July i, i88r.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
79 
from Mr. Prestoe, through the Royal Gardens at Kew. These have been sown in batches 
in August, October and December, and have germinated and grown well. As they were 
gathered in March, it is obvious that the belief of Mr. Prestoe, that they " do not retain 
their vitality for many days," is unfounded. Cuttings have been made from these seedlings 
and they root with the greatest facility. A large number can be raised at any time 
should a demand arise. In the Kandyan country however cacao does very well without 
protection of this kind ■ but in the hotter and dryer low districts it will probably be found 
an advantage to employ the Erythrina. 
It is probable that cacao will become one of the leading products of the Colony and 
largely contribute to its future prosperity. 
India Rubber.— -Of the three species of South American trees here in cultivation, 
Manihot Glazlovu (Ceara rubber) is still the only one which has flowered. Seed of this 
has been supplied during the year to the Government gardens in India (Calcutta, Saharan- 
pore, Ootacamund) and distributed as widely as possible among the planters in the Colony, 
24,550 seeds having been thus disposed of as well as 1,879 rooted cuttings. We have 
also sent small quantities to the Botanic Gardens of Singapore, Mauritius, Jamaica, 
British Guiana and Kew, to the Acclimatization Society of Queensland, and to Mr. H. Low, 
H.B.M.'s Resident in Perak Soon after my arrival at Peradeniya I wrote a few " Notes" 
upon these plants which were printed as a Government paper, and have been distributed 
with the seeds. I have also given a botanical description, with an acurate figure, of 
Man'ihot Glaziovii in the London " Journal of Botany" for November. This plant is now 
flourishing in Ceylon in suitable places, and proves very hardy ; in the new estates in the 
Trincomalee district it is reported to be thriving, but to have shewn itself intolerant of 
wet. In the Nilgiris I am informed it is doing well at 2,400 feet, and Major Seaton 
reports from British Burmah that there are 500 and upwards set out and well established 
in the Mergui plantation. 
With regard to Para rubber ( Hevea brasiliensis ) its cultivation will be probably 
found to be satisfactory only in rich land not much above sea-level, where the temperature 
is high and equable and the rainfall large. At Peradeniya the trees are now making but 
slight progress and suffer from wind, especially in the dry north-east monsoon. At 
Henaratgoda their progress is all that could be wished ; our largest trees are now at three 
feet from the ground, sixteen inches in circumference. During the year 662 cuttings were 
raised and distributed. Hevea has proved completely unsuited to the climate of Calcutta, 
but is doing well in Burmah and Perak. In the latter place a tree has flowered sparingly 
(at two and a-half years and thirty-five feet high) : Mr. Low kindly promises seed if any 
ripen, but this must be a premature blossoming, for Mr. Jenman of British Guiana informs 
me that he has not observed trees to flower with a stem of less than ten inches in diameter. 
Two plants of Castilloa have been sent to Calcutta. Those in Burmah are reported 
to be flourishing. Much better success now attends the propagation by cuttings of this fine 
species. Our largest trees at Henaratgoda have now a circumference of nearly seventeen 
inches at a yard from the ground, and the trees are beginning to take their true form. 
1 hope during the coming year to make an experimental trial of the yield of caoutchouc 
from these S. American species. 
With regard to other rubber-yielding plants, we have a fine plant of a species of Landa - 
pkia flourishing at Henaratgoda. Several plants of this genus, all climbing shrubs, afford 
African rubber, which appears to be also yielded by a fig, Flcus (Urostigma) Vogelii. This 
latter, and one or more kinds of Vakea (not distinguishable as a genus apart from Landol- 
phia) from which Madagascar rubber is obtained, have lately been imported into Ceylon by 
several gentlemen. Our plants of Gutta Sanggarip (probably Wilhtghbi ia martabanica) 
from the Malay Peninsula, sent in 1879 by Mr. Murton, are doing well. 
(hdla Percha. — This valuable commodity is afforded by numerous large trees of the 
family Sapotacea- growing in the Malay Peninsula and Islands. Of the best known and 
most valuable of these, Itichopsis Gutta, there are several young trees in Peradeniya and 
Henaratgoda, and I have dnriug the year, through the kind exertions of .Mr. Low, onr 
Resident at Perak, received a consignmentof germiuating seeds of the second besl variety 
of that country. 
This is called "Gatah Siindek," and Mr. Low informs me tnal it tonus a very large 
tree 120 feet high, but quick growing. From specimens of 'lie foliage and fruit sent with 
