Circular Letter referred io. 



ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, 

 PERADENIYA, CEYLON. 

 February, 1906. 



GENTLEMEN, 



I am desired by the Committee to inform you that a Rubber 

 Exhibition under authority of the Ceylon Government will be held 

 in the Royal Botanie Gardens, Peradeniya, Ceylon, from the 13th 

 to the 27th September, 1906, and to invite you to contribute. This 

 will be the first exhibition of its kind ever held, and should mark 

 an epoch in the history of rubber. 



2. You are probably aware from seeing the market quotations 

 and from reading the technical papers, that rubber is now being 

 cultivated in Ceylon and the Federated Malay States, and though 

 the exports as yet are inconsiderable, they are doubling annually 

 and will, in about seven years' time, probably reach ten or fifteen 

 million pounds and increase rapidly after that, in fifteen years 

 from now probably exceeding the exports of Brazil. 



3. Plantation rubber is cleaner and purer, and is at present 

 selling at ld. to 10c?. a lb. more than that from Para. It is im- 

 portant that manufacturers should as early as may be inform 

 themselves as to plantation rubber from the East, the modes of 

 preparation, the cost of production, possibilities, and desadvantages, 

 for the future lies with it, and wild rubbers will be drivenoffthe 

 market, excepting perhaps the Para rubber of Brazil, for which 

 there is likely to be some use and a remunerative price for a long 

 while yet. 



4. Hitherto, owing to the small supply of cultivated rubber upon 

 the market, two things have happened. Manufacturers have not 

 made any special machinery to deal with it, but have mixed it 



