and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society- 



495 



NEWLY PATENTED INSTRUMENT 

 FOR RUBBER TAPPING. 



Mr L Norzagaray, 44 Claremont Road, High- 

 gate, N., has taken out patent rights for an 

 appliance which consists of a handle of metal, 

 wood, or the like material of suitable size and 

 shape, having at its upper end a dome or 

 cylinder of metal or the like. Inside this dome, 

 and attached to a spindle passing centrally 

 through the dome or cylinder, is a pair of knives 

 formed in such a way as to cut two slots in the 

 trees, by preference inclined one towards the 

 other at the lower ends. The central spindle, 

 which has a motion axial to that of the cylin- 

 der or dome, may be screwed and thus can be 

 raised or lowered so as to alter the depth to 

 which the knife can enter the bark, or the 

 knives may be raised by means of a lever pivo- 

 ted upon the upper side of the handle or on the 

 stem which connects the handle to the said 

 dome or cylinder. The extension of the lever 

 rests on or over the wooden or metal handle 

 which holds the dome or cylinder and upon 

 depressing the said lever the spindle (with 

 the knives) is raised and pulled upwards out of 

 the bark of the tree. The upper part of the 

 spindle extends through the dome or chamber 

 in such a manner as to be capable of being 

 struck by a mallet or the like in order to force 

 the said cutters into or below the bark of the 

 rubber tree. A modified form of the instru- 

 ment and one which is somewhat cheaper and 

 simpler than the first-mentioned form is con- 

 structed as follows — 



A metal shank is inserted into a wooden or 

 other handle for the purpose of holding and 

 using the appliance. Upon the other end of 

 the shank is a solid end consisting of a cylin- 

 drical portion ending in two knife plates and 

 .shaped so as to produce two oblique incisions 

 in the bark of the tree, Tapped through this 

 cylindrical portion is a metal screw having at 

 its lower end a foot plate, which foot plate pas- 

 ses between and extends away from the two 

 knives mentioned. In this way it will be un- 

 derstood that an adjustment of the depth of the 

 incisions may be made by raising or lowering 

 the screw with its foot plate and that when the 

 knives are forced into the tree either by a ham- 

 mer-like action or being struck by a mallet or 

 otherwise the knives can readily be pulled out 

 of the bark of the tree by the mere lever action 

 of the foot plate against the bark. 



RUBBER NOTES. 



In his paper on " British Guiana and Its De- 

 velopment," read before the Royal Colonial 

 Institute on Tuesday, Mr. Edward R Davson 

 made but slight reference to rubber, and no 

 mention at all of the concession already started 

 bytiie Government of the colony. In speaking 

 of the forest industries of British Guiana, he 

 said: "Thebalata business is thoroughly 

 established and calls for no comment. The 

 land appears in every way suitable for growing 

 such rubber trees as the Hevea Brasiliensis, 

 which supplies the valuable Para rubber, but 



these do not appear to be indigenous. The 

 Sapium, known, in the market as Colombian 

 rubber, is met with, but not in largo quantities. 

 The conditions as to acquiring grants and con- 

 cessions are very fair — in fact, generous — and 

 advantage is being taken rapidly of them." Mr 

 Davson had previously stated that, with the 

 introduction of capital, railways should open up 

 the interior, arid there would be the opportunity 

 of growing rubber. — H. and C. Mad. March '27. 



RUBBER IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



Here is what "Tropical Life" for March 

 has to say: — 



To ascertain the lowest price which will draw 

 rubber out of Brazil on anything like the present 

 volume of supply, is very difficult. After mak- 

 ing due allowances for tall views on the subject, 

 there seems little or no doubt that the rubber, 

 Para rubber of the finest quality, is there as 

 plentiful as ever. So are tons of gold and trea- 

 sure at the bottom of the sea. The query is, 

 will it pay under present circumstances to get 

 it out? Any one who has hunted even in the 

 high-woods of South America or the West 

 Indies, can easily realise how difficult, if not 

 absolutely impossible, it must be to penetrate 

 any great depth into the dense virgin forests 

 that lie on either side of the Brazilian and other 

 rivers in the centre of South America. We can 

 well remember when Andre set out from Port- 

 of-Spain, Trinidad, to go orchid-hunting on the 

 banks of the Orinoco, and the difficulties and 

 dangers that his expedition underwent, al- 

 though unencumbered by the outfit necessary for 

 a rubber-collector's camp were it to go far in 

 from the river. More than half of the expedi- 

 tion never came back at all, and the others 

 were almost unrecognisable, owing to the priva- 

 tions thoy had undergone. Under such cir- 

 cumstances, vast numbers of trees in Brazil, the 

 same as the gold at the bottom of the sea, are 

 likely to remain untouched for many years to 

 come, and if 5s per lb. has not brought out the 

 rubber, 2s cr 3s per lb. can hardly be expected 

 to do so. Compared to the rubber areas in 

 Africa, South America has, however, enormous 

 transport advantages, owing to its wonderful 

 network of waterways, and though South 

 American rivers on the map are apt to be disap- 

 pointing to those who start to make use of 

 them, still there is no doubt that something 

 could be done to improve the navigation of 

 them in many places. There is more chance of 

 joining up Venezuela, Columbia, Brazil, Bolivia, 

 &c, by means of their rivers than by an inter- 

 national railway, which is the day-dream of 

 many a Spaniard at the present moment. It is 

 by improved means of navigation on the South 

 American waterways, and the use of power- 

 driven canoes and rubber boats capable, when 

 necessity compels, of being paddled, that we 

 look to the South American output of rubber 

 being increased even when prices drop below 3s 

 per lb. Also it must be borne in mind that not 

 only are considerable areas being planted up 

 with rubber, but in the high forests the tapping 

 is now being done more carefully and the 

 growth cleared around the trees, which are 



