v 
ft*? 
Court, and has promised to see you when he arrives at 
Singapore. I think he would he willing to contribute a 
number of specimens, and you will find that he is 
thoroughly versed in the general plan of rearrange os nt. 
With reference to your query regarding the Ficus 
rubber, its lower price compared with Para is chiefly due 
to the much larger percentage of resin which it usually 
contains, and also to the fact that the physical characters 
of the rubber itself are not quite sc gccd. Improvements 
might be effected in both these directions by better 
methods of collection and preparation, end it will be well 
to continue experiments with these objects in view. me 
amount of resin present in the rubber may depend to some 
extent on the age of the trees, diminishing with age as is 
known to be the case with other rubber trees, and in any 
case it might be possible to eliminate some of the resin 
by a suitable method of coagulating the latex. This of 
course will have to be determined by experiments on the 
spot 
The sample of Ficus rubber sent by Mr. Calloway 
was much superior to any other specimen 1 of this rubber 
received at the Imperial Institute, and it therefore 
appears probable that a considerable improvement in the 
quality of the rubber could be effected by the application 
of proper methods. If so, the price would be correspond- 
ingly increased 
I am 
Yours very truly 
Fh<7|27 
WG 
