PLANTATION RUBBER INDUSTRY OF THE EAST. 493 



Secondly, he adopted the herring-bone method described 

 by Collins, in preference to the single V's or isolated oblique 

 cuts described by other writers. It is probable that this was 

 not adopted from CoUins, but from local Malay practice. 

 Wray (" Rubber Growing in Perak ") stated that this was the 

 way the Ipoh trees were tapped by the wild tribes of Perak, 

 and that it was also used by Malays in tapping trees for bird- 

 Ume. It was employed at Taiping in July, 1897 (Wray), and 

 by Derry at Kuala Kangsar, August, 1897. Wray also records 

 that the Kuala Kangsar trees were tapped in this way by 

 Malays in 1888-9. 



But more important than either of these, Ridley described 

 the method, now universally employed, of re-opening the 

 original cut. This was an entirely new departure from the 

 methods in vogue on the Amazon, and it is not too much to 

 say that it, more than anything else, has made rubber planting 

 a pajdng industry. 



Ridley estimated that 2 lb. per year could be obtained from 

 a five- or six-year old tree, and recorded that a nine-year 

 old tree tapped every day for a week had yielded 30 ounces. 

 Tapping was performed with a chisel and a hammer. The latex 

 was collected in cigarette tins provided with a Ud, allowed 

 to coagulate naturally in the tin, and dried in the sun. He 

 advised that it was best to tap in the evening as the latex is 

 then thicker, and that the trees should be planted 12 feet 

 apart, or even closer. The latter recommendation was in 

 accordance with the idea that it was best to have as many 

 stems as possible to the acre and to prevent branching low 

 down, while the former agrees with the method of natural 

 coagulation in the cup. The latex was left in the cup all 

 night and the coagulated rubber collected the following 

 morning. 



In the same year (1897) Curtis tapped one of the Penang 

 trees which had been planted in 1886. He recorded that only 

 half an ounce of rubber was obtained on the first day, but by 

 renewing the cuts on seven subsequent occasions 1 lb. of dry 

 rubber was obtained. The rubber was allowed to coagulate 

 naturally and was dried in the sun. Part of the sample was 

 sent to England in the following year, and was valued at 3.s. 3d. 



