m6,] THE TKOPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



54/ 



a great difference in the relative yield of different 

 varieties, sometimes amounting to 20 per cent. 



Mtthvd of i:.rtractvhj. — tiuttapercha is extracted in 

 much tliu same way amongst Malays, Chinese and 

 Dyaks. The trees are cnt down just above the buttresses 

 or bauees, as tbi y aie called ; and for this purpose 

 a staging about 14 to 10 feet high is erected. The 

 tools used in felling are either " bcliongs " or 

 " parang's." A " beliong " is a chisel-liko axe, used 

 by the Malays in cutting down trees, building houses, 

 &c. The blade, as will bo seen, is of a chisel- 

 like forn). and is secured to the handle by a lashiug 

 of •' rotan" or ca;<e. The Chinese often use an axe 

 perfectly wedge-shnpeJ. The '" parang" with its short 

 sword-like blade, is used to cut the rings round the 

 trunk ; it is a box of tools in itself in the hands of 

 a good Malay, as with it he can cut up his food 

 fell a tree, or building a house. They are made of 

 various sizes, the one figured was given me as a 

 keepsake by a Uadji from Talembang, on his as way 

 to Mecca, and is drawn quarter size. All these tools j 

 are forged by the natives themselves, and are used 1 

 with considerable dexterity. 



As soon as the tree is felled, the greatest haste is 

 made to lop off all the branches, the natives asserting 

 that if this is not done all the gutta would ascend 

 to the leaves. Captain Lingard relates one instance 

 where, it being late in the evening, one tree was 

 left with the branches on, and the result was that 

 in the morning, iustead of obtaining '10 to (JO lb. 

 of gutta only 10 lli. wn.-; obtained. The next operation 

 is to cut and remove narrow strips of bnrk about 1 

 in. broad ami about in. apart. These cuts do not ex- 

 tend all round the tree, the under part of the tree being 

 buried in the soft earth as it falls, and thus much gutta is 

 wasted. Some natives also strike the bark with mallets, in 

 order to accelerate the flow of milk. The milk or 

 gutta flows slowly (chaugiug colour as it flows) and 

 rapidly concretes, and is of a diffeitnt colour in 

 different varieties, varying from a yellDwish white 

 to a reddish or even brownish tinge. The gutta. as 

 it flows, is received in hollow bamboos, doubled-up 

 leaves, spathes of palms, pieces of bark, coconut 

 shells, or even in holes scraped in the ground. Only 

 two-thirds of the gutta is thus extracted, as one-third 

 is buried in the ground. Captain Lingard told me 

 that once he induced a native *' pungulu." or head 

 man, to roll over a tree which had been felled 

 four years, and even then a large quantity was 

 extracted. If the quantity collected is small, 

 it is prepared on the spot by pressing it together 

 in the hands into a mass, and making a hole in the 

 one end of the mass and passing a rotan through 

 to carry it by. Often it is sent into the market 

 iu this state, and is then known as " raw gutta" 

 or " getah rauutah," the latter word in JIalay meaning 

 '* raw." If water gets into the juice, the gutta 

 becomes stringy and is considered deteriorated, but 

 after iifing boiled appears quite as good. Sometimes 

 the gutia is kept in the raw state for a month or 

 two, and then undergoes the next step in preparation, 

 that is, of boiling, lint this should, I believe, take 

 place imiiui/iaic/'/ after collection. The boiling is 

 generally conducted in an iron pan or '■ kwali." 

 These are cast or stamped pans, 1.5 inches' in diameter 

 and 6 inches de(-p. with two handles ri\'etted on. 

 Those made in iSiam are generally preferred. The 

 boiling is either made with simple water or with the 

 addition of lime-fruit juice, salt, or coconut oil 

 Lime-fiuit juice and salt are added to hasten 

 coagulation. If one pint of the former be added to 

 three gallons of gutta milk, the gutta coagulates or 

 coagulates imnte<liately on ebullition, and this addition 

 expedites the prejiaration very materially, (,'oconut 

 oil is aiMwl t<T give a better appearance to the 

 product. 



