207 



that date had not thought of Para rubber as being a suitable 

 cultivation for Java, and as far as I can gather no experiments or 

 records of observations were made in Java till after 1899. Mr. Willis 

 does not even mention Dr. Trimen's work, which deserves credit 

 as he was the first, I believe, to tap the rubber tree in the East, 

 and to record his results. 



Meanwhile, the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, was at work from 

 1889, and was laying the foundation of the industry and indeed had 

 submitted saleable rubber of first class quality to experts, and had 

 proved that the industry would pay well before Mr. Willis had ever 

 seen a rubber tree. Surely in an account of the rise of the industry 

 purporting to be a history of the Agriculture of the World, this work 

 should not have been entirely ignored. It was known to most of the 

 planters of the East Indies and to many, I am sure, in Ceylon. 



It would be too long to detail all the discoveries and inventions 

 made in the Straits Settlements and F. M. S. connected with the 

 industry. They include most of the systems of tapping ( except the 

 spiral, which proved a failure); the crepe machines, the forms of 

 rubber known as biscuit, block, crepe and sheet, the wound-response, 

 actual returns of the tree, best method of packing seeds, and tht^ 

 pests. Fames, Diplodia Hymenochoete, Termes Gestroi, etc., and 

 methods of dealing with them. To Ceylon we must credit the worm- 

 machine ( invented after the crepe machine ) spiral tapping, the pric- 

 ker and Biffeu's centrifugalizer and the Northway knife. Honour 

 to whom honour is due, the Botanic Gardens of Ceylon have 

 produced valuable papers by Trimen, Bamber, Fetch, Green and 

 others and Parkin's paper though anticipated was a useful piece of 

 work. 



The following extracts from correspondence from Sir William 

 Thiselton Dyer will show to a small extent how far Singapore had 

 progressed in rubber research before Mr. Parkin wrote his paper in 

 1899. 



Sir William Thiselton Dyer writes in answer to the Director 

 of Gardens in Dec. I, 1896. — "I am glad Para rubber is going 

 ahead, I always said the Straits would be the place for it." 



June 19, 1897. — " There is a tremendous boom in India-rubber 

 planting. Most of the schemes are simply insane. Your result 

 from a nine year old tree is very good." 



Dec. 28, 1898. — " Para rubber seems at last fairly established 

 in the Native States, Derry's report is very promising. Beauti- 

 fully prepared is only a broker's term. It means that the rubber 

 is clean and free from excessive moisture. I can't imagine why 

 your Para rubber is only quoted at 3/3. I can only suppose it is 

 because it was not smoked." 



The reader is also referred to the June number of the Bulletin, 

 1899 but probably by the time he has read this account he has 



