17'J 



over two tons of cups would be carried out ami used everyday. The 

 labour <>r washing' and drying the waste of latex as scrap from the 

 cups to say nothing of the wear and tear which is excessive, when 

 they have to he forced into the hark oi the tree in fixing, require it 

 to he very clearly and definitely established that a superior yield of 

 rubber results from this system of tapping it' it is not to be entirely 

 condemned. It certainly is not a system, which in the present state 

 of our knowledge can be recommended. 



Another system of tapping which I understand was first, tried in 

 Ceylon is to make single cuts in such a position that the end of one is 

 two or three inches vertically above the beginning of the second. 

 These two cuts are then connected by a narrow vertical cut. 



The way in which this system has been evolved, is, I think easy 

 to see. The number of cups required with single cuts and the labour 

 involved in their use had, even with small estates, become consider- 

 able, and evidently by connecting the cuts in pairs the number of 

 cups required would be halved. But if the intention be to economise 

 cups and labour, this system does not go far enough, and in any case 

 it is difficult to see the advantage of this fancy zig-zag cut over a 

 single straight cut extending from the commencement of the first to 

 the end of the second cut. 



This system has, I consider nothing to commend it, and in the 

 irregular scarring of the bark and difficulty in fitting in new cuts on 

 subsequent occasions on the areas untapped, is a special difficulty. 



A third system is that known as V cutting, and the name 

 explains the arrangement perfectly. The original cuts are reopened 

 from day to day as in the case of the system of single cuts. There is 

 an economy of half the cups required on the single system, but there 

 the advantage over that system ceases. There is, however, the same 

 objection of irregularity and lack of adaptability to a systematic 

 working over the whole of the tapping area of the trunk, together 

 with the additional disadvantage that the apex of the V is a weak 

 point where the bark and the wood are apt to be badly wounded. 



The three methods already described are difficult to carry out on 

 a definite system in such a way that the whole of the tappable area 

 shall be worked over in a definite time. They involve an excessive 

 amount of scarring of an irregular kind and require too many cups. 



The two methods that remain to be considered are known as the 

 herring bone and half-herring bone. The " herring-bone " is made 

 as follows : — a channel is cut vertically from the base of the trunk to 

 a height of two, three or four feet according to the size of the tree, 

 branching from this eentral cut are lateral inclined cuts at regular 

 distances apart and alternately placed to the right and left of the 

 central channel. The half herring bone differs from the herring bone 

 in that the lateral cuts are on one side only of the central channel 

 and they are usually of greater length. On reopening, the central 

 vertical channel is left untouched, but the lower face of each lateral 

 cut is reopened. 



The vertical channel is merely a conduit for the latex and the 

 collecting cup is placed at the lower end of it. These two methods 

 of tapping present some very real advantages, in the first place the 



