April, 1910.] 



293 



Saps and Exudations. 



to trace this new cultivation from its 

 inception we must revert to the year 

 1876. The seeds destined to become the 

 source of most of the Para-rubber trees 

 now growing in the East were in that 

 year collected in Biazil, brought to 

 England, and sown at Kevv. The young 

 plants raised from these seeds were 

 transhipped to Ceylon. This introduc- 

 tion of Hevea brasiliensis to the eastern 

 tropics was due chiefly to the energy 

 and foresight of two men, both happily 

 with us at the present day, Sir Joseph 

 Hooker, then Director of Kevv, and Mr. 

 Wickham, at that time engaged in plant- 

 ing pursuits in tropical South America. 

 Drawings of the foliage and fruit of the 

 tree made by Wickham were seen by 

 Hooker, and the latter did not rest until 

 he had pursuaded the Indian Office to 

 grant Wickham a commission tor the 

 collection and conveyance of the seed to 

 England. How this was successfully 

 accomplished has recently been retold 

 by Mr. Wickham himself,* The story 

 forms the romance of tropical agricul- 

 ture. Owing to the short vitality pos- 

 sessed by this oily seed.t no time had to 

 be lost in conveying the quantity col- 

 lected across the ocean. Some seventy 

 thousand seeds reached Kew Gardens, 

 and from them quickly sprang a good 

 array of seedlings- Ceylon was chosen 

 for their reception, and two thousand 

 young plants reached this favoured isle 

 in 1876. They were mainly planted in a 

 special plot of ground at Henaratgoda 

 in the low country. Soon a small forest 

 of young Heveas grew up. This grove is 

 now historic, for from it the first planters 

 to take up rubber cultivation obtain- 

 ed their seed ; in addition these trees 

 afforded the means for carrying out the 

 early work in tapping and the prepar- 

 ation of rubber, upon the results of 

 which the estates have largely based the 

 methods now in use. The total cost of 

 the introduction ot the Para rubber tree 

 to the East amounted to £ 1,500, a trifling 

 sum considering the wealth it is now 

 producing and is likely to produce in the 

 near future. 



About the same period Cross was 

 instrumental in bringing to the East 

 two other important caoutchouc-yield- 

 ing trees of the New World— viz., 

 Manihot Qlaziovii (Ceara rubber) and 

 Castilloa elastiva (Central American 

 rubber). 



" H. A. Wiokbam, Para Indian Rubber (1908). 

 London, 1908, pp. 45-59 ( See review in Science 

 Progress, 1909, 3,705-6). 



f By careful packing in powdered charcoal 

 the vitality of the seed can bo somewhat 

 prolonged . 



After the collapse of the coffee industry 

 in Ceylon, the planters for a short time 

 in the early eighties turned their atten- 

 tion to the Ceara rubber tree. However, 

 its cultivation never attained great 

 dimensions, and was soon extinguished 

 by the rush into tea planting. The 

 geueral consensus of opinion was that 

 Ceara rubber paid to collect, but not to 

 grow. 



Castilloa has never been largely 

 planted in Ceylon or elsewhere in the 

 East. It does not grow in the same 

 vigour as Hevea, nor has it taken so 

 kindly to its new home. It is fortunate 

 that Ceylou planters adopted Hevea 

 rather than Castilloa, as all recent 

 returns have shown the former to be far 

 and away the better yielding tree, even 

 though at one period results seemed in 

 favour of the latter. Castilloa, however, 

 has been largely planted in Mexico — in 

 fact, its cultivation commenced there a 

 year or two in advance of that of Hevea 

 in the East. Little, however, is heard 

 at present of plantation Castilloa rubber 

 on the London market, This is partly 

 due to the fact that the trees do not 

 come into bearing as soon as those of 

 Hevea and yield less when they do ; and 

 partly because the United States mainly 

 receive what rubber is produced by the 

 Mexican plantations. 



In 1888 the late Dr. Trimen, then 

 Director of the Ceylon Botanic Gardens, 

 commenced tapping experiments on the 

 Hevea trees at Henaratgoda, grown from 

 the Kew seedlings. He strongly advo- 

 cated rubber planting, and was sup- 

 ported by Mr. John Ferguson, editor of 

 the Ceylon Observer, who influenced 

 planters, especially in the Malay States, 

 by the publication of a manual on the 

 subject. Dr. Willis, who succeeded 

 Trimen as Director in 1896, took up the 

 subject of india-rubber energetically 

 and enthusiastically. In a circular* 

 published in January, 1898, he advocated 

 the cultivation of the Para-rubber tree 

 as deserving the attention of the Ceylon 

 planters. He induced the Government 

 to sanction the appointment of a scien- 

 tific assistant. With this help a year's 

 work devoted to rubber tapping and 

 preparation placed Hevea in a still more 

 favourable position as a yielder of 

 caoutchouc. The discovery of the so- 

 called l< wound-response " and the ela- 

 boration of a ready means of preparing 

 clean rubber from the Jatex afforded the 

 planters a basis for future procedure. 

 The rush into rubber began then, and 

 has continued ever since with increasing 



* J. C. Willis, Circ. Roy. Bot. Gardens, Ceylou 

 No. 4, Series I. (18U8). 



