H 
APPENDIX B. 
Botanic Gardens, 
Penang , ijth February , ic/02. 
SIR, — In a separate letter I have furnished for the information of His Honour 
the Officer Administering the Government a brief general report on my journey to 
Iridragiri on the coast of Sumatra, and in this I purpose to deal exclusively with ihe 
gutta percha question which was the main object of my visit. 
2. There is not the slightest doubt that all kinds of gutta percha trees art- 
being rapidly exterminated in this part of Sumatra and it' is a difficult matter to find 
a tree over six inches in diameter. 1 made inquiries at all places touched at going 
up the river, and at the farthest point I reached, which is about one hundred and 
fifty miles up the Indragiri river, I spent three days in examining the forest 
and in making further inquiries, but in no single instance could I see or hear of a 
tree large enough to produce seeds, so that I think we may dismiss the idea of obtain- 
ing seeds from this region. Mr. BURCH ARD, the gentleman whose estate I stayed 
at, is interested in this subject and has planted some thousands of trees of Palaquium. 
He has been living over four years in the same place and is aware of the ^ value of 
seeds, but during the whole of that time has not been able to obtain one. 
3. Four kinds of gutta percha trees are found growing in this district and some 
of each kind are planted on the estate which I went to visit. They are all known as 
‘‘Balam” /.<?., Balam Merah, (Palaquium oblongifolium) which is the same thing as 
Taban Merah of the Peninsula and Ekor of Penang, Balam Putih ( Palaquium sp. ) 
and Balam Sundek (Payena Leerii). I obtained leaf specimens of all these trees 
and saw the manner in which they have been planted. ' Balam Merah” produces 
the most valuable gutta percha and is the one that it is desirable to plant in this Colony 
■ as in addition to its higher market value gutta percha is obtainable from the leaves 
as well as from the stem, anti I think it doubtful whether this is the case with 
the others. 
4. The planting has not been done in a systematic manner, but trees set out at 
varying distances apart between Coffee and Gambier. In some places they are thirty 
feet apart and in others only twelve. Owing to want of capital the greater portion 
of the estate has been practically abandoned and the jungle has grown up and ruined 
the Gambier, but where the heads of the gutta trees have been kept clear the effect 
has probably been beneficial to them rather than otherwise, A great number of trees 
appear to have died when first planted, owing largely no doubt to the inexperience of 
the coolies, but mainly from the fact that the stumps were brought direct from the 
dense damp jungle and planted in the open without any previous preparation. 
5. During the first two years all the species of Palaquium grow slowly, but after 
that appear to get away faster. The height of two years planted trees I found to be 
six to eight feet with stems in diameter at the base. Those four and-a-half 
years planted are ten to thirteen feet high and six to nine inches in circumference at 
three feet from the ground. The soil in which they are growing is excellent, much 
better than anything we have in Penang or Malacca. 
6. In the absence of seeds the difficulty of obtaining a sufficient number of suit- 
able plants to form plantation on a large scale in Malacca and Penang is a serious 
and somewhat expensive matter, but to wait for a seed crop may mean waiting for 
years. In theffirst place Palaquium oblongifolium trees do not flo\Ver annually. When 
they do flower it sometimes happens that animals take the crop. In support of 
this statement I may say that none of the trees in Penang 'flowered last year, nor 
am 1 aware ol their having flowered more than once during all the years I have 
been here, which was in 1899, when we obtained a thousand young seedling plants. 
Mr. Ridley informs me that one tree in the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, flowered 
freely but set no Iruit. Mr. Derry wrote some time ago tharia tree in the Residency 
grounds at Kwala Kangsar was in fruit, and two months later that squirrels had 
taken all except two which he sent me while still unripe. Under these circum- 
stances it does not seem advisable to sit down and wait for seeds, and the only 
course open appears to be to purchase seedling plants as young as possible from the 
jungle, or plants propagated from cuttings. 
7. The main object of my journey to Indragiri was to see how this tree is 
propagated from cuttings, for all attempts made here have proved a failure. I know 
now how the thing is done, ana it is as 1 suspected, but as the system depends on a 
large supply of small plants to work on we cannot apply it to any considerable extent 
