and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— July, 1010. 01 i 



HISTORICAL NOTSS ON THE 

 RUBBER INDUSTRY. 



By Mr. H. H. Ridley, F.R.S. 



CEYLON TAKES A BACK SEAT 



To SINGAPORE. 



When history is written, evon of such a sub- 

 ject as the story of discoveries and inventions 

 connected with the rubber industry, it is ad- 

 visable that it should be not only complete but 

 accurate. We are led to this observation by 

 reading certain aiticles in tho recent number 

 of the India Rubber Journal and India Rubber 

 World and Dr. Willis' l ' Agriculture in the 

 Tropics. ' ; In these papers the incompleteness 

 and inaccuracy lies in the account of the 



SO-CALLED EE-DISCOVEUY OF WOUND-RESPONSE, 



which it was first claimed was|an original discovery 

 by Messrs. Willis and Parkin, in 1899, but later 

 as a re-discovery of a phenomenon known to the 

 Amazon seringueiros and some other points. 



The discovery that the second and later tap- 

 pings of rubber tree produce a greater flow 

 of latex than the first is one that no one can 

 possibly overlook who taps a tree consecutively 

 for a few days running and notes the result. 



In the India Rubber Jounn.1 of March 21, 

 1910, an account is given of an article in 

 Science Progress, by Mr Parkin, who visited 

 Ceylon in 1899, but unfortunately did not visit 

 Singapore, where he would have found not 

 only a much larger collection of rubber-pro- 

 ducing plants, and a much greater number of 

 Para rubber trees of good size, but also that 

 experiments in rubber tapping had been carried 

 on for ten years previously, and that the 



PHENOMENON OF WOUND-RESPONSE HAD BEEN 

 KNOWN FOR MANY YEARS. 



One is glad to see that he mentions the work 

 done by Dr. Trimen, and the interest he took 

 in the possibilities of profitable cultivation of 

 Hevea brasiliensis, for Dr. Trimen has not of 

 late years received the share of credit for his work 

 in this matter and in other agricultural, horti- 

 cultural and botanical work that was due to him. 



On my first coming out to the East in 1888, 

 I stopped for a month on the way with Dr. 

 Trimen at Peradeniya, and had an opportunity 

 of seeing the fine Para rubber trees at Hene- 

 ratgoda, and talking with Dr. Trimen about 

 their tapping and the possibilities of a future 

 rubber industry. On my arrival at Singapore 

 I found in the Economic Gardens 



MORE THAN XEN TIMES AS MANY PARA RUBBER 

 TREES THAN THERE WERE AT HENERATGODA. 



These had been planted by Mr. Cantley, who, 

 like his predecessor Mr. Murton, had foreseen 

 a future for rubber. These trees, however, had 

 been much overgrown with secondary growth, 

 at which no one will wonder when I say that 

 the vote for keeping up the Economic Gardens, 

 about 120 acres, which were almost entirely 

 overgrown with dense secondary forest, only 

 paid for ten coolies and a mandor. As soon as 

 was practicable the rubber ground was cleared 

 of undesirable trees and shrubs, and I and my 

 assistant commonced to examine into the tap- 

 ping of tho rubber trees. In these years we 



had animal Horticultural Exhibitions in.Singa- 

 pore, the first of which, after my ar.'.ya.; ia'18>.8, ■ 

 was held in 1889. Beside the exui'b'itioa .of - 

 plants and flowers we always showed speci- 

 mens of new or interesting economic pro- 

 ducts gro wn and prepared in the Botanic Gar- 

 dens, such as tea, ooffbo, fibres, etc., and always 

 with them were samples of Para rubber from 

 tho old trees in the Gardens. I am not sure if 

 there were any on view in 1889, but there cer- 

 tainly were in 1890, when the Duke and Duchess 

 of Connaught visited the show. The 



TREES WERE TAPPED IN THE HERRING-BONE 

 METHOD AND THE LATEX COLLECTED IN 

 CIGA liETTE-TINS 



and allowed to coagulate naturally in the tins 

 without the use of acid. The tins were square, 

 and had a hinged lid which could be closed 

 over the cup to prevent the falling in of dirt 

 as described in the Bulletin of 1897. These 

 tins were bought by the dozen in the bazaar, 

 and used for a long time. One of these small 

 blocks of rubber is preserved in the museum of 

 the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, and though 

 quite black it is firm, clean, sound and good 

 though nearly 20 years of age. A piece of rub- 

 ber mado in a saucer, one of the first "biscuits" 

 (made 1893) is also sound and good. But most 

 of these samples were distributed to various in- 

 stitutionsand to peraons interested inio who sent 

 them to their firms at home. Needless to state 



WE DISCOVERED WHAT IS NOW CALLED " WOUND 

 RESPONSE" SHOUTLY AFTliE WE COMMENCED 

 TAPPING IN 1889, 



but from some Brazilian seringueiros who visited 

 the Gardens later, I found that it was well- 

 knovvu to them, so 



DID NOT RECORD IT AS AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY 



on ray part. At that time tho preliminary tap- 

 ping beforo taking the latex on tho second day 

 was called "Calling tho rubber," and whensam- 

 ples of rubber were roquired for any purpose a 

 man was sout to " call the rubber " two or three 

 days beforehand. At this date 20 years sinco 

 I commenced tapping the rubber trees, 1 can- 

 not remember when 1 actually discovered tho 

 wound-response for myself. 



Many planters and agriculturists, and Dr. 

 Trimen himself, visited the Gardens in these 

 early days, and tho advantages of rubber as a 

 crop was urged oa them. They were shown 

 the trees, system of tapping and specimens, 

 and the n&cessity of '-calling the rubber" 

 before collecting in bulk was esplainod to them, 

 and they otten carried away with them samples 

 of the prepared rubber. Many of them came 

 from Ceylon or had intimate relations with 

 Ceylon. All this was going on some years be- 

 fore Mr. Willis or Mr. Parker came to the East 

 at all, or had seen a rubber tree. 



Mr. Wright, in talking of Mr. Willis' discovery 

 of " wound-response," (this word indeed seems 

 to have been invented by Mr. Parkin or Willis, 

 but it does not occur in Parkin's first account 

 of his experiments) says that it is of great 

 practical importance in rubber cultivation, 

 and also of groat botanical interest. I fail to 

 see where the groat practical importance comes 

 in, at present ; we know of it all along, and. 



