important than the exact determination of the species, and that is that both yield a 
gutta of first rate quality. The samples were sent marked A. and B. and the result 
as determined at the Laboratory of Agricultural Chemistry, Buitenzorg, is as follows : — 
A. 
B. 
Water 9.3 
. . . 
9.6 
Resin 1 1.8 
, , , 
. „ 
1 1*9 
Gutta 77.2 
... 
78.7 
Dirt 1.2 
traces 
Relation between resin and gutta i to 6.6. 
In undertaking plantations of such slow growing trees as Palaquium, it is im- 
portant that only the very best kinds should be planted, as it will require at least 
forty years to grow a tree large enough to yield one and-a-half to two pounds of 
gutta percha according to the present method of extraction, but 1 feel sure that some 
better system will be discovered by which much more will be obtained than is done 
at present. Last year 1 recorded the yield obtained from a tree, 55 feet high and 39 
inches in circumference at five feet from the ground, as one and-a-half pounds. This 
year there has been an opportunity of testing a tree 52 feet high and 42 inches in 
circumference that was blown down in the Forest Reserve, and the result is one and 
one-third pounds of clean gutta. So little is known of the actual yields of gutta 
percha trees that this is of some interest. >everal thousand young saplings, showing 
considerable leaf variation, have been received from the Acting Director, but what 
proportion of these will survive for eventual planting it is too soon to say. Most of 
these are in nursery beds where they will remain until the spring of 1903. 
Para Rubber. 
20. Para Rubber is a subject in which a great number of Europeans, and some 
natives, are. interested. It bids fair to become the great agricultural industry of the 
Malay Native States/and in this Settlement, in Province Wellesley, three Europeans 
are planting on a considerable scale. The rate of growth is eminently satisfactory 
in almost every place this tree has been planted, and as none of the large plantations 
are vet of an age to commence tapping, the quality and continuance of the yield that 
may be expected is of more interest to planters than the question of soil and cultiva- 
tion, and I have therefore made another tapping of the tree, now sixteen years old, 
growing in the Waterfall Garden, to which reference has been made in previous 
Annual Reports. This tree has now been tapped five times on the dates and with 
the result given below, 
o 
lb. os. 
November- December, 1898, Yield of dry Rubber ... 3 o 
April-May, 1899, Yield of dry Rubber ... 2 8 
November-December, 1899, V ield of dry Rubber ... 3 4 
October-November, 1900, Yield of dry Rubber . . 3 12 
August-September, 1901, Yield of dry Rubber ... 2 2f 
Total of five tappings ... 14 io| 
So far as can be seen no injury whatever has been done to this tree ; it looks 
healthy and produced this season a good crop of seeds. The last tapping was done 
during a period of very wet weather, the rainfall being 24-52 inches, or a little over 
an inch a day during the twenty-three days the tapping was carried on. Whether 
this affected the yield of latex or whether the tree requires a longer period of rest 
can only be ascertained by a further experiment under different weather conditions, 
and this will be done before long. At any rate the quantity of rubber is less than 
that obtained at either of the previous tappings. I have not the slightest doubt how- 
ever that during the next four years, by the end of which time the tree will be twenty- 
years old 5 lbs. 5I ozs. more rubber can easily be extracted {probably very much 
more) this bringing up the yield to twenty pounds or an average of I lb. per year 
for every year of its life. Assuming an estate with 100 trees to the acre as good as 
this one, and the value of rubber at 3/- per lb. only, below which it is scarcely likely 
to fall, and which is about 25% below the present price of fine para, we have as a 
return in twenty Years 2,000 lbs. of rubber of the value of ^300 or an average of £15. 
per acre per annum from the time the trees were planted. After deducting all 
expenses this should leave a hands6me profit without any consideration as to subse- 
quent profits. Samples of the rubber from this last tapping, jvhich was coagulated 
