424 



to detect if it appears high up, but its colour makes it pretty easy 

 to see at some distance, so that it need not be allowed to make 

 headway in the Estate. — Editor. 



REPORT ON THE EXPERIMENTAL TAPPING OF 

 PARA RUBBER TREES IN THE BOTANIC 

 GARDENS, SINGAPORE, FOR 

 THE YEAR 1904. 



This report has been somewhat delayed for the reason that 

 of all the rubber obtained in 1904 the sales to"ok place in 1905, 

 and only by the last mail, October 28th, 1905, was the result of the 

 last sale received. 



THE SEASON'S WORK. 



For the year 1904 a sum of $1,200 was voted by the Legis- 

 lative Council at Singapore for the experimental tapping of the 

 rubber trees at the Botanic Gardens. Altogether 880 trees were 

 tapped ; these were arranged in 84 groups, and 884J * lbs. of dry 

 rubber obtained. This was sent home in four lots for sale and 

 realized a sum of $2,440, against an expenditure of $1,200. 



The highest price obtained was 6/9J, a price at which very 

 few other parcels sold, and for the last lot reported by the mail of 

 28th October, 1905, Messrs. Hecht, Levis and Khan of 36, 

 Fenchurch Street, write "As you will see from the account sales 

 we obtained for the thin biscuits 6/3J per lb. which was the 

 highest price paid at the time for the finest Ceylon " biscuits." 

 All the rubber was prepared in the form of " biscuits " and dried 

 with the aid of Calcium chloride. 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 



As this has been the largest experiment yet attempted in the 

 Colony or the Federated Malay States a summary of the work 

 performed may be of general interest, but we must explain that 

 while we are aware that figures dealing with trees starting at 5 or 

 6 years old and onwards would be most interesting such material 

 was not at hand at the time. It is best to state here that the 

 garden trees comprise the first Para treest brought to the Straits 

 and from these original trees all the trees within the Singapore 

 gardens have been raised. These were planted at varying dis- 

 tances on the only land available, a low-lying swamp, partly old 



* Including scrap, and some rubber intended for the Government Analyst, but 

 prepared too soon. 



t This report refers to Para Rubber only, i.e. Hevea braziliensis. 



