258 



In 1901 Mr. Ridley went on long leave; and with this what 

 may be regarded as the first period of experimental tapping in the 

 Botanic Gardens, Singapore, came to an end. 



In the same year Mr. Stanley Arden came out from Kew to take 

 ■charge of the Perak rubber plantations, etc. In his experiments at 

 Sitiawan, in Perak (1901-02), the form of the wound varied greatly, 

 but it was always excised (Report on Hevea brasiliensis, Taiping, 

 1902). He used at first a carpenter's chisel and a wooden mallet, but 

 entirely discarded these later in favour of a very sharp pruning 

 knife. He experimented with straight cuts at an angle of 30 six 

 inches apart, six inches long in a vertical series of twelve (to find out 

 which part of the trunk should be tapped) reopened ten times, five 

 each day over twenty-four days ; and (2) V-cuts in series of five or 

 of twelve, each limb six inches long and the angle as before, reopened 

 five times or ten times over twenty-four days or twelve times over 

 twenty-four days ; and (3) herring-bone cuts at different heights, 

 each vertical channel 2^/^ feet long draining six side channels in all, 

 each one foot long, reopened on fourteen consecutive days ; or (4) 

 herring-bone cuts one foot long with three feeders two on one side 

 and the third on the other, eight inches long and one foot apart, 

 reopened on eight consecutive days. 



The conclusion was reached that cuts or small herring-bone cuts 

 on the lower part of the trunk not above six feet appear desirable 

 (p. n). 



Mr. Derry at Kwala Kangsar in this year was using herring- 

 bones with the "centre channel about four feet " long having "five 

 oblique cuts on each side"; three herring-bones were made on each 

 tree (Annual Report quoted in Agricultural Bulletin of the Straits 

 and F.M.S., i., 1902, p. 327). 



When Mr. Ridley returned from leave in 1902, it appears that 

 more regular tappings were instituted in the Botanic Gardens ; and 

 when on July 1st., Mr. A.D. Machado joined the department, the latter 

 took charge of the work. Herring-bone incisions were used (vide 

 Agricultural Bulletin of the Straits and F.M.S., ii., 1903, p. 45) : and in 

 one or two they were carried up to an unusual height as is seen in 

 the plate included in this number. The plate in question well shows 

 liow the side cuts were opposed in spite of Mr. Wray's excellent 

 advice. 



In February 1903, a Monsieur Bonnechaux, who had lived 

 among the seringuieros of the Amazons, visited the Gardens, and 

 advised against the excision method in use, saying that it would 

 kill trees in the Amazon region very rapidly ; and he recommended 

 the incision method that he had used himself in Brazil. So far he 

 carried his point that under his direction 150 trees were tapped (vide 

 Agricultural Bulletin of the Straits and F.M.S., ii., 1903, p. 45). Some of 

 these tre:s were virgin, but many had been tapped before. 



