198 
RUBBER  PLANTING  AND  EXPLOITATION. 
RiisuLTS  OF  Rubber  'J'arping  at  San  Miquei. 
An  exact  record  was  kept  of  the  results  of  some  recent  tapping  of 
rubber  trees  {Castiiloa  elastica)  cm  the  “San  Micjuel”  plantation, 
owned  by  the  Tabasco  Plantation  Co.  (Minneapolis,  Minnesota), 
located  on  the  Macuspana  river,  in  the  state  of  Tabasco,  Mexico, 
which  are  summarized  l)elow.  'There  are  on  this  estate  about  400 
large  rubber  trees,  which  were  planted  in  the  shade  of  cacao  and 
coffee.  These  trees  were  not  only  grown  in  cacao  and  coffee,  but 
under  the  shade  of  “ mother”  trees  (not  rubber)  planted  for  shading 
the  coffee  while  the  rubber  was  getting  a start.  The  secretary  of 
the  company,  Mr.  James  C.  Fifield,  in  communicating  these 
results  to  The  India  Rjibher  World,  writes:  “A  fact  well  known  to 
“ the  rubber  planters  is  that  trees  planted  in  the  shade  require  a 
“ much  longer  time  to  attain  their  maturity  and  full  size  than  those 
planted  in  the  sun.  In  fact,  the  most  casual  observer  could  not 
“ fail  to  notice  the  astonishing  difference  in  size  between  the  trees 
“grown  in  the  sun  and  those  in  the  shade.  It  is  believed  that  the 
“size  of  a rubber  tree  has  more  to  do  with  the  amount  of  rubber 
“which  it  will  produce  than  its  age.”  In  the  table  which  follows 
is  given  the  age  of  the  trees  except  that  the  age  of  those  placed  at 
10  and  12  years  is  not  accurately  known  ; the  circumference  of  the 
trees  three  feet  from  the  ground  ; the  weight  in  ounces  of  the  latex 
secured ; and  the  average  yield  per  tree  of  dry  rubber  (including  a 
small  amount  of  scrap  pulled  from  the  trunk  of  the  tree  after 
tapping).  The  details  follow  : 
Age. 
No.  OF 
Trees. 
.Average 
Girth. 
Ounces 
I.ATEX. 
Ounces 
Rubber. 
7 years  . . . 
. 257  ... 
33.80”  ... 
11.80  ... 
9-30 
8 years  ... 
14  ... 
37-75" 
20.70  ... 
14.25 
9 years  .. 
7 ... 
40.14”  ... 
21.28  ... 
18 
10  years  .. 
4 ... 
43-25"  •• 
26.75 
17-50 
1 2 years . . . 
21 
50.50"  ... 
40.50  ... 
28.90 
Based  upon  the  above  figures,  the  rubber  product  from  an  acre 
of  land  containing  200  trees  seven  years  old  would  be  112  pounds; 
at  eight  years  old,  174  pounds  ; at  nine  years  old,  240  pounds  ; and 
at  twelve  years  old,  314  pounds. 
The  following  account  of  the  rubber  tapping  at  San  Miquei  was 
prepared  by  Mr.  Boyer,  the  plantation  manager  — 
“We  were  very  fortunate  in  securing  for  the  plantation  a native 
rubber  tapper  who  has  been  raised  in  the  rubber  district,  and  for 
many  years  has  successfully  tapped  both  wild  and  cultivated  rubber 
trees  in  the  states  of  Chiapas  and  'Fabasco.  With  this  experience 
he  was  able  to  obtain  the  best  results  without  injury  to  the  trees. 
“ The  first  step  in  tapping  a rubber  tree  is  to  clean  a small  place 
around  the  tree,  a small  gash  then  being  made  in  the  bark  with  the 
point  of  a machete  and  a leaf  inserted  therein,  which  serves  as  a 
spout  to  run  the  rnilk  into  pails.  This  leaf  is  placed  about  fifteen 
inches  from  the  ground.  From  this  point  the  cuts  are  made  up- 
wards at  an  angle  of  45  degrees  and  extending  in  each  direction  a 
sufficient  distance  to  include  three-fourths  of  the  circumference  of 
the  tree.  Directly  above  this,  a distance  of  one  meter,  another  cut 
