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PRICKING RUBBER TREES FOR LATEX. 



A note on a new process of obtaining latex from a tree, by prick- 

 ing instead of cutting, appears in the Times of Malaya, November 27, 

 1909, and is given below. Attempts to obtain latex in this manner 

 are by no means new. The idea was that the tree would be less 

 injured than by cutting it. Experiments in this direction were made 

 in the Botanical Gardens in Singapore over ten years ago, but the 

 amount of latex obtained was too sm.all, unless the tree was injured. 

 An ingenious local inventor, without having ever seen a Para rubber 

 tree, came to the Gardens with an invention consisting of a plate of 

 kerosene tin so perforated that small portions of the tin projected 

 like thorns from the back ; at the basal point, the plate was triangular, 

 was fitted like a cup, so that the latex would flow into it. This plate 

 was to be hammered against the tree so that the teeth projected into 

 the trunk, and the latex flowing through the holes ran into the cup. 

 On being applied to the tree, the amount of latex produced was not 

 sufficient to enter the cup, and it ceased flowing almost immediately. 

 Further it was found that the plate which fitted one part of a tree 

 would not fit another, and so that one had to be made for each part 

 of each tree and the ingenious idea had to be abandoned. 



In Southern India, experiments were made with the tapping of 

 Ceara rubber, by the use of a pricker. Ceara rubber trees are always 

 troublesome to tap, and the idea was to simplify the business by 

 pricking. It was found however that the pricking, if carried to such 

 excess that a good flow of latex was obtained, was often fatal to the 

 tree from the injury to the bark. We have no information as to the 

 new invention referred to beyond what we give our readers below 

 but realising that close puncturing of the bark of a rubber tree is apt 

 to make a sore, and cause the death of a tree, one would be a little 

 cautious in this form of tapping. One of the advantages pointed out 

 in the process is that three-year-old trees can be tapped by it. But 

 is this an advantage.'' While the price of rubber of any kind keeps 

 up as it is doing now, one cannot wonder even if seedlings are tapped, 

 but this is by no means good for the trees or for the industry. 

 NEW RUBBER PROCESS. 

 '* Recently a planter in Ceylon invented anew process for extract- 

 ing the latex from rubber trees. Instead of employing a knife or of 

 making V-shaped or spiral incisions into the bark, he employs a 

 pointed instrument which pricks the tree without doing it much harm. 

 The new system produces a larger quantity of latex, and has the 

 advantage that it can be used on young trees of three years old. It 

 is interesting to learn that a Colombo firm have undertaken the 

 working of the invention and offered to teach its use to planters for 

 a fee of Rs. 500, the fee to be returnable in case of failure. A large 

 number of planters have already availed themselves of the offer, and 

 it is thought that the production of rubber in Ceylon will this year 

 exceed all expectations. Apparently, it is too early yet to pass any 

 definite judgment on the new process. The advantages claimed for 

 it are simplicity, economy of labour and of cost of production, that it 



