37 



considerable area is unnecessary. Merc we resort only to improve- 

 ment fellings transplanting young plants into blanks only where 

 ever necessary. The improvement fellings consist in clearing awav 

 undergrowth interfering with young Palaquium plants, the operation 

 being repeated yearly or once in several years as may be necessary. 

 By this means the rate of growth of the young trees is greatly 

 increased. I have found the effect of this process to be very bene- 

 ficial, even in the two years since it was .started. By such simple 

 methods as these it is hoped in ;i few years to have a very 

 considerable area of young Palaquium trees, about 40 to the acre. 

 One advantage in this system is the freedom from the attacks of 

 insects- to which trees grown in [jure plantations are liable. A 

 similar area to thai in Selangor exists in Malacca, but the plants 

 are put in closer together and were obtained from Sumatra. 

 Similar plantations exist at Bukit Timah in Singapore and at Batu 

 Feringhi in Penang, but on a small scale. 



[II. — Methods ok Extraction. 



The latex of Palaquium exudes immediately on tapping, i.e., cut- 

 ting the bark, and consists of a milky looking white fluid, in young 

 trees rather thin. It coagulates very quickly and turns in the case 

 of " Taban merah", P. gutta, a light pink colour when hard. This 

 is doubtless due chiefly to the fact that the under side of the bark of 

 this species is reddish and small pieces of the bark get mixed up 

 with the latex while it is being rolled off. The rapid coagulation 

 and the fact that the tree only bleeds for a very short time from the 

 cut, are at the root of the disastrous system of extraction of the 

 latex, viz., by felling the tree, tapping the living tree as with Para 

 rubber, being it was supposed impracticable. 



The native method is to fell the trees and to cut ring-like incisions 

 round the fallen trunk at intervals of about 9 to 12 inches or even 

 le^s. These are quickly filled by the latex, and in about half an 

 hour the pure Gutta Percha can be rolled off on sticks. The product 

 is then boiled and shaped as desired, but many impuritei are in- 

 cluded such as chips of wood, bark, dirt, etc. 



This process is of course very wasteful, as a good deal of latex 

 falls to the ground ; the latex which is contained immediately under- 

 neath the cut and touching the ground is also inaccessible. Again 

 the Gutta Percha contained in the leaves and remaining bark and in 

 the twigs is not collected, and as will be seen later on this is a very 

 considerable amount. 



The sam^ method is applied to Get ah sundik, Potyena Leerii, 

 which produces a very white Gutta Percha. Extraordinarily little 

 Gutta Percha is produced by this means. 



Dr. SHERMAN, in the Philippines, estimated that only .■' . of the 

 total quantity contained was extracted by natives, and from other 

 experiments it is said to be certain that not more than T ^ is ob- 

 tained. 



In Penang in 1900 a tree was felled 39 inches in circumference at 

 5 feet from the ground, with a height of 55 feet, height to the first 



