97 



from 1 to 2 inches in every direction from the wound. An ordi- 

 nary pruning knife is suitable, but every care must be taken that 

 the incisions do not reach the canbium layer ; a very narrow chisel 

 or a flattened bradawl will also serve the purpose ; but it is better 

 to use a knife with a guard, to prevent the incisions from being 

 made too deep. If the latex does not coagulate quickly, the acid 

 solution is not strong enough. In damp weather the acid will 

 be required to be stronger than in cold weather. The requisite 

 strength will soon be found from experience. 



Formerly, when the system was first started in German East 

 Africa, the rubber was rolled off the tree into round balls. It 

 followed, of course, that particles of bark and dirt became mixed 

 with the rubber, and the product was consequently of poor qual- 

 ity. Latterly, however, this method has been improved upon, 

 and instead of the rubber being rolled into a ball, it is now rolled 

 off from the tree onto a small -wooden roller in such a way as to 

 form a sheet when cut from the roller lengthways. The latter 

 method is a great advance on the method of collecting in the 

 form of balls, as the tapper can from time to time dip the roller 

 into a pail of water and wash off particles of bark and dirt, and 

 subsequently put the sheet through a water. 



The tapper should be provided with a rough scrnbbine brush, 

 acid, and a small hand whitewash brush, for annlving the acid, 

 a wooden roller about 6 inches long bv 2^/ inches in diameter, 

 and a Dail or calabash of clean water. In addition to the tapper 

 it is advisable to have a second bov to follow him to collect the 

 rubber, for if too many trees are tapped at a time the rubber from 

 the first trees will not be so easv to roll off. When rolling the 

 ribbons off thev should be distributed over the roller as evenly 

 as possible. It is desirable that the Mieets should not be too thick, 

 so the rubber should be removed at intervals according to the 

 desired thickness. The size of the sheets would vary, of course, 

 according to the size of the roller used. It is desirable that the 

 sheets should be of uniform thickness and size, so the rollers 

 should be all the same size. The rubber should not be exposed 

 to light more than is possible, so whenever the roller is not in 

 use it should be kept in a pail of water, and the sheets that have 

 been collected should also be kept in water and brought in from 

 the plantation twice a day, after the morning and evening: tapping. 



It is stated that further experimentation is necessary before a 

 definite opinion as to the merits of this method can be expressed. 



THE SMOKE CURE FOR RUBBER. 



Little is known in Java about the cure of latex by smoking, 

 this being the primitive method adopted nearly a century ago 

 by the Amazon Indians and still survives, in the treatment of 

 wild-grown Hard Para. Dr. K. Goeter, writing to the Sumatra 



