48 
MEMORANDUM 
ON 
MR. COLLINS’ REPORT ON CAOUTCHOUC, 
dated 28th October 1872. 
Mr. Collins’ report seems to me to suggest two questions of great 
practical importance for India : — First. Wliat can he done for 
the introduction into India of those trees which yield the Para 
Caoutchouc, and of some of the climbing plants which yield the 
rubber of Madagascar, Africa, and Borneo. Second . — What can 
be done to increase the production and to improve the quality of 
the Assam Caoutchouc, the product of Ficus elastica. It may not 
be out of place to place on record a few observations with regard 
to these two questions, which have suggested themselves to me 
while discussing the results of Mr. Collins’ valuable report, 
with Mr. Gustav Mann, who has the advantage of a personal 
acquaintance with the Caoutchouc forests of Assam and the 
Caoutchouc yielding tracts of Western Africa. . 
2. There is no doubt that Para rubber is a very superior article, 
the price lists given by Mr. Collins prove this sufficiently, and the 
concurrent testimony of Caoutchouc manufacturers in this country 
seems to show that where great elasticity and powers of resistance 
are required, such as for buffer springs of railway carriage^, and the 
like, Para rubber must be used. Again there seems no doubt 
that Para Caoutchouc retains its excellent qualities longer than 
most other kinds, that in fact it is more durable. I do not say 
that it may not be found expedient to introduce some of the other 
kinds into India also, but at first our efforts should be mainly 
directed to ascertain by actual experiment whether it is possible 
profitably to cultivate on a large scale some of the species of Hevca 
which yield Caoutchouc in Para, on the Amazon river, and the Rio 
Negro. 
3. The first question then appears to be, whether there is any 
part of India with a climate similar to that of those regions of 
Brazil where the best rubber is produced. The data brought 
together by Mr. Collins in his report seem to show the following 
facts. The mean annual temperature in the province of Para, on 
