238 



Most of the rubber was sold locally, the best sheet and biscuit 

 obtaining the best market price. A small consignment sold in 

 London for the highest price reached at that day's sale. 



THE YEAR'S WORK AND PLAN OF RESEARCH. 



Apart from some minor experiments 1,200 trees were tapped at 

 different times throughout the year. These w^ere arranged in lo 

 groups, ranging from 50 to 200 trees, and of these, 3 groups were 

 tapped on I period only, 5 groups on 2 periods, and 2 groups on 3 

 periods (the average period being 30 days). Full details of all the 

 work have been recorded and this record shows:- Comparative 

 results of different methods of tapping at different seasons during the 

 year; quantity of latex obtained and amount of resulting dry rubber; 

 increment of growth of all the rubber trees ; the ratio of growth when 

 too closely planted ; effect on bark by different methods of tapping. 



It will be seen that tapping on alternate days shows an advantage 

 of nearly 4% over tapping daily ; also that we advocate the single 

 herring-bone method of tapping following basal tappings. The disad- 

 vantage of close planting is also pointed out. 



A long series of experiments were tried in curing freshly collected 

 latex with the aid of smoke with a view to improving the quality of 

 the raw material ; a further series of experiments were conducted on 

 the effect of smoke on freshly prepared biscuits and sheets of raw 

 rubber, and it will be seen that the strength and appearance of such 

 smoked rubber has been favourably reported on. 



From the details recorded the following summary of the year's 

 work has been tabulated and this statement shows the progress made 

 in comparison with the report published in 1905 and 1906. * 



It will be noted that the average yield per tree per annum is 

 comparative only as the periods of tapping vary from 30 to 90 days 

 for the whole year against monthly to bi-monthly periods on estates. 

 There are many reasons for lightly tapping the garden trees, for 

 instance (a) the yield of Para trees in Malaya has already proved 

 better than the sanguine estimates of old days (b) the crop of seeds 

 has been, and is still, of the first importance in the best interests of 

 the industry in this country and heavy tapping is detrimental to 

 seed production. 



An appendix is attached shewing the financial results for the years igo? and 1908, but owing 

 to the shortness of the staff - there being only one European Officer for most of the time - it was 

 not possible to record complete details. 



