63 



Mr. Pinching asked Mr. Eichards to express his opinion as to 

 whether he does or does not consider that deep tapping encourages 

 infection by Phytophthora — " black thi'ead." 



Mr. Richards replied that he had not sufficient experience of 

 the disease to offer an expression of opinion but that he thought deeply 

 tapped trees would not suffer any more severely than those lightly 

 tapped. He added that lie hoped no planter present would seriously 

 consider it policy to commence shallow tapping because the question 

 had been raised. 



Mr. Ellis advocated deeper tapping as liable to show disease 

 more easily, besides being moi'e beneficial for latex. 



Mr. Pinching said tliat Messrs. Hai-risons and Crosfield had a 

 solution that was said to be exactly the same as used in Sumatra, 

 but what puzzled him was that they did not get the same results. 



Mr. Richards said he had not tried it, and so could not say. 



