456 FETCH : 



wliiteness, is beginninpr to exude, so that if requisite he so smooths 

 the clay that it may trickle directly into the cup. At a distance 

 of 4 or 5 inches, but at the same height, another cup is luted 

 on, and so the process is continued until a row of cuj^s encircle 

 the tree at a height of about 6 feet from the ground. Tree after 

 tree is treated in like maimer, until the tapping required for the 

 day is finished. This work should be concluded by 9 or 10 

 o'clock in the morning, because the milk continues to exude 



slowly from the cuts for three hours or perhaps longer 



On the following morning the operation is performed in the same 

 way, only that the cuts or gashes beneath which the cups are 

 placed are made from 6 to 8 inches lower down the trunks 

 than those of the previous day. Thus each day brings the cups 

 gradually lower until the ground is reached. The collector then 

 begins as high as he can reach, and descends as before, taking 

 care, however, to -make his cuts in separate places from those 

 pre\aously made. If the yield of milk from a tree is great, two 

 rows of cups are put on at once, the one as high as can be reached, 

 and the other at the surface of the ground, and in the course of 

 working, the upper row descending daily 6 or S inches, while 

 the lower one ascends the same distance, both rows in a few 

 days come together. When the produce of milk diminishes in 

 long- wrought trees, two or three cups are put on various parts of 

 the trunk where the bark is thickest. Although many of the 

 trees of this class are large, the quantity of milk obtained is 

 surprisingly little. This state of things is not the result of over- 

 tapjiing. as some have stated. Indeed, T do not belieAC it is 

 possible to overtap a tree if in the operation the wood is not left 

 bare or injured. But at every stroke the collector's axe enters 

 the wood, and the energies of the tree are required in forming new 

 layers to cover those mmierous wounds. The best milk-yielding 

 tree I examined had the marks of twelve rows of cups which had 

 already been put on this season. The rows were only 6 inches 

 a])art. and in each row there were six cups, so that the total 

 number of wood-cuts within the space of three months amounted 

 to seventy-two. It grew close to a gapo only 8 inches above 

 higli-tide mark, and being a vigorous tree the cups were usually 

 wi'll filled, but with two years or so of such treatment the tree 

 would })r()bably be permanently injur<>d. It has b(>en supposed 

 that the ciuality of the milk is better in the dry season than 

 during the rains. Such is the case with some vegetable products, 

 but. as rf'gnrds indiarubbcr. there ought not. 1 think, to ))<■ any 

 appreciable difference. In the rainy season tlie milk i)robably 

 contaitiH a greater proportion of water, but, on the other hand. 

 I am of opinion that then a larger quantity of milk flows from the 

 t ree. No doubt the dry season is the most suitable for caoutchouc 

 collecting, although, wherever a plantation is formed with 

 prejiariTii^ house convenient, tapping may certainly b(> always 

 carriid on w hen the weatlier is fine. It is a connnon re])ort that 

 the trees yield the greatest quantity of milk at full moon. In 

 order to ascertain this, a number of very careful experiments 

 would rerpiire to he made, extending over one or two years. 



