254 
KEW GARDENS. 
Gutta-percha of the best quality is the product of 
Dichopsis Gutta, a tree belonging to the natural order 
Sapotaceas, inhabiting the Malayan peninsula. In order to 
obtain it the Malays follow the wasteful and extravagant 
plan of cutting down the tree. The bark is first stripped off, 
and the milky juice which then exudes is collected in the 
shell of a cocoa-nut or the spathe of a palm. The juice 
quickly stiffens on exposure to the air, and forms gutta¬ 
percha. The average quantity obtained from one tree is 
201bs. In 1875 ten millions of pounds in weight were 
imported into this country from Singapore, and this would 
involve the destruction of 50,000 trees. 
It was first brought into notice in 1842, and at that time 
the tree was plentiful in the forests of the island of Singapore, 
but during the next five or six years it was totally destroyed 
on the island, except a few trees that were kept as curiosities. 
In 1847 it was plentiful in the forests of Penang, but a similar 
fate soon befell it there, and now the time has come when, 
unless it be systematically cultivated somewhere, the supply 
will decrease. According to the latest authority, there are 
six distinct species of Dichopsis growing wild in the Malayan 
peninsula, and in Java and Sumatra, and several species of 
the neighbouring genera, Chr ij sophyllum, Sideroxylon , Bassia, 
Mimusops , Payena, and Imbricaria, yield a similar milky 
juice ; but it still remains to be settled which species are best 
worth cultivating, and where they can be most profitably 
grown. The annual value of the gutta-percha imported into 
England is between £800,000 and £500,000 per annum. 
Timber Supply. 
The burning question of forest destruction and our future 
timber supply it is impossible to deal with at all adequately 
in the time I have at command. Of the importance of the 
matter from a financial and economic point of view an idea 
may be formed from the admirable series of statistics got 
together by Professor Sargeant for the last census report of 
the United States. He estimates the annual value of the 
produce of the woods of the United States at 490 millions of 
dollars, or £100,000,000, the number of hands employed in 
the timber trade of the States at 148,000, their annual wages 
at 32,000,000 dols., and the number of persons in the States 
who are entirely dependent on wool as fuel at 32,000,000. 
The following extract, which refers to the island of 
Jamaica, will give an idea of the reckless and extravagant 
way in which the natural forests have been destroyed in some 
of our colonies :— 
