GOLD COAST .REPORT ON FORESTS. 209 



When a Licensee is not a Native of District Consent of Chiefs to Collection of 



Rubber to be obtained. 



13. When a licensee is not a member of a Native community of the district 

 to which his licence relates, he shall, before collecting rubber on the lands 

 belonging to any Native community of the district, obtain the consent of the 

 Head Chiefs of the community to the collection by him of rubber on the 

 lands belonging to such community. 



Production of Licences. 



14. Every licence shall be produced by the licensee at the request of any 

 Chief or Headman of any community upon whose lands the licensee may be 

 collecting rubber. 



Girth of Trees to be Tapped. 



15. No tree of less girth than thirty-six inches at a height of four feet from 

 the ground shall be tapped. 



Method of Tapping. 



16. In tapping trees the following or such other methods as may from time 

 to time be prescribed by notice published in the Gazette shall be followed : 



(1)- 



(a) The cuts shall be Y shaped, the two arms of the V being each 2 in. 



long and separated at their widest part by ^ in., the apex of the V 

 to point downwards. 



(b) The distance between any two adjacent V's must not be less than 2 in. 



(c) The maximum width of any cut shall not exceed A in. 



(rZ) No tapping shall be done higher up the tree than twelve feet from the 

 ground nor extend to a greater vertical distance than four feefc. 



(e) Tapping shall only be undertaken in the early morning aad must cease 

 by 8 a.m. 



(/) On the first day of tapping a series of V's of the prescribed size should be 

 spaced round the tree at interval of not less than 3 in. between any 

 two adjacent V's. The cuts made on the first day should be very 

 narrow and should in no case penetrate deeper than the cambium 

 layer and on no account must they enter the wood. No tapping 

 should be done on the following day, but on the next day, the third 

 from the commencement of the tapping, a very thin shaving should 

 be pared off the lower side of each of the V's cut on the fiist day, so 

 as to expose a new surface, and the latex collected ; on the fourth d ly 

 no tapping is done and the tree is given a rest ; on the fifth day 

 another thin shaving is pared off the lower side of each of the V's, 

 fresh surfaces are thus exposed and the latex collected. This process 

 of one day's tapping followed by a day's rest should be continued till 

 the cuts have reached a maximum width of ^ in., when another series 

 of fresh V's can be started ; provided that the number of tappings 

 (consisting of initial cutting of V's plus number of subsequent 

 parings) does not exceed ten in one year. That is counting from the 

 first day of tapping not more than ten cuttings, and subsequent 

 parings can be done during the next twelve months. The cutting and 

 paring should be done with the sharpest of knives. 



(</) Trees already tapped shall not be again tapped until the old cuts on them 

 have completely closed over and healed. 



(/;) The latex must be collected and coagulated in clean vessels, and on no 

 account must dirt or any extraneous matter be allowed to contaminate 

 the latex. The latter should be strained through fine muslin or wire 

 gauze before it is coagulated. 



Alternative Method <>f Tapping. 



(2) The half herring bone method : 



(a) On the first day a channel is cut vertically from the base of the trunk to 

 a height of 3 ft. G in. From this vertical channel branch channels are 



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