272 



[October, 1912. 



Cooking was in each case done in the plantation; the rubber 

 was then brought into Benin City and washed. It was found necessary 

 to wash it for a whole day in the same way that one washes a photo- 

 graphic plate, in order thoroughly to get rid of the serum. After washing 

 it was placed in the specially built rubber-drying shed. 



This building is 54 feet long by 20 feet wide, and is constructed of 

 squared timber and corrugated iron, the sides being made to open for 

 ventilation. Internally it is fitted with a series of wire netting shelves to 

 receive the rubber biscuits, it being found impracticable to handle them. 



Drying and Cause of Tackiness. 



It takes a long time to dry the rubber thoroughly, and it is doubtful 

 if it is possible to bring it to the requisite state of dryness during the wet 

 season without the aid of artificial drying apparatus. During last season 

 small fires were kept going in the shed most of the time, but even then 

 the June rubber was not considered sufficiently dry to sell before October, 

 and the whole was not ready for shipment until December. 



There is one interesting point in connexion with the drying of rubber 

 which I should like to mention, and that is the cause of tackiness As is 

 well known by anyone who has had to do with rubber (Funtumia rubber 

 at any rate), it frequently happens that some of the biscuits become tacky; 

 that is to say, they become sticky on the outside, and the whole mass 

 gradually becomes converted into a gum-like substance which sticks to 

 everything and cannot be got rid of. This occurred with several of our 

 biscuits last year, and for a long time I was at a loss to account for it. I 

 found on experiment that it was only on the outside of the shed, where 

 the rubber was exposed to the morning or afternoon sun, that the tacki- 

 ness occurred. This, of course, would have been noticed before had it not 

 been for the fact that the biscuits were constantly turned to accelerate 

 drying, and in the operation the positions were altered. 



After the discovery I erected palm leaf shades on either side of the 

 shed, and since then there has been no tacky rubber. 



Results. 



The season's operations comprised the tapping and thinning of 

 eighty-lour plantations, the total number of trees tapped, that is trees 

 18 inches in girth and over, being 4,706, yielding 413 lb. 12 oz. of dry 

 rubber. The total number of trees tapped to exhaustion and cut out was 

 28,815, yielding 608 lb. 4 oz. of dry rubber. The total yield of dry rubber 

 was 1,022 lb. The loss of weight in drying was 37'7 per cent. The average 

 yield per tree of tapped trees, that is 18 inches in girth and upwards, was 

 14 oz. The average yield per tree of thinned trees, that is tapped to 

 exhaustion, wasO'3 oz. 



The rubber was sold by Messrs. Figgis & Co. in London, in March. It 

 was put in three lots and realized the following prices, finest plantation 

 Para at the same date fetching 6s. lid. per lb. : lot 1, 470 lb., 6s. 6ci. per lb. ; 

 lot 2, 466 lb., 6s. l|d., and lot 3, 60 lb., 5s. 6d. per lb. This is an average of 

 nearly 6s. Id. per lb. 



Lot 2 was composed of slightly thicker biscuits than lot 1, whilst lot 

 3, was partly composed of the tacky rubber previously mentioned. 



The gross sum realized was £302 12s. 9d., whilst brokerage and other 

 charges amounted to £5 lis Id. making a net result of £297 Is. 2d. 



