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Saps and Exudations. 



The Cultivation of the Castilloa Rubber Tree. 



THE METHODS EMPLOYED ON A NICARAGUA PLANTATION. II. 



Another point in the number of cuts is the time and labour in making the 

 cuts. Six cuts to a tree is twice as much labour as three cuts, but if it does not give 

 twice as much rubber it would be cheaper to make three cuts and tap a large number 

 of trees in a day. The tapping is now being done with only three cuts per tree : one 

 at the base, one at five feet from the ground, and one half-way between these. 

 Tapping above five feet necessitates the use of ladders, and this would mean more 

 labour and would hardly pay with young trees. I believe the making of four cuts, 

 the top one six feet from the ground, would give enough more than three cuts to 

 pay if it is not too great an injury to the tree. 



Three methods of tapping have been used by planters around here. The 

 first is the native method of tapping with a machete. Many wild trees have been 

 killed by this method, and for that reason it was condemned at the beginning. 

 I do not think the method is as bad as it has been considered. I believe the 

 wild trees died because of the number of cuts, the short distance between them, 

 the tapping of roots and spurs, etc., rather than owing to the depth of single cuts. 

 Of course, the cuts are crude, and often expose too much wood, but the method is 

 not so bad as it has been considered, and if in the future when the trees are large 

 and the bark very thick and tough, it is found that the tapping tool cannot be used, 

 there would be no great danger in using the machete. 



The second method is the single incision method. This method is founded on 

 the belief that it is dangerous to remove any bark from the tree. In order not to 

 dig out a channel for the latex to run in, the cuts are made short enough to collect 

 all the latex from each cut in one cup. The tapping is done with a chisel a little 

 over an inch long, and a ring of cuts of this length is made around the tree in place 

 of one cut. This method has a number of disadvantages. It involves a lot of labour 

 to make the cuts and place the cups on the tree, etc. It requires a large number 

 of cups, and these cups must afterwards be washed. The number of cups which 

 must be placed on the trees is so great that the men cannot place them carefully, 

 therefore they frequently do not fit on the trees, and the chink between must be 

 filled with a bit of mud, which gets into the latex and makes it much harder 

 to manipulate. This last objection can be remedied by a different form of cup. 



The third method of tapping is with a tool. This method makes the same 

 sort of incision as the machete, but makes it much more neatly, and no particular 

 skill is necessary to do it. The tool cuts out a V-shaped piece of bark, leaving a 

 grove in which the latex can flow- The cut is made somewhat obliquely, and 

 the latex runs out at the lower end where the cups are placed. Generally two cuts 

 overlapping at their lower end, and each passing halfway round the tree are made. 

 The cuts have been generally made nearly halfway round, but a small space between 

 the two left at the upper ends, so as to be sure that the tree would not be greatly 

 injured. I do not think this is necessary, as the trees are apparently not injured 

 if the cuts overlap at each end. I do not think that the herringbone method is 

 necessary or advisable for Castilloa. The vertical channel leading all of the latex 

 into one cup at the base I shoidd imagine would be injurious, and the yield of 

 Castilloa is so great that a very large cup would be necessary. The cups now being 

 used are filled, or nearly filled, by the two cuts. The cups at the bottom cuts 

 sometimes run over. 



The healing of the cut is another matter which must be considered. 

 The general idea has been that the cut must not be made too deeply, and this 

 is true to a certain extent. Trees here show, also, that it must^not be made 

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