444 



which compares favourably with the results of the previous year, 

 when this form of wastage amounted to as much as 9 per cent., and 

 which proves that some factor was present in the season's opera- 

 tions which tended to raise the quality of the raw outturn obtained. 



10. The cuts were made horizontal or only slightly "oblique, it 

 Direction in which being noticed that the wounds bled in propor- 

 cuts should be made, tion to their horizontal direction, and that any 

 considerable deviation from this direction resulted in a slower and 

 reduced flow of rubber. Experiments on untapped trees were made 

 personally by the Conservator with the view of testing this point, 

 arrow shaped (the Brazilian method), oblique as well as horizontal 



cuts being made, when it was very apparent that the latex Mowed 

 far more freely from the last kind than from either of the others. 

 No examination of the bark or bast has yet been made to test the 

 cause of this observed fact, which is not in agreement, it is believed, 

 with experiments made elsewhere on rubber yielding trees and 

 plants of other species. But an enquiry will be instituted with the 

 help of Dr. Watts, the Government Economic Reporter, and the 

 Director of the Forest School, with the view of obtaining informa- 

 tion on the point. In the meantime, it seems safe to hazard the 

 opinion that the rubber cells must be placed in more or less vertical 

 rows, and that, in fact, in arrangement they resemble somewhat an 

 arterial system, when it will be readily understood why a horizontal 

 cut must be much more effective in tapping their contents than a 

 vertical or oblique cut of equal length. 



11. Another point was tested at the same time by the Conser- 

 , vator, which perhaps helped to create the 



Rubber residuum and • • ,1 , . 1 , • • • 



wastage discussed. opinion that the tapping operations, as per- 



formed in 1898-99, were of an unnecessarily 

 careless or wasteful nature. Allusion is here made to the fact that, 

 when the rubber is stripped from the cuts, a milky, and sometimes 

 copious, residuum runs out of the wounds down the tree, and as no 

 arrangement is made to collect this overflow, the impression may 

 have been carried away that it represented wastage. But the Con- 

 servator was able to prove to his satisfaction that this residuum, 

 which closely resembles rubber milk in appearance, contains no 

 caoutchouc, and is capable of being practically absorbed by blotting 

 paper or of being evaporated in the sun. In fact, it consists practi- 

 cally of little else than water and contributes no appreciable pro- 

 portion of the true wastage, which seems to be wholly represented 

 by that portion of the latex which spurts out of the wound during 

 the actual process of tapping, and overflows on to the trunk or 

 branches of the tree, or is sprinkled or drips on to leaves or under- 



