140 RUBBER AND 



Marking the Tree. 



When the age for beginning tapping has been 

 reached, all the trees on a particular field are generally 

 numbered consecutively. The trees are measured, and 

 those which exceed a certain girth are marked out for 

 tapping. It may be useful to describe a method of 

 marking in some detail, in order that the system 

 adopted may be clearly understood. The method of 

 tapping to be described is the half-herring-bone on a 

 quarter of the tree. 



We will suppose a tree to be 20 inches in girth at 

 4 feet 6 inches from the ground. At this level a hori- 

 zontal line is stencilled round the tree. From two 

 points 5 inches apart on this line two vertical lines AB, 

 CD are ruled down to the foot of the tree by the help 

 of a straight edge. The tree may be perhaps 24 inches 

 in girth a foot from the ground. If so the lines will 

 be 6 inches apart at the point 5. These lines should be 

 so arranged that the equidistant points B, D, F, and H 

 fall between the main lateral roots of the tree, which 

 generally project above the level of the ground ; other- 

 wise there may be a difficulty in getting the collecting 

 cups to stand upright, when tapping is in progress. 



Next a mark is made at P, 5 inches below A, so 

 that AP is equal to AC. A line drawn from P to C 

 will then make an angle of 45 degrees with the hori- 

 zontal. Marks Q, R y S, T, [7, and V are made at 

 intervals of a foot below P and C respectively, and lines 



