262 



hardly good, regardless of its paradox, for the two series seem to have 

 been separated by at least four inches of uncut bark. The lower 

 edge of the cuts was excised at each tapping. Two excellent illustra- 

 tions of this method of tapping were given on page l68 of the 

 India Rubber Journal, for July 31st, 1905, the trees being No. 196 

 and another now dead; further, tree 152, similarly tapped, can b3 

 seen in one of the illustrations on page 166. 



Experiment 2 also compared morning with evening tapping; 

 and it compared Bonnechaux's Brasilian method, subject to the 

 change above noted iu the tool used, with tapping by ten long ob- 

 lique cuts reopened at different intervals of time, and with herring- 

 bone tapping. 



Mr. H. Overbeck has very kindly put at the writer's disposal a 

 photograph of tree No. 174 which shows the scars of the tapping 

 after Bonnechaux, done on that tree in 1904. Tree 356, treated in the 

 same way, was figured in the plates attached to the November, 

 1905, issue of the Agricultural Bulletin of the Straits and F.M.S , and 

 tree 148 was excellently figured in the India Rubber Journal, for 

 July 31st, 1905, page 166, as well as others now dead on page 169. Mr. 

 Overbeck's photograph is here reproduced on plate 2 (p. 249). Ten of 

 the little cuts seen in it were made daily in the experiment. The 

 first contrast to it was of tappings by converging cuts superposed in 

 a series — just as described under experiment I; and the second con- 

 trast to it was of herring-bone tapping. The herring-bone tapping of 

 this year has been well illustrated. A plate showing a herring-bone 

 scar of 1904 on tree No. 2 was given with the issue of the Agricultural 

 Bulletin of the Straits and F.M.S. , for July, 1908: another plate of tree 

 No. 2, is issued with this number which also shows a herring-bone 

 scar of the same year. The plate issued with the number for June, 

 1905 of a tre J now dead shows the scar of 1904 which has ten side cuts, 

 as well as the ends of an earlier scar which has but eight. This tree 

 was one of a row figured on page 167 of the India Rubber Journal, of 

 July 31st, 1905, more of wliich are there seen to have been tapped in 

 the same way in 1904. A plate prepared long ago, but only now issued 

 with this number shows a scar uf the year on the tree No. 7 with five 

 cuts on one side and six on the other. It is on the whole evident that 

 herring-bone tappings of this year had generally five cuts on each side. 

 It also evident that in making the converging cuts of the contrast, 

 there were five pairs of converging (or diverging) cuts, so to give 

 approximately the same amount of cut surface in each case. But of 

 course in the imitation brasilian tapping the cuts being short, very 

 much fewer laiiciferous vessels would be made to bleed than in the two 

 contrasts; and naturally the method produced much less rubber; 

 the experiment thus was a not quite fair one ; but with the results 

 in rubber we are hei-e little concerned. In connection with the cutt- 

 ing resulting, the reader's attention is specially directed to the last 

 qiioted plate; for in it the pruning knife, used in making the first cuts 

 and sometimes afterwards, is tlistinctly seen. 



