RUBBER CULTIVATION IN CEYLON- 
( Being No. ^ of the R. B. Gardens Circulars. ) 
HE growth of the cycling trade^ 
and other industries in which 
rubber is used, lias caused 
a great increase in the de- 
mand for rubber. That the 
price ha.s not correspondingly 
increased is chiefly due t 
the discovery in West Africa 
of a new rubber-yielding tree, Kickxia africana. 
The collection of rubber from wild trees is carried 
on in a reckless manner, and the trees are being 
gradually exterminated. The rubber collectors 
have thus to go further and further inland every 
year for their supplies, and the cost of the rubber 
is thus increased by the dilliculties of transport. 
There seems therefore a likelihood that the 
planting of the best kinds of rubber may prove 
a profitable industry. 
The World’s annual consumption of rubber is 
now over 100,000,003 lb., w’orth more than 
£10,000,000 sterling. Of thi.s, from one-tliird to 
one-half comes from Para, which exported in 
1895, 45,788,613 lb. 
There are many trees wdiicli yield rubber in 
different parts of the W’’orld. Most of them, how'- 
ever, are unsuited for cultivation for various 
seasons ; some are climbers requiring large trees 
as supports, some yield very little rubber or rubber 
of poor quality, and others do nob yield rubber 
until they are twenty-five or more years old. 
The chief kinds likely to he useful in cultivation 
are Ceara rubber (Manihot Glaziovii), Panama 
rubber fCastilloa elastica), Para rubber ( Hcvca 
bras Hie ns is), and perhaps African or Lagos rubber 
( Kickxia africana ). 
The cultivation of Ceara rubber was energeti- 
cally taken up in Ceylon about twelve or fourteen 
years ago, bub the returns were found unsatia- » 
factory, although the plant grew' very well' 
indeed. There are but few trees now in cultiva-^ 
tion. Panama rubber is also scarce in Ceylon, ^ 
and has not given very satisfactory results. The-.- 
only important rubber at the moment is the - 
P^ra kind, which alone is dealt with in the.' 
remainder of this Circular. This tree is w'ell.- 
suited to the climate of the low’-country in the 
south-w'est of Ceylon, is readily cultivated, .and; 
gives a fair yield of rubber. Para rubber is the ’ 
best quality upon the market, and obtains the* 
highest and most uniform prices. 
The town of Para occupies a position near they 
mouth of one of the vast embouchures of the*- 
Amazons, in about south latitude 1°, but the', 
district of the same name extends over a vast 
forest region to the south and west, throughoutr 
whicb, and the enormous forests of Central and.’ 
Northern Brazil, Hevea brasiliensis and allied’ 
species are abundantly found. The climate ; 
remarkable for its uniformity of temperature,'? 
usually nob exceeding 87°F. at midday, or below, 
74° at night. The greatest heat recorded is 95°. i 
ami the mean for the year is 81°, Thcraiifuji 
occurs principally during the months from January ' 
to June, the maximum being in April, when it ‘ 
reaches 15 in. For the remaining six months!|of., 
the year very little falls, but there are fine d.ay.s 
in the web season, and occasional showers in:-; 
the dry. The whole country is covered with • 
dense, moist forests, and the soil near the numerous 
and gigantic rivers is deep, heavy, ami \ ery fertile. 
During the wet season much of the low-lying 
country near the Amazons’ mouth is flooded. ' 
In the (/ryws near Para, visited by Mr. Cross, he ^ 
found a flat district only three or four feet above 
the highest tides, and completely intersected with 
water-courses at low- tide, tilled witli a soft, ' 
rich mud. The forest here, in which caoutchouc 
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