GOLD COAST REPORT ON FORESTS. 119 



(a) When the wounds caused by making one complete series 

 of cuts, as described above, have completely healed, another 

 series of tappings can be carried out on the opposite side of the 

 tree, and, when these in their turn have healed, on one of the 

 two remaining sides of the tree that have so far not been tapped. 

 The fourth series should then (after the cuts from the third series 

 have completely healed) be carried out on the remaining uncut 

 side. Subsequent tappings on each section of the trunk should 

 be carried out so as not to tap any portion of the bark a second 

 time until the w r hole of the untouched surface of the bark on 

 that section has been tapped. The tappings, of course, should 

 on each occasion be limited to the proper season of the year. 



Experience has shown that complicated methods are, in the 

 absence of adequate supervision, unsuited for the tapping of 

 wild trees growing in the forest, however desirable such systems 

 may be for plantation trees where the operations can be properly 

 directed and checked. Funtumia elastica is, in comparison with 

 the Para rubber tree, far less resistant to injuries caused by tap- 

 ping, and, consequently, such operations should be carried out 

 veiy lightly on it, special care being taken not to cut down to 

 the cambium zone of tissues. For this reason, the method of 

 removing successive thin shavings of bark off the sides of the 

 channels on alternate days is to be discouraged. 



Rule 17 should be abolished, and the following substituted 

 for it : 



Vines are not to be tapped during the period December to 

 June. In tapping them the stem should be severed by a clean 

 cut flush with the ground and the latex then collected from the 

 severed portions of the vines by cutting the latter into small 

 sections and collecting the latex from each piece. 



The latex collected from vines must be strained through muslin 

 or wire gauze or otherwise cleaned in order to get rid of extra- 

 neous matter before it is coagulated. 



Rule 18 should be modified to the effect thai, on no account are 

 the latices of Funtumia elastica, Ficus Vogelii, and Landolpliia 

 owariensis to be mixed one with another, and the mixtures then 

 coagulated for the preparation of rubber. Each of the three 

 kinds of latex must be kept pure and coagulated separately. 

 Any licence-holder found guilty of preparing rubber adulterated 

 with dirt or other extraneous matter, or actually found preparing 

 rubber from latices mixed with those of the three species men- 

 tioned, will be liable to have his licence forfeited. 



Rule 19 should, I think, be abolished, as experience has shown 

 that with proper management and encouragement the native 

 communities, as a rule, readily undertake such planting 

 operations. 



Rule 20 should stand, but the licence fee should be a nominal 

 one, sufficient to cover the cost of printing the licences. The 

 royalties payable to the native communities, however, should 

 remain unaltered. 



