424 
to detect if it appears high up, but its colour makes it pretty easy 
to see at some distance, so that it need not be allowed to make 
headway in the Estate. — Editor. 
REPORT ON THE EXPERIMENTAL TAPPING OF 
PARA RUBBER TREES IN THE BOTANIC 
GARDENS, SINGAPORE, FOR 
THE YEAR 1904. 
nf P KK ha ? l b ? en J s ? m ewhat delayed for the reason that 
of ah the rubber obtained in 1904 the sales took place in 1905 
and only by the last mail, October 28th, 1905, was the result of the 
last sale received. 
THE SEASON’S WORK. 
For the year 1904 a sum of $ 1,200 was voted by the Legis- 
iative Council at Singapore for the experimental tapping of the 
rubber trees at the Botanic Gardens. Altogether 880 trees were 
tapped; these were arranged in 84 groups, and 88 4 i * lbs. of dry 
rubber obtained. This was sent home in four lots for sale and 
realized a sum of $2,440, against an expenditure of $1,200. 
The highest price obtained was 6/9J, a price at which very 
few' other parcels sold, and for the last lot reported by the mail of 
28th October, 1905, Messrs. Hecht, Levis and Khan of 36 
henchurch Street write “As you will see from the account sales 
we ^obtained for the thin biscuits 6/3} per lb. which was the 
highe s t price paid at the time for the finest Ceylon “ biscuits.” 
All the rubber was prepared in the form of “ biscuits ” and dried 
with the aid of Calcium chloride. 
the general plan. 
As this has been the largest experiment yet attempted in the 
Colony or the Federated Malay States a summaty of the work 
performed may be of general interest, but we must explain that 
while we are aware that figures dealing with trees starting at 4 or 
0 years old and onwards would be most interesting such material 
was not at hand at the time. It is best to state here that the 
garden trees comprise the first Para treest brought to the Straits 
and from these original trees all the trees within the Singapore 
gardens have been raised. These were' planted at varying dis- 
tances on the o nly land available, a low-lying swamp, partly old 
prepaid too i S o!n SCraP,a ” dSOmer “ bb,:r f ° r Analyst, but 
f This report refers to Para Rubber only, i.e. Hevea braziliensis. 
