k68 



undertake to use the Indian produc t when grown, and to the cul- 

 tivator the Government is to guarantee interest on capital for a 

 period of so many years, to carry out the necessary experiments 

 on the undertaking ihat if they arc successful the cultivator will 

 annually grow a fibre of right quality to a given weight. A discus- 

 sion followed the paper. 



Though exception may be taken to some parts of the paper, it is 

 worth the attention of Ramie growers and others interested in 

 cultivation generally. 



GUTTA PERCHA IN THE PHILIPPINES. 



Mr. Sherman's Report. 



A Bulletin by Mr. P. L. SHERMAN, Chemist in the Bureau of 

 Government Laboratories, Manila, on the Gutta Percha and Rubber 

 of the Philippine Islands, carefully reviews the subject both from 

 a commercial as well as scientific point of view. 



Mr. SHERMAN has collected information in all the principal gutta 

 producing countries and naturally concludes that the future of gutta- 

 percha lies in plantations Under this head he remarks "The prin- 

 cipal gutta-percha plantations now under cultivation and in which 

 much useful and desired experimenting is being done are located at 

 Tjipitir and Buitenzorg in Java, on Rhio Island at Singapore and 

 Bukit Timah on Singapore Island, on Penang Island, and at one 

 or two places in the Federated Malay States. 



Enough time and work have been spent to demonstrate most con- 

 clusively that gutta-percha trees can be raised not only successfully 

 but also without much trouble or great outlay of money, and all the 

 nations having tropical possessions in the East, except the United 

 States, have made a start toward gutta-percha plantation, but the 

 Dutch are the only ones so far who have gone into it on a grand scale, 

 and unless appearances are deceitful they will have a monopoly on 

 the plantations of the gutta-percha of the future, as sure as they 

 have on the forest gutta-percha of the present day." 



R. D. 



ZALACCA CONFERTA 



This palm is very abundant in the Malay Peninsula, and is well 

 known under the names of Asam Paya, and Kelubi. It grows in 

 jungle swamps, and is almost stemless with large and horribly spiny , 

 thickets of the plant being almost impenetrable. The fruit is pro- 

 duced in a dense head, about a foot or more long, each being 

 about 2 inches long and covered witli yellow scales. The seed 

 inside is covered with a very acid pulp. These fruits are collected 

 and sold by Malays for the acid pulp ol which they seem very fond 

 and indeed, acid as they are they form not a bad thirst quencher. 

 Mr. DUNN of the Hongkong Botanic Gardens lately sent me a bit 

 of one of -these fruits which are imported into China, and writes 



