and Magazine oj the Ceylon Agricultural Society. —Sep., 1910. 



278 



TAPPING OF GEARA RUBBER. 



Shimoga, Mysore Province, S. India, Aug, '-Msfc. 



Dear Sir,— I take the liberty of asking if you 

 would kindly let me know whether the difficul- 

 ties connected with the Tapping of Ceara Rub- 

 ber have been got over. 



The tree grows rampantly with us here 

 in Mysore, but the difficulty of tapping has 

 prevented its cultivation hitherto. If the 

 cambium were wounded, however slightly, the 

 tree always died; and it is practically im- 

 possible to prevent such wounding. 



Again, the second and subsequent tappings 

 were rendered very difficult by the hardening of 

 the renewed bark. 



I am informed that the difficulty has been 

 successfully met by reverting to the original 

 method of pricking the stom with special pric- 

 kers. 1 would be very much obliged if you 

 would kindly tell me what the facts are.— Yours 

 faithfully, 



H. F. STRICKLAND. 



[We must refer our correspondent to useful 

 articles in the Tropical Agriculturist of July, 

 1909, (Supplement, page81,?-e Ceara Tapping in 

 Nyasaland) and to June, 1909 (on the same in the 

 Philippines, p. 511.) But perhaps some Ceylon 

 growers of Ceara would give us their own more 

 up-to-date experience? — Ed., CO.] 



A REPLY. 

 Duckwari Group, Rangalla, Aug. 27. 

 Dear Sir, — A letter appearing in your paper 

 has been brought to my notice re tapping of 

 "Ceara Rubber Trees." I think if Mr H F 

 Stricklaud would care to correspond with me I 

 core give him the information which will enable 

 him to tap his trees with success, especially 

 should he use the knife I recommend. — Yours 

 faithfully, 



W. J. A. BIRD. 



[We have forwarded Mr Bird's letter to the 

 Mysore planter referred to, but trust the for- 

 mer will give our readers also the benefit of his 

 experience. — Ed. CO.] 



TAPPING OF CEARA RUBBER IN 

 UGANDA. 



The Uganda Official Gazette of the 15th June 

 contains the following extract which may be of 

 interest to rubber growers : — 



"Experiment with tapping Ceara Rubber 

 trees on Mr. A. Alhdina Visrara's Entebbe 

 Plantation. 



"On the 16th of April la3t I took the girth 

 measurements of 20 trees at a height of three 

 feet ; the average girth of these trees was 19", 

 the largest being 26" and the smallest 16". 

 On the same date I tapped these on the 'haif 

 herring bone' system. 



"Tapping was done to a height of 3J feet, and 

 from the system adopted, it will be seen that 

 only half of each tree was tappod. The trees are 

 approximately 2 years and 9 months old. 



"The trees were tapped every alternate eve- 

 ning betwoen the hours of 5 and 6-30 p.m. for a 

 period of one month. Each tree was tapped 1 ■> 



35 



times. The flow of latex was encouraged by 

 paring and pricking, and wound response was 

 excellent throughout the experiment. 



"The quantity of dry rubber obtained is 2 lb 

 5i oz of which 1 lb 14/, oz is biscuit rubber, the 

 remainder being composed of the latex which 

 coagulated in the cuts and was collected as scrap 

 rubber. The above represents an average yield 

 of 1 oz 14 drs per tree for the period, and allow- 

 ing that tapping could be done on 180 days per 

 year, this would represent an annual yield of 

 1 lb 6J oz per tree, which is exceedingly good 

 especially considering the youth of the trees 

 and the fact that they have been tapped to a 

 height of 3J feet, and that only one half of 

 the tree was tapped. A very weak solution of 

 Formaline was added as a preservative, and the 

 latex was coagulated in enamel plates by adding 

 a weak solution of Acetic Acid." — Zanzibar 

 Gazette, July 19. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPPING OF 

 RUBBER TREES. 



Patent No. 22,931, 1909. Date of application, October 

 8th, 1909. Complete specification left, March 10th, 1910. 

 Accepted, July 7th, 1910. Wilfrid L Spence, 14, St. Vincent 

 Place, Glasgow, Civil Engineer. 



Hithero it has been customary to collect only 

 the latex which flows naturally from a cut in the 

 bark. The present invention has for its objects 

 to increase the How at each tapping and to ex- 

 pedite it, thus reducing the labour cost by min- 

 mising the frequency of collections, reducing the 

 proportion of scrap rubber and giving the tree a 

 longer rest period between successive operations. 



The flow of latex is forced as follows: Above 

 or below, but preferably abov9, the cut, and at 

 some distance therefrom, pressure is appliod to 

 the bark as a constrictive ring round the 

 trunk. This ring of constrictive pressure is 

 made to travel towards the cut, thereby forcing 

 the latex within the region traversed towards 

 the point or points of release and collection. 



The ring of pressure may be conveniently ap- 

 plied and traversed by continuously wrapping 

 round the trunk a rope or band in a single layer, 

 starting at a point remote from and gradually 

 approaching the cuts, so that the latex is driven 

 in the required direction. Similarly if a few 

 turns be tightly wound round the trunk- and the 

 ends be hold taut by a cooly or by tvvo coolies 

 walking round the tree so that as the lower end 

 is wound the upper end is unwound, a circum- 

 ferential pressure .will bo set up, travelling con- 

 tinuously down towards the cuts and forcing 

 the latex thereto. 



A similar effect can be produced by a strong 

 elastic rubber baud or rope joined up to form a 

 ring rouud the trunk and then rolled to.vards 

 the point of collection. A steel or other helical 

 spring of euch section and proportions as to 

 present a non-crushing surface, either con- 

 tinuous, or discontinuous, may be similarly used. 



If it be desired, the ring may also be made 

 discontinuous by the insertion of longitudinal 

 or helical flexible packing strips between the 

 ring and the trunk, but not extending all round 

 the trunk, or by equivalent methods of preven 

 ting the pressure bearing on the whole circum- 

 ference of thetree.— India Rubber Journal, Aug. 8. 



