THE JUNGLE BEYOND THE BOTANICAL GARDENS AT PENANG.

The trees have been felled in order to keep the monkeys from destroying the fruit of the guttapercha trees in the center and left foreground.

PENANG.

The tin girdle below is to keep off the monkeys.

BOTANICAL GARDENS,

APPENDIX J.

REPORT OF THE SPECIAL AGENT OF THE FORESTRY BUREAU SENT TO INVESTIGATE GUTTA-PERCHA AND RUBBER IN THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, JAVA AND SUMATRA.

Mr. ALBERT E. MCCABE,

MANILA, P. I., September 30, 1901.

In Charge of Forestry Bureau, Manila, P. I.

SIR: In compliance with your instructions of May 23, 1901, I have the honor to report as follows:

GUTTA-PERCHA AND RUBBERS- -INTRODUCTION.

Leaving Manila May 28, I went directly to Singapore, Straits Settlements, arriving June 2. In this city, which is the chief guttapercha market of the world, I had opportunity for studying, photographing, and collecting specimens in the botanical and economic gardens and adjacent government plantations, as well as visiting the rubber and gutta-percha godowns of Chinese and European importers and exporters. A fortunate chance also enabled me to become acquainted with several gutta-percha manufacturers, whose factories. are located in Singapore, Rhid, Perak, and Borneo.

On July 9 I went to Penang to study in the botanical gardens there and visit the agricultural show then in progress. Here I met the leading tropical botanists of the Straits Settlements. Returning to Singapore on the 17th of July, I left at once for Java, reaching Bata via on the 28th. Proceeding at once to Buitenzorg, an hour's ride by rail from Batavia, I began my work in the world-renowned botanical institute of that city. During my stay here I made a trip to the central western part of the island to the government gutta-percha and rubber plantations of Tjipitir. Returning to Singapore on September 7, I reached Manila September 23.

As soon as the object of my visit was known, my reception by all government officials everywhere was most cordial, and every effort was made by them to aid me. In this way I was enabled to make a collection of photographs, herbarium specimens, and gutta-percha and rubber samples. It must be borne in mind that a complete herbarium collection alone can not be made under a year or more; yet my collection, though necessarily incomplete, may be rendered complete in time by the forestry department here by simply requesting the proffered aid of the various botanical gardens I visited, whose directors will be pleased to exchange publications, specimens, plants, etc., with it. In the meanwhile the collection gathered is enough to settle the questions now involved.

GENERAL REMARKS.

Both gutta-percha and rubber are the products of certain tropical forest trees and vines. Both issue from a cut in the bark of the plant in the form of milk or latex, which hardens or coagulates on standing or through the effect of heat and certain chemicals.

The three principal physical distinctions between gutta-percha and rubber are:

1. Gutta-percha is tough, horn-like, and nonelastic; rubber is soft and very elastic.

2. Under the influence of moderate heat gutta-percha becomes soft and plastic, like putty, and can be molded into any desired shape, retaining that shape when cold; rubber is unaffected by the same heat.

3. Under the influence of water, rubber changes slowly and decomposes, losing its elastic and waterproof qualities; gutta-percha, in water, remains practically unchanged, for how many years no one knows.

The principal uses for rubber are for hose and tubing, pneumatic tires, waterproof apparel, insulation of electric wires, surgical and dental apparatus, playthings, etc. The almost sole use of gutta-percha is the insulation of electric submarine and land cables.

The home of rubber trees and vines is in every fertile tropical land. The number of species of both trees and vines is very great. Most of the important species are known scientifically, and new kinds are being discovered every year, as each country possesses trees peculiar to itself.

From a commercial standpoint South America produces the best rubber. The next best is probably from India, the Malay Peninsula, and adjacent islands, though Mexico and Central America come very close to them. Africa, with her unknown number of species of trees and vines, promises to be one of the heaviest rubber-producing countries in the future.

Gutta-percha, so far as is known, is absolutely limited to the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and Sumatra, and the small islands between them. Neither close-lying Java, Celebes, nor the Moluccas have any native gutta-percha trees. The books on the subject say that the Philippines are also outside of the favored zone.

Gutta-percha is also limited in its production to a very few species of trees, while no vines are known. When planning the future of gutta-percha the facts of limited area and few species of trees must always be borne in mind.

GUTTA-PERCHA.

Gutta-percha is not, so to speak, a chemical unit, but a composition consisting of a substance called gutta and two or more kinds of resinous bodies. In the different kinds of gutta-percha, coming from different species of trees, it is found that the gutta is always the same in character though not in quantity, while both the quantity and quality of the resins vary greatly.

In judging of the value of a sample of gutta-percha, three principal points are considered: First, the amount and kind of gutta-percha present; second, amount of dirt; third, amount of water. The dirt and water are present either accidentally or as adulterants. The best