THE SUPPLEMENT TO THE 



Tropical Agriculturist and Magazine of the C. A. 8. 



Compiled by A. M. & J. FERGUSON. 



No. 4,] APRIL, 1909. [Vol. IV. 



THE NEW SYSTEM OF TAPPING 

 RUBBER. 



EARLY YIELDS VERSUS QUALITY. 



Doubts and Fkars. 

 The new system of tapping rubber is attain- 

 ing very considerable popularity. It is the 

 chief topic of discussion in rubber growing 

 circles. It promises to shorten the wait of 

 the planter ; and impatient shareholders are 

 already feverishly revising their prospects 

 in the light of its advent. "Our estimate 

 for the year is so and so ; but, wilh the adop- 

 tion of the new system of lapping, we expect 

 that this toill bit greatly increased" has 

 become as essential (and as stereotyped) a part 

 of a Rubber Company Chairman's annual 

 speech as the time-honoured and hoary formula, 

 "The report has been in your hands for the 

 usual time and with your permission we will 

 take it as read ! " It is natural enough that any 

 method of dealing with rubber trees, which will 

 render them productive two years earlier than 

 was anticipated when they were planted, should 

 absorb attention to the exclusion of all else and 

 we can probably accept as true the current Fort 

 report that already some 120 Ceylon estates 

 have subscribed to the new method. The 

 pre-eminent advantages claimed by the new 

 system are: — Simplicity; Reduction in cost 

 of production ; Little or no damage to the 

 trees ; Reduction in labour force required ; 

 and Quicker and increased returns. The last 

 of these is undoubtedly the one that has 

 proved the most attractive to producers and 

 shareholders ; and now that they are becoming 

 accustomed to its dazzling glamour, which for 

 the time obscured all other issues, they are 

 beginning to realise that there are two sides to 

 the shield. Doubts and fears are forcibly ob. 

 truding themselves on the halcyon outlook. Two 

 points in particular are being much discussed ; 



and in our opinion these must be satisfactorily 

 answered and proved to the hilt by experience be- 

 fore the new tapping method can be pronounced 

 an unqualified success or hailed as a genuine 

 benefaction to the plantation rubber industry. 

 It may be safely assumed, so attractive are the 

 claims of the new system, that the great majority 

 of planters possessing rubber at all approaching 

 a tappable age will take it up, for— according to 

 Messrs. Lee, Hedges* Co.'s original circular, re- 

 produced in T. A. for December, 1908— "By adop- 

 ting this system it is possible to secure from 

 young Trees (3 -year-old and upwards) which 

 cannot under present conditions be profitably 

 tapped— a remunerative yield at a low cost not 

 possible by any other known method." What 

 must be the inevitable result of this ? In a very 

 short time a largo quantity of inferior rubber 

 will be thrown upon the market, prices must 

 drop and the fair name of the Ceylon pro- 

 duct is bound to suffer in the eyes of the 

 buyer. The inferiority of rubber yielded by 

 young trees is a matter beyond cavil. " In- 

 crease in age," says Wright in , his "Para 

 Rubber," the standard work on the plantation 

 industry, " is certainly to be associated with an 

 improvement in the physical properties and 

 quality of the rubber, whether one considers 

 plantations of different ages or parts of the same 

 tree.'' Again observers have shown that " rub- 

 ber from young trees is adhesive and lacks the 

 required elasticity and strength." Stanley Arden 

 has shown that in parts of Malaya the rubber 

 from trees 31 to 4 years old is decidedly inferior. 

 The India Rubber Journal is quoted by Mr. 

 Wright as having described samples of Para 

 rubber from four-year-old trees "as being soft, 

 and would not stand much working on the 

 machine, while the value put upon them was 

 only equal to that for 'Congo ball or a similar 

 quality of African.' " And finally we may 

 quote the opinion of Mr. Wright on the sub- 

 ject, applied directly [to Ceylon :— " When 

 one considers that the growth of the Para 



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