THE SUPPLEMENT TO THE 



Tropical Agriculturist and Magazine of the G. A. S. 



Compiled and Edited by A. M. & J. FERGUSON. 



No. 5.] MAY, 1910. (Tor,. VI. 



RUBBER TAPPING UP TO DATE. 



PRACTICAL NOTES. 



{Special.) 



At the request of several eminent Rubber 

 Planters, I have been asked to give a description 

 of how tapping knives should be used and how 

 tapping may be most profitably carried out. I 

 can only give a few 



NOTES AFTER SEVEN YEARS' CLOSE STUDY 



and practical experience gained 



IN CEYLON, AND TWO YEARS SPENT IN 

 THE STRAITS, 



Johore, etc., where I stayed at intervals on 

 most of the largest Rubber Estates. 



After a Rubber treehas been properly marked 

 out, to suit the method of tapping to be ad- 

 opted, the following information may be found 

 useful : — 



1. In the first operation the knife which 

 should be employed when tapping is com- 

 menced, is the "Leading" or "Vertical Channel" 

 knife. This vertical channel should be very 

 carefully made and great care should be exer- 

 cised in the depth. 



This channel should be cut close to the Cam- 

 bium near the area to be tapped. This Vertical 

 Leading Channel should be made to face the 

 right direction. All Rubber Estates are, of 

 course, or should be, lined East and West. 



Where Rubber has been closely planted, it is 

 immaterial which direction the channel faces, 

 it is of the greatest importance that the knife 

 used be provided with a special guard which 

 can be regulated to a "nicety" and thus prevent 

 damage to the tree— at the same time securing 

 the very beat results. 



2, The second operation is the opening of 

 the area to be tapped, after it has been care- 

 fully marked out. Even greater care (if possible) 

 should be exercised in this delicate work. 



58 



If tapping on full or half "Herring Bone " 

 System, this cut should be made at an angle of 

 35 to 45 degrees from the " Leading" channel, 

 with the "V" or if with the " Y " method, 

 (which I saw several years ago very successfully 

 carried out on Lanadron Estate in Johore) a 

 slightly more acute angle is used. The knife 

 employed is known as the square -cut First 

 Incision knife, and should be made with a pro- 

 perly constructed guard which can be adjusted, 

 so that the knife will cut to any required depth 

 and at the same time will not penetrate the 

 Cambium. This knife should be about l-16th 

 of an inch broader than the side or guard of the 

 paring or tapping knife to be subsequently 

 employed. In cases where no up-to-date pull 

 and push knife can be got, it will be found 

 advantageous to cut a small tapping channel 

 at the extreme top end, of about one inch in 

 length in the opposite direction to the main, or 

 each tapping channel. This enables a "tapper" 

 to get a clean cut and besides saving the bark 

 (or rather using it), assists to keep the tree 

 symmetrical when the other side is tapped — 

 the renewed bark on the previously excised 

 portion will then have an even surface. I have 

 seen very large numbers of trees put very 

 much out of original shape through insuf- 

 ficient attention being given to these im- 

 portant, though apparently small matters. 



I would here make a special note for those in- 

 terested, that only specially trained coolies 

 should be employed on these two operations as 

 badly opened trees, especially young ones, prac- 

 tically mean the beghining and continuation 

 of bad tapping. These two operations are now 

 made easier and safer by using "Opening" 

 knives with proper inflexible guards. 



A trained cooly can easily open a hundred 5 to 6 

 year old trees in a day; and once open, the opera- 

 tion has not of course to be repeated for say 18 

 to 20 months, so the proportion of Opening- 

 Tappers to the ordinary is very small indeed. 



