PROBABLE LIFE OF A TREE 35 



cropping. With Para and Cocoa cropping can be 

 easily controlled, but with Coffee it is rather 

 different. 



Para. The cropping of Para is the extraction 

 of latex from the tree, and necessitates wounding 

 the bark. Tapping must, therefore, be carried 

 on only to such an extent that it does not inter- 

 fere with the normal growth and development of 

 the tree. A system of light tapping which can be 

 practised on young trees has been discussed in 

 another chapter, but it may be stated here that the 

 effect of tapping should be very closely watched. 

 Care must always be taken not to tap too deeply 

 lest the cambium layer of the tree be injured, and 

 also to secure that the removal of bark by paring 

 is not too rapid. 



When the trees are bare of leaves a stage 

 known as wintering and until the new leaves are 

 well grown, tapping should cease. This winter- 

 ing of the trees corresponds to the fall of the leaf 

 in temperate climates ; and the few days it is bare, 

 is the only period of rest the Para tree indulges in. 

 With our young plantations resting is very 

 irregular some trees rest in one month, and some 

 in another but as the trees get older this will 



