Oct. 1, 1903.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
245 
Viscount Cranborne said tliat the text of the 
concession had not been received. The general 
ernis and conditions were given in the Return 
laid in Africa No 7, 1903. 'Die main conditiona 
of the agreement with the Italian company were 
reported by His Majesty's Commissioner to be — 
that it was for five years ; that the permit was 
held subject to any rights of the natives to forest 
produce ; that the permit carried no rights other 
than the collection of rubber ; that European 
supervision was to be employed, and only trained 
collectors allowed to collect rubber; that any 
labour employed within the area of the permit 
was to be paid for in rupees and not in shells or 
food ; that the company planted 20,000 vines 
during the period of the permit in areas to be 
approved by the collector ; that at the expiration 
of the permit the conditions for a fresh permit be 
considered between the Administration and the 
company. The agreement with the Victoria 
Nyanza Agency was also for five years, the firm 
undertaking to plant 14,000 rubber vines during 
the period of the permit. — Home paTper. 
SILK CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 
DEVELOPING SILK IN CKYLON. 
The following letter and reports on a sample of 
silk prepared frbm cocoons cultivated at the 
Koyal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, were supplied 
as a communique to the Press at the Secre- 
tariat : — 
Royal Botanic Girdens, Peradeniya, August 
19ch. 1903. 
Sib, — I have the honour to enclose for your inspec- 
tion a sample of silk prepared from cocoons cultivated 
by the Government Entomologist, together with 
extracts from a letter of Messrs H T Gaddum & Co., 
and copies of report by their expert and Mr Green. 
These reports are very satisfactory, and give hope 
that when the mulberry trees grow, we may be able 
to establish a smill silk industry in Ceylon. — I am, 
Sir, your obedient servant, John C. Willis, Director, 
R. B. G. 
The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Colombo. 
(Fxtracts from letter from Messrs, K T Gaddum 
& Co., 57, Brown Street, Manchester containing report of 
expert.) 
I received Giretti'a very satisfactory report about 
your cocoons. He says : " I have been very much in- 
terested in the attempts to rear silk cocoons in Ceylon 
and have examined the cocoons with great Q»re." They 
have evidently suffered a little, through lack of food 
for the worms, imperfect storing and mildew. Not- 
withstanding this they have reeled off very well and 
there is every indication that the district is suitable 
for silk cultivation. Your Government should take 
the matter up warmly. 
Herewith I send you my official report along with the 
small hank of silk produced from the cocoons received. 
They resemble those produced in Syria. With so 
small a sample 1 have been unable to establish 
whether the " brin " single thread is fine or coarse, 
yielding with four cocoons a size of 8-11 or 10-12, The 
silk is of very good, strong quality, a little streaky, as 
it was not possible to sort the colours so as to obtain 
a thorough mixture of shades or an even result. With 
a large quantity the result would be better. 
The cocoons weighed G63 and yieled 15 grammes of 
silk, or a return of 420, 
We have been recently selling a good deal of silk 
produced in Cashmere and, comparing this with your 
sample, our salesman, Massey, is of opinion that it is 
firmer than the Cashmere and worth at present about 
16/ as against 18/ for best Italian silk. 
(Report by Mr. Green.) 
The sample of silk is the result of cocoons from the 
second generation of silkworms raised at Peradeniya. 
The first generation was raised from imported 
Italian seed, and was kept for stock purposes. The 
resulting egt;9 were submitted to a cool temperature 
(in the Colombo Ice Company's rooms) for six months; 
after which they were allowed to hatch and the worms 
were raised at the R. B. Gardens, 
Owing to difficulty in providing food at the critical 
time, the cocoons v/ere somewhat under-sized. 
Large nurseries of mulberry plants are now being 
raised, and plants are being distributed throughout the 
Island, with the assistance of the Government Agents 
of the several provinces. When the trees have become 
established and have made sufficient growth, it is 
proposed to issue silkworm seed to the various reci- 
pieuta of plants, for more extended experiment. — 
(Signed) E. B, Green, Government Entomologist. 
RUBBER RESOURCES IN PERU, 
A great deal has been written about the ex- 
haustion of the rubber tree ; periodically reports 
appear stating that the traders and native Indians 
are destroying, or have laid waste, whole forests 
of rubber ; that in a very short time the supply 
from such and such a sonrce will end, and that 
there is nothing to be obtained from risking one's 
life in the search for rubber, because it no longer 
exits in paying quantities. 
It is well to consider that the rubber regions 
of Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, 
and Peru embrace many hundreds of thousands of 
miles— that the supply from such sources has been 
relatively small — that if it is undoubtedly true that 
in a great many instances the cutting down of the 
caoutchouc tree has been resorted to as the quickest 
and cheapest method of obtaining the sap, it is an 
established fact that this does not apply to the 
hevea trees, which produce the fine rubber, be- 
cause any person acquainted with the rubber in- 
dustry knows that this tree cannot be felled 
economically, and that the only way of getting 
the sap is by means of incisions, and that the 
majoiity of the traders or rubber hunters who have 
gone into these regions have confined themselves 
to the banks of the Amazon or of the larger rivers, 
and rarely have gone into the higher land where 
the best rubber is to be found. 
In eastern Peru the land is higher than in other 
parts of the rubber region, and among the several 
varieties of rubber that exist, the hevea, commonly 
called by the Peruvians 'jebe,' is the one which 
abounds. It is jebe, otherwise tine rubber, which is 
in greatest demand. Tae hevea tree has not been 
cut down, nor is it exhausted in our territory. On 
the contrary, it is as yet only beginning to be 
exploited, and therefore is destined to become the 
greatest factor in the development of eastern Peru, 
— Mr F A Pezet, First Secretary of the Peru- 
vian Legation, in the India Rubber Journal, 
LAVENDER CROP, 
The lavender gardens at Grove Ferry, in Kent, 
are now in their prime, and the fraprance of the 
flowers is unusually strong this season, in the 
markets the first supplies for the year were readily 
disposed of from 4s to 6s a dozen bunches. At 
Carshalton, Wallington, and Beddington the crop 
of flowers is abundant, the lavender dealers admit 
that the season will be a satisfactory one, and that 
the crop and prices are all that can be desired. 
