44 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Ceara Rubber in India. 



Mysore Province, Shimoga, 

 ist February, 1906. 



Dear Mr. Ridley, 



I AM afraid that attention in Mysore must be confined 

 to the " Ceara" variety rather than " Para," and in order to 

 determine the question of yield, I am carrying out an extensive 

 series of tapping operations in different parts of the Province. 



I told you, I think, that 7 lb. were obtained from the 

 continuous tapping of one tree in the Government Garden at 

 B mgalore; and that 10 lbs. are reported to have been obtained 

 from a tree in Coorg ; also that I obtained 8 oz. of dry rubber from 

 one tapping from a tree in my own compound. 



I have also recently heard of 20 oz. of latex from one tree at 

 one tapping. Taking the same proportion of dry rubber to 

 latex as in the case of " Para." viz., 33%, this would mean 7 oz., 

 and corroborates the above yield from my own tree. 



The unfortunate point is that, both in the case of the 7 lb. 

 return, and in the case of other trees that I myself tapped, every 

 one of them died under the operation. You would be doing me, 

 and I may add a promising industry, a very valuable service if you 

 would kindly give me your views as to why these trees die. 



Do you think that tapping "Ceara" must necessarily kill 

 the tree; and do you know of, or have you heard of, cases where 

 " Ceara" trees have been tapped without damage. 



In the cases I allude to, the method of tapping was by 

 stabbing the tree close all over, thus necessarily wounded the 

 cambium as well as the young w >od. The awkward part of it is 

 that similar action on a " Para" tree would not have injured it. 



I think you told me that the outer rough bark on the Ceara 

 can be stripped off during all seasons of the year without injury. 



In my present experiments I propose to adopt the ordinary 

 double-herring-bone system and to carefully avoid the cambium. 



If you would kindly give me your views on the whole subject 

 I would be very much obliged. 



Is there any prospect of my seeing you over in these parts. 



Yours sincerely, 



H. F. STRICKLAND. 



P.S. — I would be much obliged if you would kindly insert a 

 query in your very valuable Bulletin asking information upon the 

 above point. 



