52 



fects less. ( Phis however one maybe permitted to doubt), lie con- 

 siders that i metre 50 c. is as high as it is necessary to go in tap- 

 }>ii g. The system adopted is to make vertical incisions 20 centime- 

 tres apart with lateral cuts lu centimetres long on one side. The 

 following year the lateral cuts are to be made on the other side of 

 the vertical groove, on the third year between the cuts on the first 

 side and 0:1 the fourth between those made in the second year, (ap- 

 parently the vertical groove is thus to be kept open for four years, 

 which would certainly be liable to injure; the tree). The incisions 

 are renewed every second day by a slice off the lower edge. This 

 is done ten times, so that the tapping takes 20 davs according to 

 the skill of the worker a man can Lap from 6 to io trees. The re 

 newal of the cuts more than 10 times has not succeeded at Soebang 

 though at Buitenzorg they have been able to do it for fifteen times 

 and get a bigger return after the tenth time. The biggest How 

 comes after the 6th reopening of the cut. The preparation of the 

 rubber is effected by a modification of the well-known Amazons 

 method, with a paddle-shaped instrument coated with clay, and the 

 lumps of rubber so formed take 2 or 3 weeks to dry. The 147 treci 

 supplied with ten reopenings of the wound a total of 52 kg. 5(114 

 lbs. 75 grains) of dry smoked rubber, and 17.9 (37 lbs. 135 grains) 

 of scrap ; altogether 151 lbs. Eighty-two of the trees were recut 

 15 times but the results of the last live tappings were very small 

 9 kg. of rubber and scrap. 



The cost of tapping and preparation of 78 kg. 4 of the rubber 

 was 58 Guilders, or roughly 37 cents a pound. 



( The value of the rubber is not stated, but from the method of 

 preparation it was probably of inferior quality, and the amount 

 obtained from each tree a little over a pound is smaller than it 

 should be. The tapping system also leaves much to be desired, but 

 it seems that these trees under proper treatment might give a re- 

 turn equal to that of those of the Malay Peninsula.) 



Editor. 



CAPRINIA CONCHYLALIS. 



Royal Botanic Gardens, 



Peradeniya Ceylon, 

 20th December, iooj. 



H. N. Ridley Esq., 



Director of Botanic Gardens, Singapore. 



Dear Sir, — 1 have just seen your note, in the Straits agricultural 

 Bulletin for November, 1903, on Caprinia Conchy /a/is as a pest of the 

 Kicksia Rubber [Funtumia elastica). 



It may interest you to know that this same insect is very trouble- 

 some in Ceylon. Itx:ompletely defoliates our Kicksia plants, twice 

 during the year, each attack extending over two or three months, 

 viz: May to July and November to December. Not only are the 



