184 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. Srpt. 1, 1908. 
nga. The fibre is obtained from tbe 
fresh leaves, either by scraping away .the 
cellular tissue by means of a blunt knife or by 
washing and beating. When the pulp is thoroughly 
removed the fibre should be washed iu clean water and 
hung in the shade to dry, and when perfectly dry 
packed in bales and pressed, and ia then rsady for 
export. It will be seen that the method of prepara- 
tion in vogue is quite simple, although the fibie would 
doubtless be improved by the aid of a suitable decorti- 
cating machine. I am not in possession of any data 
with regard to the yield of leaves or ot prepared fibre 
in this country , bat, judging from the plants I have 
seen scattered about in the Peninsula, I should 
imagine that these plants could be grown quite as well 
here as in Jamaica, for example, where the return of 
fibre from S guineeusis is estimated at li tons per acre 
per annum, valued iu Loudon at £30 per ton. Both 
Sanseviera guiaeensis and S zeylanicaare represented 
in the collection of the Experimental Plantations, but 
BO far have only been used for propagating purposes. 
There appears to be need for further investigation 
with regard to the cultivation of these plants and the 
preparation of the fibre, as theioil, climate and age of 
the leaves when collected have much to do with the 
length and strength of the staple and the quantity 
ftnd quality of the fibre generally."— iSV?'fti<s Times, 
J nly 14. 
'history of the introduction 01'^ 
PARA RUBBER INTO THE MALAY 
I'ENINSULA. 
(Agricultural Bulletin.) 
As there has been a good deal of confusion as 
to the history of the introduction of this plant into 
the East, the following history may be of some 
intercut. In a letter dated April I7th, 1878, from 
Sir William Thiselton Dyer, the Secretary to Sir 
Joseph Hooker at Kevv Gardens, he writes " On 
4th June, 1863, we received from Mr. Markham 
some hundreds of seeds obtained from Mr. Jas. 
Collins. Of these seeds less than a dozen germin- 
ated, and six of the plants so obtained were taken 
Ly Dr. King, Superintendent of the Botanic 
Gardens. Calcutta, in the same year to India. The 
climate of Calcutta did not prove very favourable 
to the Heveas which required the conditions of 
growth met with in hob and moist tropical forests. 
It was therefore decided on consultation with 
Mr. Markham that, in the event of more Heveas 
being raised and sent out from Kew, they sliould 
be received at tlie Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, wliich 
should then be regarded as the depot for supplying 
young plants to such parts of India as were suited 
for its growth. On June 14th, 1876, we received 
from Mr Wickhara about 70,000 seeds of which 
about 4 per cent germinated. On August 9i,h we 
despatched 1,919 plants raised from theae seeds iu 
Wardian Cases in charge of a gardener. Of the 
whole consignment 90 per cent reached Dr 
Thwaites iu excellent condition. On August 11th, 
50 plants were sent to the Botanic Gardens, Sin- 
gapore. Owing to that delay in payment of freight 
these plants all perished. Oa June 11th, 1877. 
22 plants were sent to the Botanic Gardens, 
Singapore- In October of this year Mr ]\Iurton, 
Superintendent of the Gardens, Singapore, planted 
himself 9 Heveas and 1 Castilloa at the back of the 
residency in KwalaKangsa. Mr Low reports, "They 
'were br(mght here in October last by Mr Murton 
and planted at the back of the residency and are 
growing very well. They were quite small when 
they arrived here, but llie Castilloa is now ^July 
26th, 1878) 5 feet high with branches of equal 
length and the Heveas vary from 4 to 8 feet and 
are growing vigorously.'' In a subsequent report 
dated February 3rd, 1879, Mr Low writes " the 
Heveas are now ] 2 to 14 feet high. They take 
to the country immensely. The Castilloa is a large 
tree 10 feet high with branches 5 feet long." 
At the same time that these were planted some 
Para Cascilloa, and Ceara rubbers were also 
planted at Durian Sabatang, (Teluk Anson), bub 
it appears they were washed away by a flood 
shortly after. 
In a later letter from Sir Hugh Low to the 
Royal Gardens, Kew, di,ted December 11th, 1879, 
he writes, " As 1 am writing I should like to 
mention that the Hevea Braziliensis, which, 
having received from Kew through Singapore, 
I planted at Kwala Kangsar in Perak, grew mag- 
nificently and fruited, I believe, two or three years 
before those of Ceylon. I distributed the seeds 
to various places in the . neighbourhood, and they 
are now to be found in Mr. Hills' Coffee Gardens 
in various parts of the Peninsula and in several 
places in Perak. When Mr Swettenham was at 
Home in the summer I enquired of him as to their 
condition, and found they were not thought to be 
of any value as some Dyaks had tapped some 
of the largest trees and found that scarcely any 
■juice exuded from them." This unfortunate 
statement seems to have deterred Perak planters 
from paying any attention to Para rubber for 
sometime. Sir Hugh Low obtained some seed 
from somewhere in 1882, and gave it to Mr. Wray 
who planted it at Kwala Kangsar. This may 
have conre from the old trees there, for Sir Hugh 
Low sent seed (50) from Perak to the Singapore 
Gardens. The same year seeds were distributed 
from the Singapore Gardens, the firsb recorded 
being sent to the Bishop of Sarawak. This en- 
tirely disposes of the statements by Mr Wray and 
others that the first seeds or plants introduced 
into Perak were introduced by Sir Hugh Low in 
1882. In fact almost every plant of Para rubber 
in the Malay Peninsula was derived from the 
Botanic Gardens, Singapore, and these directly 
or indirectly through Ceylon from the Royal 
Gardens, Kevv. In 1877, Mr. Murton had planted 
the young trees received from Kevv as above 
mentioned in the upper Garden to a more suitable 
locality in the new Economic Gardens. In his re- 
port tor 1881 Mr. Cantley writes " the tallest 
Hevea (in the gardens) is now 25 feet tall and 14 
inches round the base." These trees commenced 
to fruit in 1882. Seeds wtfre later received in large 
quantities from Ceylon, and when the Kwala 
Kangsa trees began to fruit Sir Hugh Low sent 
seeds from them tiaek to the Singapore Gardens 
for distribution. Although the plant grew so well, 
planters could not be induced to take it up, and, 
owing apparently to a report that it produced no 
rubber, the few people interested in rubber turned 
their attention to Castilloa and Ceara rubber. 
But practically, with the exception of Mr. T H 
Hill's estate, there were no plantations of Para 
rubber till Tan Chay Guan commenced to plant in 
Malacca. In 1897^ however, the high price of 
rubber and the'low price of coffee stimulated the 
interest of planters, and a rush was made for the 
seeds. At the same time planters in all parts 
of the tropics sent for seeds and plants, and at- 
tempted to grow the plant everywhere with varying 
