38 

 Coagulation in the Field. 



On most Ceylon estates the latex is collected in the 

 field and conveyed in pails by hand to a central factory, 

 where it is coagulated. It is obvious, however, that a 

 large amount of water is thus transmitted. In order to 

 effect economj', several planters have suggested the co- 

 agulation of the latex in the field in small sheds arranged 

 ill central parts of each property. Mr. Golledge informed 

 me that he proposed to have one coagulating machine on 

 every hundred acres of land, the coolies to transmit the 

 freshly coagulated rubber instead of the vvatery latex to 

 a central factory, where it could be manufactured into 

 its final form. This is only one of the many directions 

 along which economy is likely to be effected. A trifling 

 risk is, of course, run where ample supervision is not 

 provided. If the freshly coagulated rubber is allowed to 

 remain too long, it may become relatively unmanageable 

 in the washing rollers. The rubber could, however, be 

 softened by passing it through a pair of heated rollers, 

 such as have been recently introduced in the tropics by 

 a London firm. 



Rate of Bark Renewal in Ceylon. 



The rate at which the bark of tapped trees renews varies 

 considerably. Generally the renewed bark forms most 

 rapidly on trees grown alone and at a wide distance 

 from each other; it renews very slowly on closely-planted 

 trees, on those which have been planted in poor soil or 

 associated with crowded intercrops. The bark does not 

 renew quickly when the root growth of the trees is checked 

 by the roots of other plants, and some surprising results 

 may yet be recorded from estates with rubber planted 

 among crowded mixed products. 



On young trees the renewed bark is often swollen and 

 convex in outline; within a few months it may attain the 

 same thickness as the primary untapped bark. On older 

 trees which have been deeply pared a longer interval is 

 required for the renewed bark to grow to the same thick- 

 ness as that of the untapped areas. 



Measurements showed that on Gikiyanakande Estate 

 the renewed bark when three years old on a nine-year-old 



