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used in schools, but will remember it in no other form, except, perhaps, in what 
was known as mackintoshes or waterproof coats. It was not, however, 
until the beginning of the 18th century that the India-rubber industry really — 
commenced. The rapid progress that this has made during the present half- 
century may be perceived by a glance at the following tables, which have been 
taken from the last edition of the “Encyclopedia Britannica” :—Imported into 
England in 1830, 464: ewt.; in 1840, 6,640 ewt.; in 1850, 7,616 ewt.; in 1870, 
152,118 cwt ; in 1879, 150,601 ewt. It has been computed that in 1870 there 
were in Burope and America more than 150 manufactories, each employing 
from 400 to 500 operatives, and consuming more than 10,000,000 1b. of. 
caoutchoue. ‘The iniports into the United States of America have largely 
increased during the few last years preceding 1879; at the time of writing 
this has been still more increased. 
~ Caoutchouc-yielding trees appear to be found in that tropical strip of the - 
earth’s surface included within 10 degrees of latitude on each side of the 
equator; yet the quantities supplied from this huge belt, of the better kind of 
rubber, fail to satisfy the demand. This demand is yearly increasing, and it is 
not unlikely that some substance will eventually be found as a substitute. The 
varieties which are almost exclusively used when creat elasticity and durability 
are required are the “ Para,” ‘“ Ceara,” and ‘Madagascar’ rubbers. ‘There 
are others of less value from Mozambique, West Africa, Assam, Borneo, 
Rangoon, Singapore, Penang, and Java, &. The best of all and the most 
valuable in the markets of the world is the “Para.” This is the product of 
Hesea braziliensis (Mull., Arg.). Mr. Nicholson, A:L.S., in his Dictionary 
of Gardening, gives the following account of this tree :— 
Hevea (from Heré, a vernacular name in Northern South America) ; syn. 
Micranda siphonia, Ord. Kuphorbiacee. A genus comprising nine species, of tall 
stove trees, natives of the damp forests of tropical America. Flowers in dichotomous. 
cymes. Leaves alternate, on long petioles, digitately 5-foliate ; leaflets petiolate, 
entire. Of the two or three species yet introduced [into Great Britain] the best known 
is the one here described. It succeeds in a sandy loam. Propagated by cuttings, 
made of half-ripened wood, and inserted in sand, under a hand glass, in heat. 
HL, braziliensis (Brazilian) ; flowers green, whitein May; leaves light-green, digitately 
trifoliate; height, 60 feet. Tropical South America, 1823. This p.ant furnishes the 
well-known Para rubber of commer-e (Encyclopedia of Horticulture, p. 140). 
An effort to introduce this plant was nade by the Department of 
Agriculture by means of seed, but the nuts were found to be unfertile on arrival 
at Kamerunga. it is not at all certain that Hevea braziliensis is likely to 
flourish even in North Queensland, except, perhaps, at the extreme end of York 
Peninsula, or on some of the numerous islands surrounding Thursday Island. 
The whole of British New (Guinea is included in what may be called the 
caoutchouc-producing latitude, and the introduction of Hevea braziliensis 
would probably be found to well repay an effort to acclimatise it on some of 
the river banks ot that possession, particularly at the east end, where the rain- 
fall is cousiderabie. It would seem that other species of Herea, as well as 
Micranda siphonoides, which grows in the valley of the Amazon and its 
tributaries, are used by the natives indiscriminately to furnish ‘ Para’? rubber. 
All these trees seem to flourish best on rich alluvial clay slopes by the side of 
rivers where there is a certain amount of drainage, and the temperature reaches 
from 89 degrees to 94 degrees I. at noon, and is never cooler than 73 degrees 
BP. atnight, while rain is seldom absent for ten days together. 
Nowhere in North Queensland do these conditions prevail. The minimum 
thermometer has been known to go very low into the forties at Kamerunga, 
and dry weather has prevailed for about three months at a time, so that, except 
for curiosity, it would not seem advisable to undertake the culture of Hevea 
braziliensis or of any of its congeners in our Northern territories. Tt may, 
however, be instructive to persons interested to learn how Para rubber is 
collected. The caoutchoue is collected in the so-called dry season, between 
August and February, which would correspond with the Queensland season \ 
between April and September. 
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