and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— July, 1910. 



95 



FA: IS 1/0 1 D - branc 

 Wei 1 c i i e Ch^sSs 



For "Plant ers , etc. 



The most reliable and the most convenient 

 equipments for household and estate use. 



Fitted with the world-famed 'Tabloid' 

 Medicines which have been proved to retain 

 their full activity indefinitely in all climates. 

 ' Tabloid ' medicines save all trouble and 

 waste in dispensing. 



The world's greatest explorers, from Stanley 

 to Sven Hedin, have carried 'Tabloid' 

 Medical Equipments. 



Of all principal Pharmacists. Interesting illustrated list, 

 "Modern Medical Equipments," sent post free on request 



No. 254 ' Tabloid ' Brand 

 Medicine Chest {The Indian\ 



Measurements: 9r x 7 * 6^ in. 

 Japanned Metal 

 Approx. price in London, 75/0 

 It contains sixteen If oz. glass- 

 stoppered bottles and six 4 dr. 

 phials of ' Tabloid ' and ' Soloid ' 

 Brand products, bandages and 

 dressings, instruments, etc. 

 Contents can be adapted to suit 

 purchaser's requirements. 



BURROUGHS WELLCOME & CO., Snow Hill Buildings, London, E.C 

 New York Montreal Sydney Cape Town Milan Shanohai 



XX 178 



All Rights Reserved 



3. That plants of the Ceara rubber may with advantage 

 be forwarded to Madras, but that, the principal stock of 

 young plants should be sent to Calcutta from which they 

 can be distributed. 



4. That for the present nothing can be done, as far as 

 Kew is concerned, with the balsam of Copaiba. 



I have etc., 

 (Sd)\Y. T. THIS ELTON DYER. 

 The Under Secretary of State for India. 



Notes. 



L— Mr James Collins, really the first 

 man to bring the plant from the Amazons to 

 Europe, was afterwards Government Economic 

 Botanist at Singapore, tie only remained about 

 a year, and retired. He was the author of a re- 

 port, apparently the first real account, of the 

 rubber industry in South America (Report on 

 the caoutchouc of commerce bv James Collins 

 1872). 



He described and figured the herring-bone 

 system of tapping, and invented several forms of 

 tapping knives, among which is the well-known 

 " Farrier's knife" which was also suggested by 

 Mr Mann, and was used for marking timber in 

 Hanover at that time. He suggested the use of 

 iron vessels for catching the latex m place of the 

 folded leaves plastered to the trunk with clay 

 or calabashes. Clay, he says, contaminates the 

 milk in a very objectionable manner. Yet this 

 system was the only one in Ceylon till 1899, 

 with a coconut shell substitute for the calabash. 



2. — Plants were sent to Brirmah, Vlauritius and 

 Calcutta, besides Ceylon and Singapore. The 

 plant has always failed in Calcutta, but neither 

 Mauritius or Burmah seem to have taken any 

 trouble to continue its cultivation. In fact, 

 though later the plant was sent to all the other 

 tropical gardens of the Empire, Ceylon and 



Singapore alone saw the importance of continu- 

 ing to propagate it so that, thanks to Thwaites 

 and Trimen, Murton and Cantiey, there was 

 a sufficient stock of plants and seeds to start 

 the industry when the demand for cultivated 

 rubber sprang up. But though there were up- 

 wards of 2,000 Para rubber plants sent to 

 Ceylon in 1877, there seem to have been in 1899 

 only about 70 trees in the Heneratgoda and 

 Peradeniya Gardens, while in Singapore, wh\ch 

 received 22 plants in 1877, there were over a 

 thousand full grown trees and from the plants 

 taken up to Perak by Murton some hundreds 

 at least at Kuala Kangsar and Taiping Gardens, 

 ready as stock for the expected demand. 



3._It is interesting to note that Singapore 

 had the first Ceara rubber plants in the East. 

 — En. 



Colonial Secretary's Office, Singapore, Cth Sept., 1878. 

 Col. Sec. No. 4072-78. 



Sir,— I am directed to transmit to you for your informa- 

 tion a copy of a letter from H.B.M's Resident at Perak 

 upon the subject of the progress and state of the plants of 

 American Rubbers which were sent, to Perak from the 

 Botanic Gardens.— I have the honour to lie Sir, your obe- 

 dient servant, (Sd.) .1 A SWETTENHAM. Assistant Col. 

 Secretary, S.S. 



The Superintendent, Botanic Gardens, Singapore- 

 No. "02-78. 



Residency, Kwala Kangsar, 26th July, 1878. 



Sir,— In reply to your letter No. SB90 of the 20th July, 1*78, 

 requiring a report on tlie progress and state of the plants of 

 American rubbers which wore sent to Perak from the Bota- 

 nical Gardens, I have the honour to state that the only plants 

 of this description within my knowledge are oneplantof what 

 I suppose to be the Hevea and nine of the Manihots. These 

 wore brought here by Mr Murton in October last and plan- 

 ted at the back of the Residency ami are growing very well. 

 They were quite small when th«y arrived here but the first 

 is ibout 5 feet high with brandies of equal length and the 

 Manihofcs vary from four t<> eight feet and are growing 

 vigorously. I believe Mr Murton left plants of some kind 

 at Dorian Sabatang and atThaiping or Matang and I will 



