IS 
It will be seen by the above that this tree yielded freely after the third opera- 
tion and continued to do so up to the end of the tapping and that there was no 
reason to discontinue the tapping on account of falling oil m the quantity of 
latex the only reason for doing so being that the cuts were by this time from tliree- 
auarters to one inch wide, and although they heal rapidly it was not thought wise 
to make them wider. New bark has completely grown over the cuts o. the first 
three tappings. It would appear that October to December are better months foi 
tannine than April and May, but too much importance should not he attached to an 
experiment made on a single tree either as regards the yield or best months tor 
tapoino'. I simply record the facts for what they are worth, out as regards yield it 
shouldbe considered in conjunction with the result obtained in Perak with a hundred 
trees, the oldest seventeen years old, and this should I think induce capitalists and 
the Government to consider whether this tree has as yet received the attention it 
deserves?: In the Consular Report already referred to, it is stated that hundreds ol 
miles have to be traversed to reach the rubber districts in brazil, and although theie 
are probably fifty million acres of forests at present being worked for rubber it is 
estimated that for Districts where it is fairly plentiful, the average is only one Hevea 
tree to every two acres, and the estimated yield one to one and-a-half kilos per 
annum. In a few roughly calculated tests made here I found hall" a pint (to fluid 
ounces) of latex gave three ounces of dry rubber, and coagulated rubber weighed wet 
lost about 50 % of its weight in drying. 
Gutta Percha. 
06 In 1899 it was decided by Government to form plantations of Gutta Percha 
in Malacca, and in May last I was instructed by His Honour the Acting Governor 
to take down 500 young trees and plant them in bukit Bruang Reset v e. I hese are 
the half of a batch of seedlings raised in Penang. Since then Mr. H. C. Hill in his 
report on the forests of the Colony has advised that plantations on a large scale- 
should be made both in Penang and Malacca, and by way of a beginning the remain- 
ing 500 will be planted in Penang at the proper season. Consequent on this recom- 
mendation a good deal of attention has been devoted to this subject during the past 
few months. None of the trees in Penang have fruited this year nor have we been 
able to obtain seeds elsewhere. Mr. Derry, Superintendent of Government Planta- 
tions, Perak, wrote me in November that a tree growing in the Resident’s grounds at 
Kuala Kangsar was in fruit, but on a subsequent visit, a month later, he found that 
squirrels had eaten them all with the exception of two fruits which he sent me for 
herbarium specimens. These are the only fruits 1 have seen or heard of this season. 
All the Dichopsis are slow growers and transplant badly, great c;«'e will therefore 
be necessary in preparing plants and laying out plantations, \oung plants in the 
Nursery under most favourable conditions have grown about a toot in height in a 
year. ! he tree referred to as fruiting at Kuala Kangsar is said to be eighteen years 
old and is twenty-five feet high, with a girth of twenty-four inches at three feet from 
the crround As it is uncertain when we may be able to obtain seeds in sufficient 
numbers to plant on a large scale we have been trying recently in various ways to 
propagate from cuttings. " It is too soon yet to say what percentage will grow from 
cuttings but the prospect of raising a large stock by this means is not encouraging. 
Some species of Dichopsis may grow from cuttings fairly well (though seedlings, of all 
if obtainable should have the preference) but D. gutta or I). oblongifolia ■, whichever 
the Penang plant may be, and there is some doubt about it, is a most difficult subject. 
To obtain cuttings and information as to the quantity of gutta to be obtained, &c., we 
cut down one tree in the 
Highland 
Reserve and collected the 
gutta 
in 
the native 
manner, the result being one and-a-half pounds of first class gutta percha. This tree 
was 55 feet high with a moderately clean straight stem 39 inches in circumference at 
five feet from the ground, and at least forty years old. I do not consider this method 
or the result satisfactory and some other and better way of extracting the gutta will 
have to be devised. Tapping in the same way as rubber trees is not applicable to 
this tree and the solution of the problem will probably be some system of culling the 
plantations at a comparatively early age, when they will coppice, and treating bark 
and leaves at a central factory; unless the leaves alone are found to be of sufficient 
value and produced in sufficient numbers to render plantations remunerative 
Dichopsis gutta occurs only at low elevations and it is desirable to introduce for- 
planting the upper portions of Penang Hills the species that occur on Perak Hills up 
to 3,000 Ret. This is known locally as “Gutta Taban Putih ” and is I believe D. 
pustulata, I have recently had an opportunity of observing this tree on the Taiping 
. ' - 1 n 
V 
