34 THE WHOLE ART OF RUBBER-GROWING 



and the drastic treatment of two years ago, is again 

 marked out for next season's operations. Thus the 

 whole circumference of the tree is deprived of its bark 

 and tapped over a period of three years. The system 

 employed is that of the half-herring-bone. Dr. 

 Fitting's method is being very widely adopted in the 

 Mid-East, but one cannot yet make any definite 

 pronouncement as to its merits or demerits. For 

 the moment the planter is content to regard it as 

 an excellent way of keeping the coolies more con* 

 stantly to the grindstone, and his trees under purview 

 hourly and daily throughout the season. 



A sketch of Dr. Fitting's method as applied to 

 each of the three sections in turn is appended : 



/6"G/Wh 



A First season's section. The tapping 

 commences at (t), (2) and (3), the amount 

 of bark removed each day being \ inch in 

 each case. Thus 82 operations are re- 

 quired before the whole of the bark in the 

 section is removed, but the actual tappings 

 are often 100 or more. 



b Shows the section to be operated upon 

 during the second season. 



c Tapping girth of exploitable trees. 



d Length of tapping bole 36 inches. 



E Sections of 12 inches, \ inch of 

 which is daily stripped of its bark and 

 tapped throughout the season. 



f Latex cup at base of channel. 



In some cases planters are dividing their trees into 

 two sections only, whilst in others I found that a 

 decided timidness and uncertainty had directed the 

 owners towards operating on as small an area as 

 possible, so that they were marking off their trees 



