JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 
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May 31,1883. ] 
453 
About the end of August growth should be checked a little 
by ringing the individual plants with a spade as far from the 
stems as the size pots into which they are intended to be 
potted. About the middle or end of September they may be 
taken up and repotted in a mixture of two parts loam, one of leaf 
soil, and one of coarse sand, then watered through a rose to settle 
the soil among the roots. The pots are placed in the shade for a 
few days until the roots have taken to the soil, after which they 
can be transferred to a sunny aspect, when the plants will speedily 
fill their pots with large hungry roots. At this stage of growth 
a dozen or two of the plants intended for early forcing might be 
rested for a few weeks by partly withholding water from the roots. 
The Eichardia being a gross feeder should have liberal and 
frequent supplies of liquid manure during its flowering period, 
which, if necessary, may be extended from Christmas to July. An 
occasional fumigation with tobacco and a free use of the syringe 
will be necessary to keep the plants free from the attacks of aphides, 
which are very partial to them, and if not speedily and effec¬ 
tively dealt with would in a short time spoil the appearance of 
the plants. 
Eupatoriums and Solanums also do better planted out. The 
plants having had their heads and roots previously reduced, the 
former cut into shape, and the latter disentangled a little, should 
be planted in the manner recommended for the Callas, varying 
the distance between the plants according the size of the latter ; 
their after treatment, with the addition of pinching out the 
points of the strongest-growing shoots to balance the growth of 
the plants, being identical.—H. W. Ward. 
PRUNING ROSES. 
The question of pruning has been much discussed lately in 
“our Journal.” I agree with those correspondents who incline to 
late rather than to too early pruning. The base buds must be the 
reserve—the sheet-anchor of safety. To keep them dormant is 
an essential point. Of course latitude must be considered. My 
general rule is to prune about the middle of March, but I do not 
much mind if it is put off until the first week in April. Monday, 
the 5th of March, was memorably mild and sunny. I thought I 
would make an early venture for once, and so pruned a quantity 
of Hybrid Perpetuals, both standards and dwarfs, in a sheltered 
situation, and by way of experiment I included one or two Teas in 
the process. On a more open aspect where only dwarfs are grown 
no cutting was done. When that terrible snowstorm set in we 
wished all had been left alone. It is not till quite three weeks 
later that the last batch was pruned. The Teas, except those on 
the wall, were all pruned to the ground. In these I have had 
no losses, and amongst the Hybrid Perpetuals there appears only 
one plant dead, and that an A. K. Williams. The other plants of 
the same name, however, look well, and the whole of the Roses 
seem vigorous. I shall note carefully the difference, if any, 
between the earlier and the later-pruned Teas, as they were in 
the same position. Although the bloom may be late, we have 
high hopes of a good display of Roses.—A. M. B. 
THE SOURCES OF GUTTA PERCHA 
The following particulars upon this subject, on which infor¬ 
mation has been requested, appear in the Kew Report for 1881. 
The natural sources of supply of this important substance, and the 
possibility of their exhaustion, were referred to in the Kew Reports 
for 1876 (page 23) and 1877 (pages 30, 31). In 1878 Dr. Dennys, 
Assistant Curator of the Raffles Museum, Singapore, made an impor¬ 
tant report to the Government of the Straits Settlement on the 
subject. But this document, though an exceedingly careful resume 
of the present state of our knowledge, did little more than formally 
record its defectiveness as regards many of the subsidiary resources 
of supply. It brought, however, into prominence the rapidity with 
which the Gutta trees are disappearing in the Straits Settlements. 
Commerce will for a time have its wants supplied by collection made 
farther afield. But the time cannot be far distant when the natural 
sources of gutta percha will be definitely used up. 
Gutta percha, although similar in chemical properties to caout¬ 
chouc, is tough and inelastic, in which respects it is strikingly dif¬ 
ferent. It “ slowly absorbs oxygen when exposed to the combined 
influence of light and air, and is gradually converted into a brittle 
resin freely soluble in hot alcohol. After having undergone this 
change it entirely loses its plastic character, and this is one of its 
principal defects ; it may, however, be preserved in the dark, or 
under water, for an indefinite period without change.” 
Unlike caoutchouc, which is derived from plants of groups belong¬ 
ing to widely different parts of the vegetable kingdom, typical gutta 
percha appears to be only yielded by members of the Sapotacese. 
Malay Peninsula. —1, Dichopsis Gutta .—There can be no doubt 
from the examination of copious specimens that this is the source of 
the principal kind of gutta percha of commerce. The plant was ori¬ 
ginally determined and described by Sir W. Hooker in 1847 (“ Journal 
of Botany,” vol. vi., pages 463-5). M. Pierre, Director of the Botanic 
Garden, Saigon, is disposed to cast some doubts upon the determi¬ 
nation, but, as I think, without valid reason. Dichopsis Gutta for¬ 
merly existed in abundance in Ihe southern part of the Malay Penin¬ 
sula ; it extends to Sumatra, Borneo, and probably other islands of 
the Malay Archipelago. 
