458 The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



3. The third operation of paring or tapping is, 

 of course, much easier, but care should be taken 

 in the selection of knife to be used. This knife 

 is known as the Tapping or Paring knife. 



From the experience of many well informed 

 Planters it has been found best and safest to 

 employ a knife with a rigid guard having a 

 slight " lead " or " feeler" with a rounded lip — 

 this enables the Tapper to do the best work with 

 least possible damage to the tree. When a good 

 Tapper goes into the wood he feels it at once. 

 A properly constructed tapping knife is not in- 

 tended to cut wood, but only Cortex or living 

 and dead bark. The edges should be as keen as 

 a pen-knife or even a razor — the cleaner the cut, 

 or shaving, the better the flow of latex ; a jagged 

 cut with a blunt tool impedes the flow to a 

 very appreciable extent. 



The blades should be changeable, and if made 

 with four cutting edges as a few are, they 

 should also be made reversible. If a blade is 

 made thin and keen like a razor and properly 

 supported to withstand the work, it will give 

 the very best results. 



A tapper should not rub his knife back over 

 the newly excised bark, but should make two or 

 three clean cuts, as the contour of the channel 

 will not allow the paring to be made in one 

 operation. Rubbing backwards and forwards 

 over a newly made paring, closes up many 

 delicate latex cells which may have just only 

 been slightly opened. It has generally been 

 found in practice, that about 3/64ths-of-an-inch 

 is quite sufficient paring to remove at one opera- 

 tion and the number of times a tree should be 

 tapped, entirely depends on climatic conditions. 

 Prickers and Wound Response. 

 From observations carefully noted from the 

 infancy of this very important Rubber industry 

 in the East, I agree with many practical Plan- 

 ters, that tapping a Rubber tree is similar to 

 trying to milk a cow ; the little that is left in 

 the living source of supply remains there for its 

 nourishment. A wound is caused which, in 99 

 cases out of 100, becomes a festering centre ; 

 and after that, if it be not properly cared for, 

 the ultimate result is what can only be expected 

 by anyone who knows anything about Botany 

 — the "protea" is disturbed for ever. 



GEO. S. BROWN. 



A CEYLON WEED: "TEPHROSIA 

 PURPUREA." 



April 19. 



Dear Sir, — The article on Tephrosia purpurea 

 taken over from the Agricultural News of the 

 West Indies and originally from L' Agronomie 

 Tropicale into the March T. A. (p. 227) is 

 rather misleading. The reference to the plant as 

 one suitable tor forming hedges and grow- 

 ing up to 9 and 11 feet will make those who are 

 not familiar with this common weed think of 

 it as a probable shade tree and protection 

 against wind. The article speaks of its ability to 

 combat lalang and keep down other weeds. 

 Those who know the Sinhalese "pila" and 

 Tamil 1 kavalai " will realise how exaggerated 

 are the claims made on behalf of the plant, — 

 Yours truly, 



A BELGIAN RUBBER CO. DIRECTOR 

 IN COLOMBO. 



Among interesting foreign visitors to Ceylon 

 recently was M. Jacob, a Director of a big Java 

 Rubber Co., the Cultuur Maatschappij Baja- 

 bang, with 3,500 acres, of which some 1,400 are 

 planted in rubber the oldest being four years 

 old and of which 600 to 800 acres more are being 

 planted up this year. Our visitor, who is also a 

 member of the Belgian " Societe des Planteurs 

 de Caoutchouc " of Antwerp, was visiting 

 several rubber estates in Ceylon, including 

 Clyde, Kalutara, with an introduction from Mr. 

 Davidson, and also saw all he could of the 

 rubber trees at Peradeniya and at Heneratgoda. 

 He is now on his way to Java to furnish a re- 

 port on the Bajabang property for bis co- 

 directors and shareholders; and hopes to visit 

 estates in the F. M. S. en route. 



M. Jacob told us that the best four-year-old 

 rubber on Bajabang is of some 23 inches girth, 

 3 feet from the ground, and that tapping is 

 being commenced this year. The oldest rubber 

 he knows in Java is on a neighbouring estate, 

 40 acres of 5-year-old and 200 of 4 year-old. Java 

 growth as a rule is the same for 4-year-old as 5 

 or even 5$ in Ceylon, while there is not much to 

 choose between it and that of rubber in the 

 Malay States. The greatest amount of capital 

 put into rubber in Java so far is Belgian, rather 

 more than the amount of English and much 

 more than that invested from Holland. Tbe 

 difficulties in obtaining land, he said, were cer- 

 tainly getting greater — in securing the best 

 land, that is, most suitable for growing rubber ; 

 for Government were more and more averse to 

 parting with it. Among recent visitors to the 

 Dutch Indies, he said, was M. Grisard, a well- 

 known Rubber magnate, who he understood was 

 on his way home to Europe now and about to 

 float a new Company when he reached home. 



SILT-TRAPS FOR RUBBER ESTATES. 



FURTHER SUGGESTIONS. 

 With reference to our remarks last month des- 

 cribing a practice that might be pursued for con- 

 serving the soil on rubber estates where the lie 

 of the land makes them subject to wash, we may 

 add that the making of the silt-traps should be 

 devised according to rainfall. In wet districts 

 they should be longer and larger; also in steep 

 land a few cross-drains of ordinary dimensions 

 are recomended. Steep land can with safety be 

 planted in rubber much closer than flat land, as 

 the former gets more light, and with the dikes 

 at the upper side of each plant it would be safe 

 against all wash. 



While Para rubber seems to like periodical 

 flooding on flat land, it would equally rejoice 

 in the gradual percolating of the rain water 

 caught in the silt traps. When cattle are kept, 

 an ideal cultivation would be dead level rows of 

 guinea grass— double rows, taking care not to 

 put any too near the rubber plants. This grass 

 is very harmless and would disappear when the 



