EEPOET ON THE TAPPING OF THE PAEA 

 EUBBEE TEEES AT KUALA KANGSAE. 



By E. Derry. 



Some months aejo the Director of Kew wrote to me that he 

 had heard from. Sir Hugh Low that the Kuahi Kaugsar tree did 

 not exude when tapped, and asked, with a view to information, 

 for the reason. 



It will be seen from this report that the work for the year is 

 not yet completed, and I would particularly point out that the 

 experiments have not Ijeeu conducted to test how much each tree 

 would yield, for the reason that these trees are of much greater 

 value to the Government at the present time as seed bearers 

 than rubber producers ; as an instance of this I would mention 

 that applications for 70,000 seeds have been received for the 

 current year (of which 25,000 have been supplied) and an 

 application filed for 100,000 seeds next year. 



The Para rubber trees (Hevea braziliensis) at Kuala 

 Kangsar were first tapped during the month of August, and 

 the work has been proceeding up to the present time. The 

 frequent wet days have delayed the work considerably. At 

 the end of October 60 trees had been tapped and 88 pounds 

 of dry marketable rubber prepared. Most of the trees tapped 

 were six years old, and from these ti'ees an average of 10 ounces 

 of dry rubber has been obtained. A few ti'ees, twelve years old, 

 produced 3 pounds each, but in no instance were the tappings 

 exhaustive. Two saiaples have been sent to Mincing Lane for 

 opinion and valuation. 



TAPPING. 



The trees were tapped with almost V-shaped cuts, a few 

 inches apart, with a channel down the centre from the lower 

 branches to the liase. An ordinary pruning knife was used to 

 make the first cuts, and about a quarter of an inch of the outer 

 bark removed, care being taken not to cut too deeply. So soon 

 as this commenced to callus, which varies from two to several 

 days, the edges of the cuts were lightly shaved with a very sharp 

 chisel every day, with an occasional interval, imtil the decided 

 quantity had been exuded. The rubber was collected in locally 



