AGRICULTURAL BULLETIN 



OF THE 



STRAITS 



AND 



FEDERATED MALAY STATES. 



No. 3.] MARCH, 1911. [Vol. X 



RUBBER SMOKING HOUSE. 



So many persons are asking about the best structure for smoking 

 rubber that perhaps an account of our experiences in this direction 

 may be of interest. I will first describe the smoking house in the 

 Botanic Gardens, which has proved quite satisfactory and economical. 

 The building is 55^ feet long and 19 feet wide, oblong in shape, and 

 made of ordinary planking with a high roof. The plank walls are 

 8 feet high, and the roof of attap, 15 feet high in the centre. The 

 floor is cemented with concrete below. There are two or three 

 windows which can be opened when required and one entrance door. 

 This building is built on a slope of about I in 12, and drains run 

 down the side to carry off rain water, inside are wooden posts sunk 

 in the ground between which run thin rattans stretched tight over 

 which the rubber is hung. Near the door are sunk in the concrete 

 and cement floors circular pits one foot wide and 3 feet deep in which 

 the fire is put and then are covered with iron cones with a flat 

 perforated top. These cones are 22 ins. high. They have a small 

 oblong opening at the base to admit air to the fire. 



The fires are made of dry old wood of some soft timber. That 

 of Albizzia mohiccana is found good, but any light wood will do. The 

 wood is cut up into pieces big enough to get into the fire places, and 

 being lit is allowed to smoulder all day. The fires are usually lit in 

 the morning, and renewed once to 4 times a day according to the size 

 of the fire place, one fire takes about 2 baskets measuring 2 feet deep 

 by lYz across of pieces of wood a day. When the cone is put on no 

 flame is produced but abundance of smoke which soon permeates the 

 whole building and keeps a thick atmosphere of smoke all day. The 

 windows being closed it does not escape except by the spaces between 

 the roof and walls or through cracks, so that none is wasted. 



