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CHAPTER III. 

 Hevea Brasiliensis. 



TAPPING SYSTEMS DR. FITTING'S METHOD— IMPORTANT 



DISCOVERIES. 



IT was inevitable that with the introduction of the 

 Hevea into the tropical planter's category of 

 exploitable plants there should be associated with 

 the industry it created new methods, employed not 

 only with the manipulation of the product it repre- 

 sented, but also with the treatment of the tree 

 itself. 



Thus very early in the history of plantation rubber 

 the problem of tapping Hevea so as to yield a fair 

 profit vexed many anxious investors. In the first 

 place, little or nothing was known of the methods 

 practised from time immemorial in Brazil, the home 

 of the plant, and, again, no definite line of action was 

 in evidence at the Government Experimental Gardens 

 that are scattered about the Far Eastern seas. In 

 many of these places ready facilities appear to have 

 been offered for any peregrinating crank to obtrude 

 his ideas on tapping upon a patient staff, and the 

 handiwork of these mischievous visitors afflicts the 

 vision on every hand. A careful system of progres- 



