4 8 



Note on the above. 



Of unhusked fresh seed large and small mixed, 100 weighed a 

 pound. When the husk was removed the kernels weighed 10J ounces, 

 so that it would require 311,308 seeds to make a ton. This would be 

 produced by about five acres of rubber trees in full bearing. A man 

 could gather say 50,000 a day, and including expense-, there ought 

 to be a profit of 15 dollars an acre on the seed. As there are facili- 

 ties in Singapore for preparing the oil and cake, it would save n 

 good deal of expense in freight and (barges to manufacture the oil 

 here, and this would also save deterioration by drying. 



Editor. 



RAMBONG RUBBER 



Professor Wyndham K. DuNSTAN, writes from the Imp ri d In- 

 stitute as follows on a sample of Rambong rubber an 1 an acc >m- 

 panying letter : — " With reference to your query regarding the Ficus 

 rubber, its lower price compared with Para is chiefly due to the much 

 larger percentage of resin which it usually contains and also to the 

 fact that the physical characters of the rubber itself are not quite so 

 good. Improvements might be < ffected in both these directions by 

 better methods of collection and preparation, and it will be well to 

 continue experiments with these objects in view. I he amount of 

 resin present in the rubber may depend to some extent on the age 

 of the trees diminishing with age as is known, to be the case in other 

 rubber trees and in any case it might be possible to eliminate some 

 of the resin by a suitable method of coagulating the latex. This of 

 course will have to be determined by experiments. The sample of 

 Ficus rubber sent by Mr. CALLOWAY was much superior to anv 

 other specimens of this rubber recived at the Imperial Institute and 

 it therefore appears probable that a considerable improvement in 

 the quality of the rubber could be effected by the application of 

 proper methods. If so the price would be correspondingly increased. 



GETAH (GETAH JELUTONG) PROM SARAWAK 



This specimen of Getah Jelutong and samples of a mineral sub- 

 stance used in its preparation were forwarded from Sarawak, 

 through His Majesty's Consul at Brunei, for examination in the 

 Scientific and Technical Department of the Impeiial Institute, and 

 are described in despatches, copies of which were transmitted to the 

 Imperial Institute by the Foreign Office. 



From the correspondence accompanying the samples it appears 

 that the mineral substance used in the preparation of the Getah or 

 Gutta is obtained from China, and is known to the Malays as 

 " Menang Sayla," and to the Chinese as Chio Koh." This sub- 

 stance is not employed in its natural condition, but is baked before 

 use, being reduced thereby to a kind of feathery powder, and its 