The gutta percha yielded by this species is known in the Straits 
Settlements as Gutta taban. Two varieties are distinguished—Gutta 
taban puteh (white) and Gutta taban merah (red). The tree pro¬ 
ducing the former is said by Dr. Dennys only to differ from the latter 
“ in the fact that its flowers are white instead of red. Gutta taban, 
of whichever variety, produces the standard gutta percha of com¬ 
merce, and is therefore of most importance.” 
“ All accounts agree in the general features of the localities in 
which gutta-percha-producing trees are found to thrive. Mr. Low 
describes them as growing in the forests on the side of every hill and 
mountain in Perak, adding that they do not flourish in the plains. 
Mr. Murton states that the tree producing Gutta taban is most abun¬ 
dant on Gunongs Meeru and Sayong, and Bujong Malacca. A few 
large trees still exist on Gunong Bubo and the Thaipeng range, while 
small plants from 1 to 8 feet are abundant on the granite formations 
in Perak, up to 3500 feet elevation. 
“ In Selangor, Captain Douglas describes the trees as growing to a 
large size.on the slopes of low hills in dense primitive forests. They 
prefer a rich yellowish loamy strong soil, and aspect appears to be of 
little or no cod sequence. The young trees require shade and good 
drainage, the one being afforded by the tree from w'hich they spring, 
and the other by the sloping nature of the ground in which they 
grow. 
“ It does not appear that the juice is collected at any special period. 
Mr. Low states, however, that there is a very marked difference in 
the yield of the wet and dry seasons ; at the former period an average 
tree will yield some five catties (a catty = lb.), while in the dry 
season it will only yield one. Considerable difficulty, by the way, 
appears to exist in ascertaining the actual yield per tree ; and the 
difficulty will, owing to native habits of exaggeration, continue until 
some trustworthy European nimself watches the operation. Mr. 
Murton states that a native gutta percha merchant mentioned 40 catties 
as the yield of a single tree, while he himself, from other information, 
puts down the yield at from 5 to 15 catties per tree, and never ex¬ 
ceeding 20. 
“ In view of the enormous number of trees which must have been 
destroyed, if even 10 catties be taken as an average, I should be 
inclined to accept the higher estimate. In order to procure the juice 
the Taban tree is felled, and the bark is then ringed in spaces a foot 
wide and about 15 to 18 inches apart. The upper end of the tree is 
usually cut off, as this is said to cause it to bleed more freely. 
Buckets made of wood, Cocoa-nut shells, or leaves stitched together, 
are used to collect the juice, which is then poured into a hollow 
bamboo. Thus far the process for all varieties is the same ; but in 
Perak, while the Teban merah is simply boiled until it solidifies, the 
Taban puteh is boiled with water, salt, and Samak bark, the ingre¬ 
dients named being, it is alleged, necessary to cause solidification. 
In Selangor, where possibly the second variety is not found, the juice 
is said to be poured into an iron pan over a very slow fire until it 
assumes the consistence of a very stiff paste, when it is moulded into 
convenient shapes for transport. 
“ The destruction of trees involved in this process is so enormous 
that it seems impossible for the supply to long continue. It is com¬ 
puted that over seven thousand trees were cut down during 1877 in 
the neighbourhood of Klang, while four thousand must have perished 
near Selangor in a single month to furnish the 270 piculs (a picul 
= 133^ lbs.) returned as exported. The estimated annual export 
from the Straits Settlements and the Peninsula was given as ten 
millions of pounds in 1875, which at the high average of 15 lbs. to 
a single tree, w r ould give six hundred thousand trees. The demand 
seems always to exceed the supply. 
“ The principal adulterant made use of seems to be Gutta jelutong. 
“ Singapore and Penang are the chief collecting depots for gutta 
percha, and a failure in the supply might seriously injure the trade 
of either port.” 
2, Gutta Sundek. —Although I have constantly urged my corre¬ 
spondents in the Malay Peninsula to send me specimens of the now 
well-known tree producing this kind of gutta, no material for its 
adequate botanical determination has hitherto reached Kew. 
Dr. Beauvisage of Paris obtained fruiting specimens from Mr. Low, 
British Resident at Perak, and has identified the species—( Contri¬ 
butions a. Vetude des origines botaniques de la Gutta percha: these pour 
le doctorat en medicine) —with Payena (Keratephorus) Leerii, Hassle. 
Mr. C. B. Clarke having, however, examined similar specimens 
from Perak (communicated by Mr. Cantley, Superintendent of the 
Botanic Garden, Singapore) while elaborating the Sapotaceae for the 
Flora of British India, is of opinion that the identification of Beau- 
visage is erroneous,and that" without fuller material this tree cannot 
be safely referred to any genus.” It does not, however, seem to 
belong to Isonandra or Dichopsis. 
Dr. Trimen, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradenaya, 
states in his report for 1880, “ I have during the year, through the 
