26 
RUBBER PLANTING IN CEYLON 
Director Thwaites, when 70,000 seeds, sent from the Amazon to Kew 
gardens, London, were set out, only four per cent, of them germinating. 
From there about two thousand plants were sent in wardian cases to 
Ceylon in charge of an experienced man, Mr. W. Chapman, and ninety 
per cent, reached the gardens in an excellent condition. These were 
set out in bamboo pots and the next season were transferred from Pera- 
deniya to Heneratgoda and flourished almost from the beginning, but 
the planters had set their hearts on the Ceara tree and paid little atten- 
“hevea brasiliensis." 
[Leaves and nuts on greatly reduced scale.] 
tion to the reports that the Director of the Gardens, Dr. Trimen, Dr. 
Thwaites’ successor, made from time to time as to their growth. 
In 1883 several of the Hevea trees at Heneratgoda flowered, and 
from the ripened seeds two hundred and sixty plants were raised and dis- 
tributed to various planters. One year later, one thousand plants were 
raised in the same way and sent out. 
In 1886, the Para plantation at Heneratgoda was thinned out, all 
of the smaller trees being cut down, after which there was a noticeable 
improvement in the growth of the remainder. Seeds were sent that 
