SMOKING RUBBER 213 



timber walls and the ceiling supply just the amount of ventila- 

 tion which is requisite. It is only when the coolies have to go 

 into the smoking-houses that it is necessary to open some of the 

 shutters to give them air to breathe. The number of fires 

 necessary to produce an adequate amount of smoke and the 

 best fuel to employ are soon ascertained from experience. 

 This should not be left to coolies to decide upon, but should 

 be the subject of careful experiment and investigation by the 

 manager himself, who should then lay down a rule to be followed. 

 In many smoking-houses the smoke is produced from small 

 fires of wood and bark, burning in various spots on the earth. 

 In other cases the fires are contained in buckets, but these 

 soon get burned out and something better is required. By 

 neither of these methods is the smoke in any way purified. If 

 some means could be devised whereby the smoke could be 

 purified of soot without and this is essential- losing its 

 astringent, antiseptic qualities, great benefits would accrue. 

 This is a matter which is occupying the attention of engineers. 

 Various machines are being experimented with, which blow into 

 the smoking-sheds fumes generated from creosote allowed to fall 

 drop after drop on to a hot plate. 



Smoking-houses should be kept quite apart from factories, 

 and in no case should a section of a factory be divided off and 

 used for the purpose of smoking rubber. There is always the 

 danger 1 of fire to consider, a danger much minimized when the 

 smoking-house is kept apart. Cases of fire in smoking-houses 

 are comparatively common, and no precaution should be 

 neglected. 



Another point to consider is : What is, or will be, the cheapest 

 method of manufacture? Rubber may not always maintain 

 nearly such high prices as are at present being received for 

 it. A period of low prices for rubber, if at all prolonged, will 

 cause many heart-searchings. In such circumstances desperate 

 efforts would undoubtedly be made to reduce costs of the up- 

 keep of estates and of the production and manufacture of 

 rubber. In other portions of this book ways and means have 

 been indicated by which greater efficiency can be attained in 

 the better conduct of estates, in improving their condition, and 

 by means of better methods of tapping of reducing the costs of 

 obtaining the latex. 



