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father endeavoured to confine myself to suggesting a method by 
which new estates could be made self-supporting as regards rice 
required to feed the coolies, which is no mean item in the year’s 
expenses. 
FRANCIS PEARS. 
NEW PARA RUBBER FROM THE EAST. 
(The following is from the “ India Rubber World ” 
of June ist, 1902.) 
At a recent auction sale in London six cases of fine Rubber from 
Ceylon, the product of cultivated trees from Para seed, brought 3s. 
4 \d. or about 8 r. 4 cents, whereas the highest price for real Para 
rubber reported during the week was only 3s. old. per pound. 
This is not the first instance of exceptionally high prices obtained 
in the London market for ‘Para rubber” from plantations in the 
East. The declining profits of coffee growing have forced the 
planters in that part of the world to seek some more remunerative 
planting, and already thousands of acres are covered with rubber 
trees under cultivation. Not unnaturally attention has been turned 
chiefly to Para rubber, on account of the universally higher price 
which it commands, and now that the first trees planted are becom- 
ing productive, the result of the sale of every little lot exported 
seems to the planters to confirm their choice. There is no com- 
puting how much planting of Para rubber since I goo has been due 
to the sale of 327tbs. sent from Perak to London in that year at 
3s. lod. 
It is not impossible that these planters may yet be disappointed, 
for the reason that it remains to be seen whether what they are 
producing is real “ Para rubber”. The tendency in nature is for 
all species to be influenced by change of habitat. It appears, for 
example, that trees of the genaus Hevea , the source of Para rubber 
when grown in the East, become productive at an earlier age than 
in the Amazon valley ; again, it is stated that, while in the Amazon 
forests the seed pods of the llevea uniformly contain three seeds, 
the number is irregular on the trees in the Malay States, and there 
are other indications of a tendency to '‘ sport ”, ft is possible that, 
under cultivation, the tree might in time develop different charac- 
teristics even in Brazil, where thus far it has existed only under 
natural forest conditions. Ultimately new species of Hevea, may 
exist as a result of change of soil and climate, and of transfer from 
forests to plantations. 
We have already expressed our opinion of samples of the cul- 
tivated rubber from the Malay States, which, while attractive in 
appearance, do not really resemble the fine Para rubber now in use. 
It is much softer than the Brazilian product, and of much shorter 
“ fiber”. It could not be used, for example, in thread, elastic bands, 
or any fine pure gum goods. In solution it quickly loses its tena- 
city, so that it would not do for high grade cements. And it readily 