When the gutt.i arrives at the port of shipment, 

 before it is exported it generally undergoes an 

 examination with a view to cla.ssification in suitable 

 classes. As it isreceL-^d it prcsent.s great diversities 

 as to appearance, shape, size, and colour ; from 

 cruuibliug, hardly coherent, whitish or greyish " raw" 



or getah muntah fragments, to reddish or browui^h 

 blocks as hard as wood. Sometimes it is made up 

 into all manner of grotesque shapes, and nearly 

 always adidterated with sago, flour, sawdust, bark, 

 clay, stones, &c. The Chinese are great adepts in 

 assorting .';nd classifying gutta, and frequently" reboil" 

 the guttapercha by making small parcels of different 

 varieties up to a certain " standard sample." This 

 is done by cutting or chopping the gutta into tln'n 

 slices and boiling with water in large, shallow iron 

 pans, keeping the contents constantly stirred with 

 p^'fs, and adding good gutta and even coi-uiiut 

 oi. to give gutta a better appearance. \A'heM 

 sufficiently hoileil, the gutta is taken out of the 

 l)ans, pres-fi into large moulds, and packed for 

 shipment. — Jndiimthher and Guttapercha Journal. 



THE SCIENTIFIC DEYING OP TEA. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE "HOME .\NI) COLONI.iI, JIAIL." 



Sir, — It IS amusing to see how old processess ami 

 patents are re-invented and announced with a grand 

 flourish of trumpets as "Remarkable l>isco\eries." 

 A large mare's nest of this order was '• discovered " 

 about a week ago, by the J)ailt/ Trleijravlt, and the 

 big egg that it contained has been handed •' arountt " 

 (as our American cousins say) for general woniler and 

 admiration, until your talented correspondent, Arlemus, 

 cracked the shell and reve&led, not a Thienix rising 

 from the fl.nmes, nor a Spread Eagle soaring to the 

 ■skies, but a half-fledged ugly duckling, with no loftier 

 note than an ominous " quack, ([uack." 



The fact that air may be rendered chemically dry 

 by being drawn or driven through many wellknown 

 simple and inexpensive chemical absorbents goes with- 

 out telling; also that dry air will reabsorb more 

 moisture than damp is not a very remarkable dis- 

 covery ; hence, it any of your numerous readers who 

 already possess our drying cylinders will care to put 

 this matter to the test of practical work, the.y can 

 do so most easily and thoroughly at the cost of a 

 few shillings. It would be merely necessary to adjust 

 a box containing the absorbent in front of the fire 

 and cause all the air required for combustion to pass 

 through that box : they would thus have air siqjplied 

 to the cylinder perfectly freed from moisture, how- 

 ever damp the atmosphere might be. 



Dry, warm coke broken into pieces of about the 

 size of a walnut is a very good absorbent; and woidd 

 cost really nothing, because as soon as it was s.-itur- 

 ated it could be changed for a fresh charge and put 

 upon the top of the furnace to get dry and warm 

 again, and thus serve the purpose ai/ injiiiitiaii. 



I agree with ^rtemus that it would be very well 

 worth trying this dried air for "withering;" fortius 

 purpose the fire should be reduced to a mere hand- 

 ful of hot fuel, and the cylinder lowered and rntated 

 so slowly as only just to turn the leaves over from 

 time to time to insure each leaf getting its fair share 

 (and no more) of the withering action. The temp- 

 erature of the air could be regulated to anything 

 that practice proved best from 60° to 13U° or any 

 degree higher that it might bear. The same sinipic 

 arrangement might be useful for drying also, because 

 dry air at a lower temperature will do as good work 

 as damp at a higher. 



If the withering process were a success by this 

 arrangement, I should advice cither a modification of 

 the cylinders, whereby they could be most economic- 

 ally constructed to do this special work or an ar- 

 rangement that has been in successful operation for 

 many years at the Jtoyal Gunpowder ^V'orks. This 

 machine was constructed from one of the motiels of 

 my patent, after .Sir Frederick Abel, ( 'olonel Young- 

 husband, and Mr. Anderson (of the firm E.'iston, 

 Amos & Co.), had- hem up to my place to test 

 the action of that model. It is simply the well-known 

 arrangement of a series of endless bands, one above 

 another, receiving the chargt^ on the topmost, bartd 

 and carrying it to and fro from band to band ui Id 

 it arrives at the exact ))oiut of dryness required. My 

 patent, therefore, is not for eudlcs-i bands and heat, 



