Gums, Resins, 



6 



thirty-five feet. After the planting has been done, great care is taken that the 

 forest growth does not choke out the young tree. This growth is kept down con- 

 tinually, thus giving the young rubber tree a good start until it is able to take care 

 of itself, which it can do two years after planting, after which time it requires very 

 little attention. 



Tapping Methods.— The native Indian method of tapping is as follows :— 

 Before beginning to tap a place is selected on the tree, preferably on the inclined 

 side, and a hole made in the ground below, lined with a wide green leaf. 

 The tapper makes two incisions with his machete at right angles, coming 

 together in the centre. This is done to ascertain where the milk runs best. 

 Once decided, the tapper makes a narrow incision at the point of conver- 

 gence and improvises a funnel of the same leaf used in lining the hole in the 

 ground. This acts as a conduit for the milk, which runs from the tree in a steady 

 steam into the hole until it coagulates along the line of incision, when, if desired, it 

 is scraped off twice or more before the stream finally ceases. Very often the milk 

 spurts out, and one could not stand close to the tree where the machete is at work 

 without getting one's clothes spoiled. The rubber coagulates where it falls on the 

 clothes, and will not wash out ; only a solvent will remove it. 



The bark of the tree is not only cut once, but at least four or five times, at 

 intervals of two feet. The next year the angles cross each other, giving the tree a 

 peculiar criss-cross appearance. Once the milk is flowing freely, the tapper leaves 

 the tree and goes to another, repeating the process already described. By the above 

 method a dozen trees are considered an average day's work. When the milk ceases 

 to flow the tapper returns and carefully picks up the leaf in the hole and pours its 

 contents into a large gourd. This is naturally a crude and wasteful process. An 

 unskilled tapper either gets all the milk on his own clothes or else it runs round the 

 tree and is lost. It is usual to begin tapping in May and continue until December 

 inclusive. 



The latex, or milky juice of the bark of the rubber tree, is qiute distinct 

 from the sap which circulates through the wood, and contains from 32 to 44 per cent 

 of gum. Pure rubber milk is white when it first runs from the tree, closely resembles 

 that of the cow ; but in the drying process it gradually oxidizes and turns black. 



Coagulating— Native Indian Method.— When the milk is brought in from 

 the forest it is thinly spread on the long, palm-shaped leaves of the oja blanca, which 

 have first been laid on the ground in the hot sun. Toward the stem, where the milk 

 lies thickest, it is necessary to stir it while drying ; otherwise it would coat over 

 thickly on the outside and be full of the residue fluid, bringing a less price in 

 consequence. When the leaves are coated evenly, a quarter-of-an-inch thick, they 

 are piled one above another and pressed hard enough to cause the rubber strips to 

 adhere closely. Then, by a dexterous movement, the tough leaves are pulled off and 

 the thin layers are rolled into slabs ready for packing. 



Cleansing the Rubber.— The slabs of dried rubber are packed in bales of 

 150 pounds each, covered with the native-made matting, sewed up in sacks, shipped 

 per steamer to various countries and sold to the rubber manufacturers. The first 

 process in the manufacture of crude rubber— necessary on account of its being pre- 

 pared by the native method — is to pass the slabs through large corrugated steel 

 rollers, water falling from a reservoir upon the rubber as it passes through. This is 

 repeated a number of times until all the dirt and foreign matter is eliminated, and 

 the rubber rolled into thin perforated sheets having a rough surface. These sheets 

 are from eight to twelve feet long, and eighteen inches wide. They are then hung 

 in the dry room, where they remain until all the moisture has evaporated. The 

 rubber is then ready for the next process. 



