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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 6

India-rubber.—

India-rubber.—

Hevea and Castilloa.—

I have to report the continued satisfactory progress of the South American rubber-yielding plants, the establishment of which in Ceylon and India is recorded in the Kew Report for 1877 (pp. 15-17).

Mr. Morris, the Assistant Director of the Royal Botanic Garden, Ceylon, writes (18th May 1878):—"The rubbers are doing remarkably well, both here (Peradeniya) and at Heneratgodde. The Heveas are nearly 12 feet high and look quite handsome trees. The Castilloas had grown so much that. I quite failed to recognise them. They grow into broad spreading trees with a very majestic air."

Dr. Thwaites, the Director, reported up to the end of last year:—"The rubber plants are thriving very satisfactorily, but Hevea and Castilloa do not seem disposed to flower yet. We manage to strike a good many cuttings of Hevea, but Castilloa we cannot strike from cuttings of the stem, and the roots are not yet large enough to furnish good chunks for getting plants from."

While this Report is in preparation Dr. Thwaites writes to me (17th April 1879):—"I have sent off 516 plants raised from cuttings of Hevea brasiliensis to the Conservator of Forests at Moulmein in charge of a person he sent to take care of them. I am expecting a man from the Conservator of Forests at Madras for some Hevea plants to be tried in the neighbourhood of Calicut. Our Hevea plants are now becoming more branched, and so it is to be hoped they will flower before very long, and save us the necessity of raising plants from cuttings, which is not easy from comparatively young plants. I have sent the Conservator of Forests at Moulmein also two growing plants of Castilloa which we managed to take up from the ground successfully, and I hope they will reach him in good order. From the appearance of the trees I hardly think that Castilloa will produce seeds for some years, and until it becomes a very large tree."

The propagation of Castilloa is still continued at Kew. Progress is slow on account of the small stock which has been retained to work upon, but otherwise the difficulty of which Dr. Thwaites complains has not been met with.

At my request Mr. Murton, the Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, has sent plants of Hevea, Castilloa, and also of the Ceara rubber, to Queensland, where they have arrived in good condition.

From Singapore the two former have also been introduced into Perak, where Mr. Low reports (February 3rd, 1879):—"The Heveas are now 12 to 14 feet high. They take to the country immensely. The Castilloa is a large tree, 10 feet high, with branches 5 feet long." Mr. Murton adds:—"As regards their propagation, which Mr. Low seems to have found rather difficult, I find that the half-ripened shoots with a shield of hard wood are best; but, unless kept tolerably dry, are very apt to rot off."

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Sketch of plants by L. Reeve & co. London

page 15

From Kew, plants of Hevea have been sent to Dr. Kirk, at Zanzibar, and also to Fiji; in the latter case without success.

With regard to the Hevea plants sent to Assam (see Kew Report for 1877, p. 15), Mr. Mann reports:—"Soon after transplanting the leaves turned white and dropped off, and subsequently the wood of the young trees withered away gradually, and by July there was not one of the plants alive. This failure had been anticipated, and is attributed to the comparatively low temperature in Assam."

2. Ceará Rubber.—

At the end of August of last year consignments of plants of the Ceará. rubber, consisting, in each instance, of two wardian cases containing 80 plants, and one dry box containing 40 plants, were sent to Lieut.-Colonel Beddome, Conservator of Forests, Madras, and Dr. King, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta. Of those sent to Madras all were alive on arrival in the wardian cases, while of the contents of the dry box about half were saved. Those originally sent to Dr. King (see Kew Report for 1877, p. 16) arrived in rather bad condition. Few were saved, and the growth of these did not impress Dr. King favourably. "They all look more or less weak and lanky, as if the climate were too damp for them." This was, perhaps, a premature judgment from want of familiarity with the habit of the plant. Dr. King now writes:—"Ceará rubber is going to be a success here."

At Ceylon, in April one of the plants first sent out had already made an attempt to flower, and by the end of the year Dr. Thwaites was distributing copious supplies of seed to Calcutta, Burmah, Madras, and Singapore (where, however, it-seems unable to stand the wet season).

I regard, therefore, the work of Kew completed as regards the Ceará rubber. Living plants of it have been distributed during the past year to Dominica, Fiji, Jamaica, Java, Sydney, Trinidad, Queensland, and Zanzibar.