TREES THAT COUNT MANIHOT GLAZIOVII 59 



lactiferous vessels. Here is a system in vogue in 

 German East Africa. The inner bark, having first 

 been dressed with a rubbing of the flesh of a fresh 

 gathered lime, is pricked as already described. The 

 latex coagulates as it runs down the bark, and is after- 

 wards collected in the form of " scrap ", taken to the 

 factory and ultimately turned out as smoked sheet, 

 crepe, or block as desired. Both the Mkumbi 

 and the Manihot Rubber Estates are now marketing 

 their Ceara rubber in this form. 



The Manihot always produces its best and largest 

 quantity of latex during a drought. It often happens 

 that attempts to tap the tree in the rainy season re- 

 sult in apparent complete sterilisation. It is a good 

 plan then to expose and tap severely the largest of 

 the bulbous roots. An excellent flow of latex 

 generally results, and the tree is not affected in any 

 way by such drastic treatment, providing the opera- 

 tion is carefully performed and the roots well covered 

 up afterwards. 



