CHAPTER XXI 



TAPPING 



'"f ^HE object of all well-considered tapping should be to get 

 as much latex as possible from the trees with the smallest 

 excision of bark convenient, so as not to interfere, or to inter- 

 fere as little as can be helped, with the health of the trees and 

 their capacity for continuing to yield latex year after year 

 during a long lifetime. 



During severe droughts it is frequently advisable to cease 

 tapping operations for a time. The trees need all their vitality 

 to stand the effects of the drought, and the additional strain 

 caused by tapping operations at such times is apt to affect the 

 general health of the tree and hinder its recovery from the 

 effects of the drought. Apart from these reasons it is wasteful 

 policy to pare away bark for such very small returns of latex 

 as are customary in times of severe drought. There are other 

 times when it may be advisable to reduce at least the extent 

 of tapping operations, such as when trees are wintering. At 

 this season of the year the trees, having no foliage, are receiving 

 no additional supplies of plant-food from day to day, and are 

 simply living on their reserve stocks of food-supplies. 



It is seldom worth while to start tapping operations unless 

 at least 50 per cent, of the trees on a given area are of sufficient 

 girth to make tapping operations advisable. Eighteen inches 

 of girth, at 3 feet from the ground, is the generally-recognized 

 dimension at which tapping may be properly commenced. 

 Some planters favour 20 inches girth at 3 feet from the ground, 

 while in practice on many estates one sees trees of 15 inches 

 girth at 3 feet from the ground being vigorously tapped. 



Tapping, especially severe tapping, undoubtedly interferes 

 with the growth of the trees. The best-yielding trees known 

 to the writer were not tapped till nine years of age. It is an 

 open question whether it would not well repay estates to delay 



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