Sept, 1906.] 



207 



Saps and Exudations. 



were numerous, and so audacious that they deliberately rose up to strike at any one 

 that approached. The young rubber saplings were found growing most abundantly 

 on the banks of cool clear running streams and little dribbling rivulets. The roots 

 could easily be traced over the surface of the ground running down to the very 

 margin of the water. But the tree grew also on eminences, steep declivities and 

 varied elevations, and in such abundance that the first explorers gave the name 

 " Caoutchouc Hill " to a height which they found crowned with a forest almost 

 entirely composed of rubber trees. It was not seen growing anywhere on swamp or 

 marsh land. Although the rubber districts are proverbially rainy, yet the tree was 

 seen by me growing beside a stream on the border of a desert tract of country bounding 

 the Gulf of Guayaquil, where only a few light showers of rain fell during the year. 

 On both sides of the stream there was a strip of good forest, but beyond, thickets of 

 cactaceae and low spreading legumes formed the characteristic vegetation. I 

 mention this fact to show that the tree will probably succeed well in regularly 

 irrigated districts, even if the atmosphere be dry and dusty. The temperature in 

 the woods of the isthmus ranged from 75 degrees to 88 degrees Fahrenheit- Rain 

 water, examined the moment it fell, was never found to be below 74 degrees." 



After some time he came across a large rubber tree laden with unripe fruit, 

 and he watched this for a fortnight while the seed ripened. The seed was at 

 once packed and despatched, and then Cross turned his attention to secm-ing 

 young plants. These were obtained after infinite trouble, brought to the coast 

 and embarked on the ss. " Shannon," on September 6th, 1875. Two days later the 

 vessel ran on a reef off J amaica. All the passengers were taken off by boats, but Cross 

 remained on board seeing to his priceless rubber plants. H.M.S. "Dryad" came to 

 the rescue of the "Shannon," and Cross was taken on to the warship with the 

 plants. He arrived in England on October 2nd in the the ss. " Nile," and shortly 

 afterwards his Castilloa plants were thriving in the Kew hot houses. 



In 1876 the first plants arrived in Ceylon, sent out from Kew in wardian 

 cases. These were planted at Peradeniya and Henaratgoda. At first they were 

 increased by cuttings, but in 1881-2 seeds were produced and large numbers of young 

 Castiiloas were despatched to India and various parts of Ceylon. 



In a letter to the Conservator of Forests, Madras, written in 1881, Cross says, 

 " A Castilloa tree if carefully and judiciously tapped, with a diameter of U to 2 feet, 

 may be expected to yield about 12 lb. of rubber per annum." This seems, in the 

 light of the present limited experience with the tree in the East, and of Mexican 

 experience, to be greatly exaggerated for trees 51 to 72 inches in girth. But Cross 

 was a firm believer in this species of rubber tree for cultivation in India and Ceylon. 



He further says, " In India there are many districts which possess all the cli- 

 matic conditions necessary for the successful cultivation of Central American rubber. 

 In Ceylon and Southern Burmah and the Malay Peninsula, the tree is likely to thrive 



in all proper situations Of all the different rubber producing trees, the Castilloa 



should prove under cultivation the most remunerative.' Although this was written 

 by a man who knew South India and who had studied the Para, Castilloa, and Ceara 

 trees in their native habitats, yet actual practice up to the present shows that for 

 Ceylon at any rate the Hevea is the most suitable. 



