3 
Of these, 42 plants and the seeds were safely deposited at Kew o 
the 23rd November 1876. The following note appeared in the 
Kew Report (1877, p . 16) :— 
** As gt in my halt year’s Report, we obtained from the seeds 
Mr. 
gation. On June llth four plants were sent to Singapore, and on 
September i5ih, at which date our stock had increased to 
a plants of all sizes, 50 were sent to Dr. King at Calcutta, and 
o Dr. Thwaites in Ceylon, all the stems collected by Mr. Or 08s 
pede divided amongst these two recipientis, At the end of the 
ysar our stock amounted to 448 plan 
The further steps taken to y eeka plants of the HM rubber 
are given in the Kew w report for 1878 (p. 15) as follo 
* At the end of August of last year consignments of | ent of the 
Ceara rubber, consisting, in each instance, of two wardian cases 
Sun ates 80 plants, and one dry box containing 40 plants were 
nt to Lieut.-Colonel Be edule. Conservator of Forests, Madras, 
22 Dr. King, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Caleutta. Of those 
sent to Ma vB all were alive on arrival in the wardian cases, 
while of the contents of the dry box about half were saved. 
Those originally sent to Dr. King (see eu Report for 1877, x 16) 
arrived in rather bad condition. Few were saved, and the growth 
of these did not impress Dr. King fa becha cA ‘They all look 
more or less w bxc and lanky, as if the climate were too damp for 
. This was, perhaps, a premature judgment from want of 
familiarity with t the habit of the plant. Ho Ring now writes :— 
eara rubber is going to be a success her 
“At Ceylon, in April, one of the plants first sent out had already 
made an attempt to flower, and by the end of ihe year 
Dr. Thwaites was distributing copious supplies of seed 
Calcutta, Burmah, Madras, an See (where, however, it 
seems unable to stand the wet season).” 
“ I regard, therefore, the wie of Kew completed as regards the 
Ceara rubber. Living plants of it have been distributed during 
the past year to Dominica, Fiji, Jamaica, Ji vi: Sydney, Trinidad, 
Queenslaud and Zanzibar. 
Of Ceara rubber there are imported into this country about 
200 to 300 tons per annum. There are three grades found in 
commerce, varying according to the mode of tapping the trees 
and the care taken in the preparation. ken, pure it is regarded 
almost next to Para in value. It is a “dry” rubber, very 
It 
wood and foreign matter, causing a loss to the manufaeturer 
amounting sometimes to 25 per cent. It would appear that the 
eara rubber €— is not extending in — America, for 
“every year there is an extensive migration of Ceara people to 
Para bound for the ford of the Amazon." (Kew Bulletin, 1892, 
p. 69.) In case 96, Museum No. I, samples are exhibited fro m Brazil, 
and also from plants vh in India, Ceylon, Natal, and Zanzibar. —— 
ants 
It may be mentioned that the rubber produce under cultivation 
in Ceylon has been singularly pure and free from impurities. 
In 1883, acodiding to Dr. Trimen, * as much as 4s, per pond: had 
been obtained for Ceylon Ceara rubber. 
2 
16573 A? 
