Gums, Resins, 



222 



[Sept. 1906. 



Mr. Wright :- It does not originate from latex tubes in the wood. It may 

 have accumulated in a depression in the wood, made by some implement, borer, etc. 

 Mr. Thobnhill : -It leaves a little hole. 



Mr. Wright :— It cannot have originated in the wood. There is nothing in 

 the wood of Hevea brasiliensis to give it. It may have got into a depression in the 

 wood, and accumulated there. 



WHEN CAN NEW BARK BE MOST PROFITABLY TAPPED. 



Mr. Clark :— It would be interesting to know how old you consider the 

 renewed bark— at what stage, or when you consider the renewed bark can most 

 profitably be tapped. 



Mr. Wright : — I cannot reply as to the age at which renewed bark could 

 be most profitably tapped from any figures of exact yields, but I feel convinced 

 that if the renewed bark is tapped when under three or four years, and repeatedly 

 treated in the same manner, there will be some discouraging results. Consider 

 the ordinary natural development of the plant; it takes three to four years 

 for mature bark to be formed. You can never tap a tree under four years old. 

 You see you are dealing with newly-formed material, and it probably takes, 

 approximately, the same period of time tor the laticiferous system to form in the 

 new bark as it does to form in the original bark. Personally I would not recom 

 mend the tapping of the renewed bark, formed after complete cortical stripping 

 until it was three or four years old. On some estates it is found convenient to 

 arrange the tapping areas according to the points of the compass — East, West, 

 North, and South. The East side is tapped in the evening and the West in the 

 morning ; this is carried on for two years. Then they tap the North and South 

 sides during the next two years, and finally come back to the original side> 

 which has renewed its bark at the end of four years. Of course, that is perhaps 

 only necessary when cortical stripping is intended ; with the small V system it 

 might not be necessary. 



THE " V " METHOD OP TAPPING. 



Mr. Seel :— May I ask whether experiments are still being carried out with 

 the V system of tapping ? 



Mr. Wright : — We have not done very much in the way of V tapping. We 

 came to the conclusion that it was not a systematic method of tapping. It is far 

 less systematic than, say, the herring-bone or spiral methods, where you can start 

 above and work downwards through the whole of the bark. On the V system 

 you cannot easily tap the triangular piece of bark enclosed by the sides of 

 the V ; you must tap on the lower or under surface. Very often with the 

 V tapping the apex turns up and exposes the wood beneath. The V method is 

 not a systematic one, though it has led to very good results in some cases. I don't 

 see any special advantage in it over other methods. 



TO PREVENT COAGULATION ON THE TREE. 



Mr. Arthur Watt :— What is the best means of inducing latex to run- 

 to prevent coagulation on the tree ? 



Mr. Wright The only means available are of an artificial class. You can 

 either use an old bitters bottle or a can— a drip tin— at the top of each cut. You 

 fill the tins with water only or water with a little ammonia, or formalin. It is 

 certainly a very great advantage ; there is a saving of labour, and the cuts do not 

 fill with scrap. You have a more or less clean cut to start with next morning, I 

 went round an estate on Saturday last and was rather struck with the fact that 

 they had nine boys taking up the scrap for twenty-seven tappers at work. That is 



