2l6 



at least used in the Straits, (where the plant used to be very common 

 in gardens) for making the recognition marks in cattle, cuts being 

 made in the animal's skin and this latex put into the wounds, causing 

 a permanent elevated mark. Attempts to utilize the latex of Tiru- 

 calli as a source of gutta-percha, or a similar substance, were made 

 in the early eighties, if not before, but without any success, and the 

 danger of collecting the latex appears also to have deterred experi- 

 menters from continuing researches in this direction. Dr. Riddell 

 (Watts Dictionary) says " that the milk when it hardens after boiling 

 becomes brittle, whilst warm it is as ductile as gutta-percha." 



Attempts have also been made to utilize the latex of several other 

 Euphorbias of this type but no satisfactory result was obtained, but 

 further chemical experiments might make it possible to use these also. 



The excitement caused by the great development of cultivation of 

 Para rubber in the East se'; people, especially those living in countries 

 where Hevea will not grow, searching for anything that produced any 

 form of rubber, some of their discoveries but only a very few, such as 

 Guayule, did really prove a success, at least for a time. In many 

 other cases in spite of enthusiastic commendation, the plants proved 

 practically or completely a failure. We remember the future of 

 Tonkin was to depend on Bleekrodea tonkinensis, rubber trees in the 

 form of the Chinese Euconia were to be planted all over Europe, 

 Cryptostega Parameria were to make the fortunes of the dwellers in 

 Assam, and Erangipamie {Plumieria) and Jatropha-urens were to form 

 the cultivation of parts of Brazil. The Sapiums, too, in British 

 Guiana were to become a substitute for Hevea hraziliensis. All these 

 plants are practically abandoned and forgotten now. They utterly 

 failed to do what laboratory experiments suggested they could. They 

 grew too slowly, or yielded too little or in some cases gave no rubber 

 at all, or the rubber when it was procured was nearly or quite 

 worthless. We have now a new source of rubber come to the front, a 

 very well known old friend the Milkhedge of India, Euphorbia Tirucallis, 

 concerning which we give the following extract from the Financial 

 News taken from the Straits Times. To those who know the tree in 

 the East Indies the size of the plants in the reports IO-48 inches 

 through sounds almost incredible, and the number averaging 60 to 

 the acre also seems enormous. It is a big plant when it is a foot 

 through in India and that only at the base. Welwitsch describes it 

 in Londa in the forests as 8 to 12 feet high with the trunk 6 to 8 in. 

 in diameter, 8 to 12 feet high, the older branchesileafless, the younger 

 ones with linear leaves. In other pai ts of Angola he describes it as a 

 low-shrub two feet high. The trunk has a grey, somewhat rough 

 bark. It usually branches much about 3 or 4 feet from the ground, 

 the branches are cylindric jointed smooth, succulent, and green, with 

 at first a few very small narrow leaves about half an inch long. The 

 flowers are rarely if ever produced here, they are very small and yel- 

 low. It is very readily grown from cuttings. It will be interesting 

 to see the results of this venture, — Ed. 



