PARA RUBBRR. 67 



Northway's and Bowman's System of Marking the Trees. 



The system consists first in marking out the grooves at the correct 

 distance and angle they are to be cut during tapping. This is 

 effected by means of a guide in the shape of a right-angled triangular 

 piece of tin, the side subtending the right angle being 2 ft. in length, 

 and the other sides 17" by 17". The hypotenuse is the line along 

 which the trees are marked, one of the 17" sides being arranged 

 vertically before marking is commenced. 



The grooves to be cut along the sloping side or hypotenuse of 

 the triangle will then be at an angle of 45 degrees to the base, 

 each groove 2 ft. long and at intervals of one foot, starting one foot 

 from the base of the tree, up to a height of 5 ft., and all leading 

 into a vertical channel running down to within a few inches from 

 the ground-level. A small tin spout is inserted at the lower end 

 of the vertical channel to convey the latex into the tin vessels, 

 which are placed on the ground near the tree. The tin spout is 

 left in position permanently, thus obviating the necessity of con- 

 stantly inserting cups into the bark and removing them, and at 

 the same time avoiding injury to the tree. In the case of a tree 18" 

 in circumference, the grooves would go nearly once round, and 

 therefore for trees of this size there would be one vertical channel to 

 convey the latex flowing from the several spiral cuts into the tin 

 receptacle, and only one of the latter would be needed. A tree 36" in 

 circumference would require 2 vertical channels on opposite sides 

 of it, and correspondingly a tree 54" in circumference would take 3 

 vertical channels, each leading into a tin receptacle placed on the 

 ground as previously stated. To suit trees of various sizes and 

 yielding capacities, the grooves can be made longer or shorter as 

 may be found necessary or convenient. One month's tapping 

 with certain knives would carry the grooves down about one inch, 

 so that tapping on and off, one month at a time, the whole space 

 between the top and bottom grooves would be covered in the 

 course of two years' work. The operation is carried on continuously, 

 so that at the end of each period of two years only the original top 

 cut would have to be re-tapped, the lower cuts being made into 

 the sections below when the bark tissues have been completely 

 renewed. 



Mr. Francis Holloway has also given me particulars of his method 

 of marking the trees. A long rod, marked off into feet, is placed 

 against each tree. A sheet of zinc or tin cut at a certain angle 

 (about 45°), fits at one end into the rod, and can be moved up 

 and down as desired. The remaining part of the zinc or tin ribbon 

 is then wound round the tree and the markings made. The rod, 

 being marked into distances of one foot, can be used at any height 

 on the trunk, the spaces between the oblique tapping markings 

 being in every case parallel and distanced one foot from each other. 

 This plan can be adopted for marking out spiral curves or oblique 

 incisions, and is therefore applicable to the herring-bone system. 



