PART III. 



INFERENCES AND FRESH PROBLEMS RESULTING 

 FROM MY EXPERIMENTS. 



Having now obtained the proof, that in the case of some 

 tapping systems, namely, those which involve the extension of cuts 

 over the whole of the tree's circumference, an adequate supply of 

 organic food material for the wants of the base of the tree, cannot 

 be conveyed in a downward direction across the incisions, we must 

 now face the important question, whether the cuts will not in 

 time injure the tree seriously. As I have explained already, 

 injury is certain when the reservoirs at the base of the tree are 

 emptied, and cannot be replaced by a sufficient quantity of material 

 from the crown. It is quite impossible to obtain this fresh 

 supply, at least so long as the food channels are repeatedly 

 severed down to the cambium by repetitional tapping incisions, 

 that is, not before the end of each tapping period. If the tapping 

 period is a long one, and the tree comparatively young and 

 therefore still in the stage of rapid growth, it may be possible 

 that the reserve material will be completely exhausted even during 

 the first tapping period and that injury to the tree will be manifest, 

 for instance, in the deterioration in quality of the renewed latex. 

 Moreover, as I have already pointed out, we are at present still 

 quite ignorant, whether or not, the supplementary latex will be 

 poorer in quality, after a certain lack of food has really set in, even 

 though the reservoirs in the wood have been by no means 

 completely emptied. These problems, which are of the greatest 

 importance, in rubber cultivation, will at some future time require 

 thorough investigation on the lines I have indicated. 



But even when the tapping period has come to an end, a 

 long time will elapse, and this we can maintain with certainty, 



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