July, 1908,] 



1 



Bapn and Exudations. 



At the present time there is being 

 developed here in Mexico a new tapping 

 device, which will supersede all knives 

 developed so far, and will, in fact, re- 

 volutionize rubber tapping all over the 

 world, as this device can be used for any- 

 kind of rubber tree. As this device is 

 not yet patented, I am not at liberty to 

 describe it, but so much is certain that 

 it is a decided success. It is a mechan- 

 ical device, run by hand, foot, or elec- 

 tric power. It makes it possible to tap 

 the trees to a height of at least 12 feet, 

 and one man can without any exertion 

 tap as many as 500 trees per day or 

 about 4,000 running feet. 1 am assured 

 that tbis tapping device will be on the 

 market before our next tapping season. 



Stimulating the Flow.— It has also 

 been found that the flow of latex can be 

 stimulated by artificial irritation of the 

 bark. This can be done in many ways, 

 either by application of some chemical to 

 the bark or by mechanical irritation. 

 This latter can be accomplished with a 

 brush, but it is an operation which takes 

 some time, and the question is vvhetherit 

 would be profitable or not. 



Latex Collecting.— We then come to 

 the question of the latex collecting 

 vessels. You all know the primitive 

 calabash used by the Indian for this 

 purpose. In Ceylon, where plantation 

 tapping first became a question of im- 

 portance, many different kinds of collect- 

 ing cups have been developed. Some of 

 these are made of tin sheets, others of 

 pressed iron sheet, afterwards tinned, 

 and others again of aluminium. Some 

 are without a cover, others have covers 

 to prevent water or dirt from falling into 

 the cup. Some are attached by hanging 

 them on a nail driven into the tree. 

 This method is, on the face of it, quite 

 unpractical. Besides necessitating sev- 

 eral manipulations, it would require a 

 large amount of nails on a plantation 

 with say, 1,000,000 trees. Further, driv- 

 ing nails into the tree causes the develop- 

 ment of a diseased spot, generally 

 marked by abnormal growth. Another 

 method of attaching the cup to the trunk 

 is to push the sharp edge of the cup 

 underneath the bark where the cup is 

 held. There is one grave objection to 

 this, and that is the development of large 

 bumps on the trunk which seriously im- 

 pede future tapping. Such a place of 

 attachment is further liable to various 

 diseases. On other plantations the prac- 

 tice is to place the cup on the ground at the 

 bottom on the tree, and to use a spout for 

 conducting the latex into the cup. There 

 are many objections also to this method. 



The most practical collecting cup seems 

 to me to be an ordinary round cup with 

 thin edges, one side being bent inwards 



so as to approximately fit the trunk of a 

 tree. Holes are punched through the 

 corners at the beginning of the concavity 

 and a piece of string sufficiently long to 

 reach round the trunk is tied through 

 one hole. At the end of the string a 

 small wire hook is fastened, and this 

 hook is placed in the other whole, thus 

 securing the cup to the trunk. When 

 these strings are tied on to the cup be- 

 fore they are taken out in the field, the 

 whole operation of fastening the cup 

 consists of one single manipulation. In 

 the Orient the cups used are very small, 

 being sufficient for the small amount of 

 latex exuding from the trees, but in 

 tapping Castilloa trees much larger cups 

 are needed. The smallest serviceable 

 cup should hold one quart or half liter. 



Tapping System.— Of the various 

 systems of tapping employed in the 

 different parts of the world I first want 

 to refei to the one in general use in 

 Brazil, which results in short incisions 

 more or less horizontal. The Central 

 American Indian long: ago found by 

 experience that diagonal or oblique cuts 

 gave the largest amount of latex, and he 

 finally reached the method of making 

 two incisions forming an angle or a V. 

 The object of this form of incision is to 

 permit the latex from the two cuts on 

 each side of the trunk to run together at 

 the apex, whence it flows into the cup. 

 Most Mexican planters still adhere to 

 this method, which, however, has many 

 serious objections. The principal one is 

 that the apex is very difficult to heal, 

 and usually forms a big excrescence or 

 bump, which seriously interferes with 

 future tappings. It further does not 

 lend itself to regularity in tapping and 

 prevents the trunk from developing 

 symmetrically. A continued tapping 

 according to this system results in want 

 of space for incisions a few years after 

 the first tapping, and then it is found 

 neces-ary to cut across the old wounds 

 which gives the tree the peculiar criss- 

 cross appearance of the wild trees 

 tapped by the Indians. 



In Ceylon a number of various systems 

 have been developed. One of these 

 Ceylon systems which in the beginning 

 had a number of advocates is the so- 

 called "spiral" system. Tbis has been 

 tried on some plantations in Mexico, but 

 the result is almost invariably the death 

 of the tree after the first tapping. There 

 is, further, nothing to recommend this 

 system. ' 



The " spiral curves " developed by 

 Northway and Bowman in Ceylon con- 

 sist of independent" spiral" incisions 

 each ending at the bottom of the tree. 

 There are the same objections to this 

 system as to the ordinary " spiral." 



