and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society, 



485 



I was very agreeably surprised 

 to note the difference- in the sizes of the trees 

 on many estates. Some of the rubber trees 

 which the last timo I saw were only two years 

 old, have put on a very good girth. It struck me 

 that on many of the plantations the increase in 

 the girth between and during the 3rd and 4th 

 years was very considerable. Once the trees 

 have attained a certain length they appear 

 to develop in circumference at a rate above that 

 in previous years. I was delighted to see so 

 many estates with trees of a decent size which 

 had not been tapped. There were, however, 

 one or two properties where tapning had been 

 done on trees measuring between 15 and 18 

 inches circumference, a yard from the ground. 

 Personally 



I Do not Believe in Tapping iggef Under Five Years, 



Especially if TUcir Girth 

 is below 18 or 20 inches. I saw some 

 trees 18 inches in circumference and 4-1 years 

 old, which had been tapped for several 

 months and had only given from a Jib. to ^lb. of 

 rubber, but the amount of bark which had been 

 cut away in securing that quantity of rubber 

 was very large indeed. As I declared to the 

 Ceylon planters in a lecture some time ago, the 

 sooner they realise that 



The Bark of the Para Rubber tree is "the Mother 

 of Rubber" 



the better. The loss bark that is cut away the 

 better for the tree and for future yields. 



When asked whether he had seen any new 

 tapping knives, Mr. Wright replied: "Still 

 they come." On his journey he examined 

 three new tapping knives, but in his 

 opinion only one was of any particular 

 value. That was the new Bowman-Northway 

 Pricker. This pricker is made in the form of 

 a revolving toothed wheel, the tips of 

 which are straight and blunt, so that the teeth 

 cannot penetrate into the wood except when 

 considerable force is used. The sides of each 

 tooth are very eharp, and during tapping effect 

 a slanting cut. "This knife, I think," he said 

 "is much better than the original one brought 

 out by the same patentees \' 



Discussing the subject of 



The Practical Planter ami Appliances. 



Mr Wright said, "I was much struck with 

 the way in which some planters, even though tho 

 factories are not suited for rubber manufacture, 

 are able to turn out such large quantities of 

 first- class rubber so quickly. The tools used are 

 sometimes also very crude, but the really 

 practical roan appears to be able to dispense 



with any elaborate apparatus. I think it is 

 greatly to their credit that such magnificent 

 results have been obtained iu such a simple 

 manner.' ; 



Mr Wright then branched off on to the subject 

 of rapid drying, and said ho was much interested 

 when going over Gikiyankanda, to learn from 

 Mr Golledge, the Superintendent, how effectively 

 he dried his rubber and converted it into crepe 

 in a very short time. "The freshly coagulated 

 rubber is cut up by machinery into worms, 

 which are then placed in trays in a chamber 

 maintained at 85 degrees Fahrenheit. In 12 hours 

 they are dry, and are then passed through a pair 

 of ordinary dry rollers and thus converted into 

 crepe. To manufacture perfectly dry crepe with- 

 out the use of any special heating apparatus 

 within 



such a short period as 13 hours 

 is very satisfactory. I believe a somewhat 

 similar result was obtained some little time back 

 in the Matale district with lace rubber.'' 

 Asked as to his impressions of 



Heneratgoda. 

 Mr Wright replied: "I was naturally very 

 anxious to see the bad effects following 

 the experiments in rubber tapping, which 

 I conducted at Henaratgoda during 1905 

 and 1906. I think it is very creditable 

 to the Sinhalese coolies, that their tapping re- 

 sulted in only two per cent of the trees — and 

 these were tapped every working day for 11 

 months— showing any very bad effects. 

 They were originally bad specimens and were 

 put to a very severe test. The bark appears to 

 have healed wonderfully well, and many of the 

 trees could easily double, or treble the yields 

 which they gave during the time of the experi- 

 ments." 



Mr. Wright's Return to Ceylon; 

 Mr Wright hopes to be back hi Ceylon bj the 

 middle of June, and also by that time that 

 material for tho 3rd edition of his book will be 

 complete. 



ORANGES FOR HEALTH, 



Was the gastronomic motto of the Cambridge 

 crew when lately at Putney. To the liberal use 

 of this fruit they attributed their freedom from 

 illness. The Oxford men indulged in apples 

 and bananas, and five of them got down with 

 influenza — as a consequence, the orango devo- 

 tees declare" ! So we read in a London paper; 

 and it reminds us of a leading Ceylon physician 

 who, forty years ago, used to bemoan the quantity 

 of drugs he had to prescribe for his tvide circle 

 of patients — Colonist as well as Ceylonese — say- 

 ing "they will have them !' 'Now' — he added 

 — ' when I myself were 'seedy', I take an orange ; 

 if ' bad' I take two ; very bad three or four, as 

 my medicine"! 



