56 
hands  of  the  most  experienced  hulero  produces  an  enormous  mass 
of  woody  debris  which  clings  to  the  cuts,  and  subsequently  -are 
taken  up  with  the  latex,  d he  extraordinary  mass  of  wood  and 
bark  in  the  Central  American  rubbers  is  entirely  due  to  the  tapping 
being  performed  with  the  machete.  There  is  certainly  no  difficulty 
of  removing  from  the  latex  these  particles  of  wood  and  bark,  but  it 
goes  without  saying  that  if  it  should  be  possible  to  avoid  this  or 
any  other  contamination  at  the  outset,  it  is  much  to  be  preferred  to 
any,  however  effectual,  process  of  subsequentlv  removing  it  from 
the  latex. 
For  this  reason  a narrow  plane  has  been  recommended  for  the 
tapping  of  the  trees,  but  there  are  several  drawbacks  to  it.  It 
certainly  gives  a perfectly  continuous  cut,  and  one  free  from  the 
above-namedV^’<^r/j  but  it  very  soon  gets  clogged.  The  layer  of 
bast  to  be  cut  through  in  order  to  obtain  the  full  yield  of  latex  is 
verv  considerable,  and  necessitates  the  blade  of  the  plane  j^rotruding 
very  considerably,  a circumstance  not  calculated  to  facilitate  its 
use.  The  thickness  of  the  layer  of  bast  to  be  cut  through  not  only 
varies  not  inconsiderably  from  tree  to  tree,  but  it  varies  also  in  the 
same  tree  at  different  heights  of  the  trunk.  A j)lane  gives  under 
these  conditions  very  little  chance  of  adapting  the  depth  of  the  cut 
to  the  depth  of  the  layer  of  bast,  and  consecjuently,  accoriling  to 
the  setting  of  the  |)lane  either  the  layer  of  bast  is  not  entirely 
penetrated,  or  the  cuts  pass  mort*  or  less  decpiv  into  the  wood 
itself. 
I therefore  made  experiments  with  a triangular  (Hitting  tool,  tlu* 
cutting  edge  of  which  is  formed  by  one  of  the  (rounded)  angles,  and 
after  several  modifit  ations,  I arrived  at  a form  which  answers  tin* 
purpose  admirably,  d'o  cut  or  tap  the  trees  with  this  instrument 
requires  some  experienc'e  but  certainly  very  much  h‘ss  than  the 
machete,  d ht*  cuts  are  absoluttdv  (dean  and  continuous  and  tlndr 
width  is  naturallv  regulated  by  the  cutting  angle  and  the  depth  of 
bast  to  be  cut  through,  d his  is  exactly  as  it  should  be.  I'or  tret*s 
of  different  age,  or  of  different  diameter,  tools  with  different  cut- 
ting angles  may  lx*  employed. 
It  has  often  been  propostnl  to  provide  tlx*  instruments  used  for 
tapping  with  guards  so  as  to  prevent  their  p(metrating  into  the 
wood,  d'his  is,  no  doubt,  a vH'rv  praiseworthy  notion,  luit  unfortu- 
nately one  which  it  will  be  found  pra(  tically  impossibh'  to  adopt 
for  the  already  stated  rea.son  that  the  thickness  of  the  layer  to  be 
cut  through  varies  within  siudi  wide  limits  as  to  render  the  proposal 
quite  impracticable. 
d'he  just  described  taj)ping  tool  does  not,  of  course,  prevent  iht! 
penetration  of  the  cuts  into  the  wood,  though  I may  at  once  state 
that  its  liability  to  do  so  is  certainly  much  less  than  with  any  other 
instrument  op. -rated  by  striking  such  as  the  adze  or  machete.  Hut 
in  the  experiments  I concluded  at  Las  C'ascadas  1 gradually  came 
to  the  conclusion,  rather  heretical  in  view  of  the  nature  of  the 
numerous  .statements  on  this  point,  that  the  tapping  to  begin  with 
has  surprisingly  littl(‘  effect  upon  the  well  being  of  the  tre(‘,  and 
further  that  ( uts  penetrating  into  the  wood  of  Castilloa  elastica. 
I 
