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Each assistant will be supplied with a note book, the pages of 

 which are ruled in the above manner, and he is expected to make 

 field-notes of any observations made during work or while riding 

 over the estate. The notes are written on the card in a position 

 indicating the place in the block, so that the men in the office are 

 able to direct a foreman to attend to any small matter needing 

 adjustment. From these cards maps can be drawn showing the 

 exact condition of the plantation at any special time. 



These notes are handed to the superintendent at the end of the 

 day's work and then copied on permanent cards which are filed 

 i 1 drawers in special cabinets. In this manner a large amount 

 of detail is always ready for reference, and the history of any 

 particular block can be learnt in a few minutes time. With this 

 system we will not be much handicapped through changes in the 

 staff, as a new assistant with ordinary intelligence can grasp the 

 details of the plantation in a few days. Similar notes are to be 

 kept of tapping and all other operations in the field. 



We have fully realized the necessity of training our tappers, 

 and we expect an ordinary tapper to cut 1,000 incisions per day, 

 that is to say, tap 250 trees with four incisions, up to one foot long. 

 Tapping should be done between 5 and II a.m.. Evening tappings 

 will not be practised as the distances are too great, and it would 

 not pay to have the men walk several miles to tap probably one 

 hour in the evening. Moreover, in our rainy season it almost 

 invariably rains in the afternoon, and tapping must cease during a 

 heavy rain to prevent loss of latex from washing. 



The problem that faces us within a few years on La Zacu- 

 alpa is to tap over two million rubber trees. We know that we have 

 to tap these twice in the six months season available. A simple 

 mathematical calculation shows the amount of labour necessary, as 

 well as the great importance of our developing as economical and 

 labour saving methods as possible. Fortunately rubber is a crop 

 which will stand more expensive labour than almost any other 

 tropical product, even if we had a drop of over 50 per cent, in the 

 present market prices. 



In tapping a Castillo, tree all the latex exudes from the wound 

 in a time varying from 20 minutes to two hours. After that time 

 very little latex appears. Two days after tapping all wounds are 

 inspected and cleaned of scrap. If an incision has been too deep, 

 penetrating into the wood, the wound is disinfected by the scrap 

 collector, who for that purpose carries a brush and a can with a 

 mixture, the application of which prevents fungi from getting a 

 foothold. A normal wound, where the wood is still covered by 

 cambium, heals quickly and is not, as a rule, attacked by borers 

 or fungi. 



The amount of latex obtained from a single tapping is so large 

 that on old trees quite good-sized cups are needed. The system 

 of pushing the edge of the cup under the bark is not suitable on 

 Castillo, as latex will run to waste from the wound made, and the 

 hold of the bark on the rather large cups is not sufficient. They 

 sometimes drop, and this must be prevented. Driving nails into 



