129 



The smoking" of the sheets only requires a few days; 

 then they are dried for about three weeks. 



The price of sheet is a few pence per pound higher 

 than that of crepe. 



b. Crepe. 



Crepe is made by the roller machine. The two cylinders 

 of the same are provided with screws; they turn with 

 irregular speed, whereas, with the use of the roller- 

 machine for the manufacture of sheet, the cylinders turn 

 with regular speed and slower; also for sheet the distance 

 between the rolls must be made wider. 



The coagulated latex is fed through the crepe machine, 

 and is sprinkled with water; if the lumps of freshly 

 coagulated latex are too large, they are first cut with a 

 wet knife. By the screwed cylinders turning with irre- 

 gular speed the mass is kneaded and stretched; after 

 having passed the roller a few times, it has the form of 

 a sheet with an uneven surface. In this form the crepe 

 is hung in the drying house; sometimes only the edges 

 are cut off; the long ribbons are generally cut to a 

 uniform length. 



The drying as a rule is effected without artificial heat; 

 on one estate, I saw a vacuum dryer, which was heated 

 by steam by which the air was dried. Otherwise, the 

 drying takes place in a drying-house, built of wood, 

 with corrugated iron roof. A floor divides the drying 

 house into an upper and lower story; the upper story 

 serves for a drying room, the lower for the packing- 

 room. This floor consists of beams which are laid at 

 wide intervals on the transverse beams, so that the air 



