CHAPTER XXV 



DRYING RUBBER 



AFTER the sheets of rubber come from the washing-mills 

 many planters hang up the day's output at one end of the 

 factory in order that superfluous water may drip off during the 

 night before the rubber is sent to the drying-house. In one 

 factory there is a sloping platform behind the mills covered with 

 zinc, on which the sheets of wet rubber are laid down so that 

 the water may, to a considerable extent, run off before the 

 sheets are dispatched to the drying-shed. 



Drying-houses should be so constructed as to ensure a good 

 circulation of air. There should be numerous openings all 

 round the sides on a level with the floor, other openings all 

 round the eaves, and several large ventilating openings with 

 cowls on the roof. Warm, stagnant air without circulation will 

 not dry rubber properly. A cement floor is essential. If 

 wooden flooring is used, or the drying-house is built without any 

 floor, dampness will always be drawn up from the soil and the 

 rubber sheets will be covered with mould spots. 



Several estates construct their own drying-houses, pur- 

 chasing, locally, cement, expanded metal for the openings, 

 galvanized-iron sheeting for the roofing, and obtaining from 

 their own jungle-reserves the hard- wood timbers required for 

 the framework. A drying-house 100 feet long by 30 feet wide, 

 put together in this way, costs about 800 in the Federated 

 Malay States. Where this is not convenient local engineering 

 firms are always willing to tender for the supply and erection of 

 such buildings. 



Herewith are given details of two such buildings, the first 

 one being supplied and erected in the Federated Malay States 

 and the second one in Sumatra. 



Steel building for drying-house, 60 feet long by 40 feet wide, 

 10 feet high at eaves, 3-in. rolled-steel stanchions at i5-feet 



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