and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— August, 1911. 175 



culture 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 dis- 

 coveries and inventions made in the Straits 

 Settlements and F. M.S. connected with the in- 

 dustry. They include most of the systems of tap- 

 ping (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 

 ui packing seeds, and the pests, Fomes, Diplodia 

 Hymenochoete. Termes (Jestroi, etc., and methods 

 of dealing with them. To Ceylon we must cre- 

 dit the worm-machine (invented after the crepe 

 machine), spiral tapping, the pricker and Biffen's 

 ceutrifugalizer and the No<"thway knife. Honour 

 to whom honour is due, the Botanic Gardens of 

 Ceylon have produced valuable papers by Tri- 

 men, Bamber, Petch, Green and others and 

 Parkin's paper though anticipated was a use- 

 ful piece of work, 



The following extracts from correspondence 

 from Sir William Tniselton 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 December 1, 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, four result from a nine year 

 old tree" is very good." 



December 28, 1898.— "Para rubber seems at 

 last fairly established in the Native States, 

 Derry's report is very promising. ' Beautifully 

 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 rub- 

 ber 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 num- 

 ber of the Bulletin, 1899 ; but probably by the 

 time he has read this account he has had 

 had enough evidence laid before him that the 

 art of making saleable rubber by tapping into 

 tins and preparing the resulting latex in a cleau 

 and pure form of Para rubber had been inven- 

 ted in the Singapore Gardens some years before 

 Ceylon had got beyond the mud and coconut- 

 shell stage and that the discovery by Mr. Parkin 

 in 1899 of the method of making clean rubber 

 was anticipated by nearly ten years, an 1 was 

 perfectly well-known as was wound-response, to 

 hundreds of people in the Straits Settlements 

 and other parts of the East long before Mr. 

 Willis or Mr. Parkin ever came to the East at all. 



As previously remarked history, if worth wri- 

 ting at all, is worth writing accurately and com- 

 pletely, and the stories of the origin of the in- 

 dustry as given by Messrs. Willisand Parkin are 

 inaccurate and misleading. 



While on the subject of the history of the 

 rise of the rubber industry in the East, it may 

 be as well to print here some letters dealing 

 with the subject in its very early inception, 

 as we think tbey will be fouud of considerable 

 interest : 



Royal Gardens, Kew, 



17th April, 1878. 



Sir, - I am desired by Sir Joseph Hooker to 

 acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 6th 

 April, transmitting an extract from a letter from 

 the Government of India, and requesting the 

 transmission to Ceylon of certain stocks of Hevea 

 and Castilloas. 



In replying to this letter, Sir Joseph Hooker 

 thinks it will be convenient that I should review 

 the whole operations of this establishment in 

 effecting the introduction of India-rubber plants 

 into India, 



1. Hevea brasiliensis — Para Rubber. On 4th 

 June, 1873, we received from Mr Mark ham some 

 hundreds of seeds obtained from Mr Jas Collins. 

 Of these seeds less than a dozen germinated and 

 six (6) of the plants so obtained were taken out 

 by Dr King, Superintendent of the Botanic 

 Gardens, Calcutta, in the same year to India. 

 The climate of Calcutta did not prove very favour- 

 able to the Heveas which require the condi- 

 tions of growth met with in hot and moist tropi- 

 cal forests. It was. therefore, decided in consul- 

 tation with Mr Markham that in the event of 

 more Heveas being raised and sent out from 

 Kew, they should lie received at the Botanic 

 Gardens in Ceylon, which should then be re- 

 garded as the depot for supplying young plants 

 to such parts of India as were found to be suita- 

 ble for its growth. 



On June 14th 1876, we received from Mr Wick- 

 ham about 70,000 (seventy-thousand) seeds, of 

 which about 4 per cent germinated. 



On August 9th, we despatched 1,919 plants 

 raised from these seeds to Ceylon in 38 Wardian 

 cases, in charge of a gardener. Of the whole 

 consignment 90 per cent, reached Dr. Thwaites 

 in excellent condition. A.11 subsequent accounts 

 have been satisfactory, and no difficulty is found 

 in multiplying the plants by propagation to 

 any extent. 



On August llth, 50 plants were sent to the 

 Botanic Gardens at Singapore. Owing to the 

 delay in the payment of the freight these plants 

 all perished. 



On August 23rd, 50 plants were sent direct to 

 Major Seaton in Barman. These reached their 

 destination in bad condition. 



On September 29th, a further supply of 100 

 plants was taken out to Dr. Thwaites, in charge 

 of Dr. Duthie, .Superintendent of the Botanic 

 Gardens, Saharunpore. These, reached Ceylon 

 in good order. 



On June llth, 1877, 22 plants were sent to the 

 Botanic Gardens, Singapore. The Superin- 

 tendent reports that the climate appears suited 

 to their growth. 



On September 7th, 37 plants were sent to the 

 Botanic Gardens in Mauritius, and reached the 

 destination in good order. 



On September 15th, 100 plants were again sent 

 to Dr. Thwaites and 50 to Calcutta, in charge of 

 Mr. Morris, Dr. Thwaites' assistant. Both con- 

 signments reached their destination safely. Of 

 those sent to Calcutta a portion was immedi- 

 ately despatched by Dr. King to Major Seaton, 

 with whom they are now doing well. It appears, 

 therefore, that while upwards of 2.000 plants are 

 safely established in Ceylon, smaller parcels are 

 also growing in Burmah, Calcutta, Mauritius 



