary to use warm 
‘ water in washing this rubber; it becomes, on drying, much darker 
‘and shorter than Para rubber. It has a bitter taste, which is not 
“& ¢ removed on washing. ‘The unwashed sample yields 1°9 per cent. 
é 
é 
é 

h, the washed sample gives 1:2 per cent. ‘The shortness of this 
rubber would restrict its use to some extent where tensile strength 
or tenacity is required. ’ It was valued, Dec. 8, 1882, as worth 
* 2s. 9d. to 3s. per poun 
The collection and preparation of rubbers as a forest product has 
hitherto been almost exclusively in the hands of natives, whose onl 
unsatisfact ory a character, that the waste must be enormous. Under 
these circumstances it is most important to extend knowledge of the 
subject, and it is to be hoped where rubber trees still exist under 
British influence, that careful steps will be taken to regulate the tapping 
or bleeding, and to re-plant areas already denuded of trees. 
In the special instance of the rubber industry at British Honduras 
we have been lately favoured with the following correspondence ;— 
COLONIAL OFFICE to ROYAL GARDENS, Kew. 
“ Colonial Office, AA Street, 
~ Sir, 11th November 
“ Tam directed by Secretary Sir Henry Holland ts transmit to 
you a memorandum on the cultivation and preparation of india-rubber, 
“ which has been prepared by Mr. Alvan Millson, who was formerly 
a district magistrate in British Honduras, and has now been appointed 
€ to be a district commissioner in ne colony of yas 
* 
“ I am to request that the a te es iy is sent in original, 
“ may be returned with your reply. 
“ Tam, e 
“ D. Morris, Esq. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON.” 
Notes on CASTILLOA RUBBER TREE a ee HONDURAS, 
by Mr. Atvan MiL 
There is but little to be added to the TRS account given by 
Mr. Morris (now of Kew) of the Castilloa elastica in his book on the 
colony of British Honduras; but the cultivation and preparation of 
india-rubber is of daily increasing tee ie and there is little 
doubt that information which in any way lessens the diffic die at 
present pE rasne in dealing with this article is none of statement 
and exam 
Cultivation —The details I am able to give with regard to the cul- 
tivation of the rubber tree are mainly founded on hearsay evidence, but 

