Sept. 1, 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
INDIAEUBBEE OR CAOUTCHOUC. 
ITS ORIGIN, COLLECTION AND 
PREPARATION FOR THE MARKET. 
THE LATEST PERADENIYA "CIRCU- 
LAR" WITH MR. PARKIN'S REPORT. 
Such is the subject of a Circular just 
issued from the Government Printing Press, 
and received by us from Peradeniya, 
giving the results of the investigations of 
Mr. J. Parkin, m.a., of Trinity College, 
Cambridge, as carried on at the Peradeniya 
Gardens, with General Remarks by Mr. Willis, 
Director of the Gardens. "Prodigious" was 
our first exclamation on seeing this "Cir- 
cular," and yet it by no means contains 
the -complete results of Mr. Parkm's work 
which will be published at home. Still it 
certainly includes more than enough to 
satisfy the most exigent of Ceylon rubber 
planters, and the report reaches us just in 
time to be included in our "Indiarubber 
Planters' Manual" due from the press at an 
early date. There is, of course, in the 60 
pages before us, a great deal that is of 
scientific, rather than practical, interest ; and 
we cannot help suspecting that the recent 
discoveries in Central America and T\'inidad 
by Mr. Biffen, Mr. Hart and others may 
have interfered to some extent with the 
practical value of Mr. Parkin's patient and 
truly scientific investigation. At the same 
time the fullest justice is done to Mr. Bitten 
in prominently referring to his valuable 
work ; while the paper in the Tropical Agri- 
cultiiHst of December last (taken from the 
"India-rubber World") to which we made 
pointed reference some weeks back, is also 
specially referred to and quoted (on page 
118) as showing that the Castilloas grow- 
ing in Trinidad seem to possess proper 
caoutchouc in their young stems, and 
this would, apparently, mark them out as 
a different species from the Castilloas of 
Ceylon. But clearly, further investigation 
and experiment are required to settle this 
very important point, and we have also to 
continue to watch very closely the outcome of 
Mr. Bitt'en's discovery in Central America, 
and of Mr. Hart's continuous experiments in 
Trinidad. 
Meantime to revert to the Circular before 
us : it opens after a few lines of introduction 
with an explanation of the measurements 
and contractions used ; and then Mr. Parkin's 
paper comes under the following heads :— 
A. — Botanical. 
B. — The Extraction of Latex. I.— Incision 
(l)Kind of Incision ; (2) Instrument to Use ; 11.— 
Collection of Latex from Incisions ; III.— Area of 
Trunk to be Tapped ; IV.— Effect of Wounding on 
Flow of Latex. 
C— The Preparation of Commercial Rubber from 
the Latex. (1) Hevea ; (2) Castilloa ; (3) Manihot. 
D. -Yield. 
E. — Notes on other Caoutchouc-yielding Plants. 
The "botanical'" chapter covers some eight 
pages and notices, among other things, the 
possible successful manufacture of "arti- 
ficial caoutchouc" though no one has, as 
yet, got beyond tiie stage of laboratory 
experiments. The great inducement to plant 
rubber-yielding trees at a time when raw 
rubber of good quality is selling at 4s a lb., 
80 
is noticed, as also Mr. Biffen's special inves- 
tigations in tropical America resulting in 
preparations from the milk with a loss in 
manufacture of less than one per cent. The 
problems which Mr. Parkin put before himself 
are thus given :— 
We want to know the trees which promise best 
for cultivation, both as regards qualitj' and yield 
of rubber. We have to consider the best times 
and means of tapping them, and then of preparing 
the rubber from the collected milk. 
We find special reference made more than 
once to Atstonia scholaris as "possessing 
copious latex (milky juice) in its trunk. ' 
This is not an uncommon tree in our low- 
country, and it ought at once, we think, 
to be exploited. One of the finest .specimens 
in Colombo is near the Turret Road gate 
of Canella Villa, its trunk being covered with 
the "Colombo Agent" and other well-known 
creepers. In closing his botanical chapter, 
Mr. Parkin makes the following significant 
remark : 
Personally I am not inclined to look upon latex 
as playing an important part in nutrition, and 
should imagine that if it were possible to extract 
all the latex from such a tree as Hevea brasiliensis 
without greatly injuring the other tissues, it 
would not be seriously harmed. I am inclined to 
regard the laticiferous system more as channels 
for holding water in reserve to be called upon dur* 
ing times of drought or during the dry season 
Vve come next to the "extraction of the 
latex," and here we have a large number 
of rubber-yielding trees specified, with the 
different modes of extracting the caoutchouc, 
and special mention of certain new African 
kinds with thick underground stems full of - 
latex, which Dr. Morris suggests might, if 
cultivated, give early returns. These are 
Cai'podinus lanceolatus and Clitayidra hen- 
riquesiana. Then comes an important state- 
ment : — 
The only other parts of the plant besides the 
trunk and main branches of such trees as Castilloa 
or Hevea, which might be used for the extraction 
of rubber, are the young shoots. If these could be 
used profitably, then a return on the capital could 
be obtained in a year, either by growing crops of 
seedlings or by coppicing permanent plants. Our 
attention has been applied to this with, howevei-, 
no encouraging results. 
Hevea hrasiliensis will not answer at all, as 
far as our experience goes. 
Now, here is where notice is taken of the 
different results obtained from young stems 
of Castilloa in Trinidad as fully related in 
our T.A. for December and March last and 
subsequent numbers. Finally, Mr. Parkin 
says : — 
In our opinion it seems hardly likely, at any 
rate as far as Ceylon is concerned, that rubber 
can be extracted profitably from the leaves, 
twigs, &c., so we must return to the considera- 
tion of the main stem and consider the beat 
means of extracting the latex from this. 
But we suspect this is arriving at a pre- 
matiu^e conclusion, and we cannot see why 
eventually Ceylon should not do as well in 
this way as Trinidad. Mr. Parkin next 
proceeds to consider, in great detail, the best 
kind of incision, the best instrument, the 
collection of the latex from the incisions, 
the area of the trunk to be tapped and the 
results of experiments made at Henaratgoda 
in March last. AH through here he is deal- 
V 
