Vol. IX. No. 219. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



.30.? 



Hymenodiaele no.ria, has been found on rubber and cacao in 

 Apia, and one known as Poria vineta in Ceylon. An 

 unidentified white mycelium occurs on Hevea and Castilloa 

 in Java. Nearly all the forms, but particularly the first two, 

 commence their growth on old forest stumps, from which 

 they spread to the cultivated plants. 



Before closing this portion of the subject, reference must 

 be made to a disea.se of Castilloa trees which occurs in Ceylon 

 (Fetch. Tropical Agriculturist, Vol. XXVII, p. 86). This 

 disease resembles the foot rot of orange trees. An open 

 wound appears at the collar, and extends upwards along the 

 stem, and downwards over the roots. The disease is due to 

 a species of Fusarium which appears as small white tufts 

 issuing from cracks in the apparently healthy bark. It is 

 encouraged by excessive shade or bad drainage, as is the 

 orange tree disease, which has also been attributed to 

 Fusarium sp. The remedial measures are the same as those 

 usually recommended for foot rot. (.See Afjricultural Xeu:% 

 Vol. VIII, p. 248.) 



This article will be followed by one, in the ne.xt number 

 of the Agricultural News, in which it is intended to deal 

 with the diseases occurring on the stem, leaves and fruits of 

 rubber plants 



TAPPING PARA RUBBER TREES. 



Bulletin No. 10 of the Department of Agriculture 

 of the Federated Malay States has been issued recently 

 under the title of A Lecture on the Fara Ruhber Tire, 

 by W. J. Gallagher, M.A., Director of Agriculture. 

 From this the following' extracts are taken: — 



BEST KIND OF TAPFiNc. Tapping oue quarter at one 

 time is certainly the best for the tree. The renewal will be 

 better, and from actual experience I am inclined to infer the 

 flow will be better. I do not quite see why one quarter 

 tapped over one year should not be followed instead of two 

 quarters tapped over two years. The former has much to 

 recommend it, and is, I believe, the system of the future. We 

 know there is a limit to the closeness of cuts, and to the 

 number which may be put on a tree, and this may, in a three 

 years' renewal system, make the single quarter undesirable. 



The full herring-bone system is occasionally varied by 

 tapping three months on one half, resting two; then three on 

 the other half, followed by two months' rest, and back again 

 for three months to the first side tapped. This is undoubtedly 

 wasteful. Every time a change is made, each cut must be 

 tapped at least three times before a normal fiow of latex begins. 

 "With a tapping force of 300 coolies, this is a loss of 1,800 

 names in ten months. 



M.VKKING OUT TREES. Unless j'ou have your trees 

 marked out on a definite system, you can hardly hope to have 

 good tapping. I still find, on otherwise well managed estates, 

 that on the same tree, bark of three difterent ages is being 

 tapped. At best, this nuist be slow work, and only a good 

 coolie can do it well. There is no longer an excuse for a man 

 to tell you his cuts are the length of the knife apart, and he 

 expects them to last seven or eight months. 



Nobody can say if the system of to-day will be the 

 system of next year, but this is no reason why you should 

 not have a system. 



The factors to be considered are: — 



1. Time for renewal. 



2. Number of tapping days per year. 

 .3. Number of cuts to the inch. 



The accumulation of experience shows that the first 

 should be put down at four years. On the one half 



herring-bone system one quarter must be finished in one 

 A-ear, and in 3.50 or 17-5 days tapping, according as every day 

 or alternate day tapping is followed; fifteen days at least 

 must be allowed for holidays, breakdowns of machinery, rain 

 and other unforeseen difficulties. 



NUMBER OF CUTS TO THE INCH. It is a matter of experi- 

 ence that more latex per cut is obtained when the coolie does 

 twenty five cuts to the inch than when he does fifteen, with 

 the advantages in the former case that there is (a) only three- 

 fifths of the bark to be renewed for the same tapping period, and 

 (b) at least 60 per cent, more latex obtained from equal areas. 

 I believe it will pay better to try to increase the number of 

 cuts to the inch, rather than to emphasize going in close to the 

 cambium, though both should of course be done. Twenty 

 cuts to the inch may be considered as the minimum to be 

 obtained. Anything le.ss than this indicates, to my mind, 

 a fault somewhere in management and supervision. Twenty- 

 three may be considered as average, and twenty-five or over 

 as very good. 



Dl.sT.ANCEs TO PUT CUTS APART Hence with twenty 

 cuts to the inch and alternate day tapping on a system in 

 which only one quarter is completely tapped in one year, the 

 cuts .should be 17.5 (days) -^- 20 (cuts) = 8i inches apart. 

 That is, the number of tajiping days in the period of time 

 you want the quarter of the tree to last is divided by the 

 number of cuts you can get into the inch. 



If every day tapping is followed, the cuts should be 3-50 

 (days) -=-20 (cuts) = 17 h inches apart. 



1 may say here that a system in which the cuts are 8| 

 inches apart should not be followed. The cuts will become 

 dry after a few months tapping. 



Where adjacent or opposite quarters are tapped on an 

 allowance of four years for renewal, the cuts should be: with 

 alternate day tapping 2 x 175 (days) -f- 20 (cuts) = 17i inches 

 apart, every day tapping 2x330 (days) -^ 20 (cuts) = 35 

 inches apart. 



The above distances do not consider ' resting"; where 

 a manager decides to ' rest', he will have fewer tapping days 

 in the year, and his cuts will be proportionately closer. 



Having decided how far apart the cuts should be, the 

 next thing is to mark out the tree by vertical lines into 

 quarters. 



The ' inner" lines to conduct the latex should not be deeper 

 or wider than is necessary for their purpose. The outer 

 guiding lines should be as shallow and as narrow as possible; 

 they should be just distinct enough to mark clearly the 

 boundaries of the cuts. When the vertical lines are too deep, 

 the lateral passage of building material into the area between 

 the cuts is interfered with. The cuts should be marked off 

 parallel to each other, and always kept parallel. The tendency 

 of the coolie to cut away more at the end of the cut next to 

 the main channel must be repressed. Every cut must be 

 carried out to end bluntly at the outer edges of the guiding 

 lines. Too often, the cut is seen to get gradually shallower, 

 and about ^'^j^-inch is lost at each end, which, when totalled 

 for a coolie's daily task, will be found to be equivalent to 

 two or three trees; and the loss is greater than thi.s, for the 

 labour of cutting the area is done imperfectly. 



The coolie should be provided with a stick on which 

 inches are marked; he should be made clearly to understand 

 that the distance of an inch must last him twenty-five days, 

 or whatever number of cuts to the inch the manager is 

 content to get. 



The information given regarding the tapping of 

 young trees, distances for planting, thinning out, 

 topping trees, and pr\ining, will be reproduced in the 

 next number of the Agricultural News. 



