178 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



thousand full-grown trees and from the plants 

 taken up to Perak by Murton some hundreds 

 at least at Kuala Kangsar and Taiping Gardens, 

 were ready as stock for the expected demand. 



3. It is interesting to note that Singapore 

 had the first Ceara rubber plants in the East. 

 —Ed. 



Colonial Secretary's Office, 

 Singapore, September 6th, 1878. 

 Col. Sec. No. 4072-78. 



Sir, — I am directed to transmit to you for 

 your information a copy of a letter from H.B.M's 

 Resident at Perak upon tlie 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 be, Sir, 

 your obedient servant, 



(Sgd) J. A. SWETTENHAM, 



Assistant Col. Secretary, S.S. 

 The Superintendent, 

 Botanic Gardens, Singapoie. 



Residency, Kwala Kangasar, 



26th July, 1878. 



No. 202/78, 



Sir,— In reply to your letter No. 3590 of the 

 20th July, 1878, requiring a repurt on the pro- 

 gress and state of the plants of Americin 

 rubbers which were sent to Perak from the 

 Botanic Gardens, I have the honour to state 

 that the only plants of this description within 

 my knowledge are one plant of what I suppose 

 to be the Hevea and nine of the Mamhots. 



'I hese were brought here by Mr Murton in 

 October last and planted at the back of the 

 Residency and are growing verj well. 



They were quite small when they arrived 

 here, but the first is about 5 feet high with 

 branches of equal length and the Manihots 

 vary from four to eight feet and are growing 

 vigorously. 



I believe Mr Murton left plants of some kind 

 at Durian Sabatang and at Thai ping or Matang 

 and I wiil send on your letter to those places in 

 order that if this were the case some report of 

 their condition may be obtained, but I did not 

 see anything of them in either place on my last 

 visits there, though I carefully inspected the 

 African Coffee, Cloves, Chineso fruits and Aus- 

 tralian plants growing on the Residency hill at 

 Thiiping. 



There are many Districts in Perak which 

 would, judging from what I have read of the 

 Hevea habitat, be very suitable to the cultiva- 

 tion of these plants, tnis hill on which they are 

 now growing well is of river gravel and I have 

 no doubt they would have been much stronger 

 in alluvial soil. — I have the honour to be, Sir, 

 your obedient servant, 



(Sgd.) Hugh Low, 



Resident. 



The Hon : ble 



The Colonial Secretary, S.S., Singapore. 



From this letter it will be seen that Sir Hugh 

 Low was not the introducer of the Para Rubber 

 plant to Perak, but that the plants were brought 



to Perak by Mr Murton. This has been proved 

 by other letters in an early number of the Bul- 

 letin, but the error still frequently appears in 

 various publications. It was probably started 

 by a rather misleading statement in Mr Wray's 

 Memorandum published in 1897 which begins : 

 " The first seed of the Para rubber (Hevea 

 Braziliensis) was introduced into Perak in the 

 year 1882 by Sir Hugh Low. the then British 

 Resident. It was sent to me to plant but did 

 not germinate having been kept too long after 

 picking. A second lot was received a short time 

 after and was planted at Kuala Kangsar." These 

 were from the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, 

 where trees began to fruit in 1882— Ed. 



Chronological Table of tee Para Rubbek 

 Industry from 1873 to 1899 



1873 Seeds received at Kew from Mr 



Collins. 



1876 Seads received from Mr Wickham. 



First planta arrived in Ceylon. 



1877 June. First plants received alive at Sin- 

 gapore. 



Oct. Mr Murton plants the first three in 

 Perak. 



1881 Trees first fruited in Singapore. 



1882 Seeds sent to Kuala Kangsar, and 



planted by Mr Wray. First seed also 

 sent to Sarawak from Siugapore. 



1884 Dr. Trimen commenced to tap the 



trees in Ceylon. 



1885 (circ) First fruiting of Ceylon trees. 



1889 Trees first tapped in Singapore, tins 



used for catching latex. 



1890 First biscuits exhibited at a Horti- 



cultural Show, Siugapore. 



1891 Rubber sent to Messrs Silver from 



Singapore Gardens pronounced of 

 very good quality. 



1892 Dr. Trimen sends to Kew 2 lb. of 



Rubber grown at Heneratgoda. 



1893 Rubber plants and teeds distributed 



to all District Officers and Residents 

 in the Federated Malay States to 

 plant near their houses trora Botanic 

 Gardens Singapore, (Plants had 

 been distributed to planters for 

 some years previously). 



1895 Mr Kyndersliy starts the first practi- 



cal Estate in the Federated Malay 

 States. 



1896 Dr. Willis arrives in Ceylon. 



Rubber block and biscuit sent home 



from the Gardens valued at 2/8. 



1897 Mr Derry sends rubber from Perak 



valued at 2/8 to 3s per pound. 



1898 Mr Curtis sends rubber from Penang 



valued at 3/4 per lb. 

 Mr Tan Chay Yan exhibits planta- 

 tion grown rubber at Malacca Exhi- 

 tion. 



1899 Mr Derry sends rubber from Perak 



sold in England for £61—1—6 (3/10 

 per lb) sheet. 



1899 June Messrs Parkin and Willis publish the 

 discovery of wound response and 

 the method of collecting latex in 

 tins. 



