11 



Saps and Exudations. 



Journal of the following dates :-16th January; correspondence re Washing 

 Mills, 13th February, page 169, " A Question for the Rubber Trade," 27th Febru- 

 ary, 'page 222, "Washed and Dried Rubber," 13th March, page 269. 



It is possible that it may be found profitable to adopt the centrifugal 

 separation of the rubber particles from the latex diluted with water (Biffen's 

 patent) or a modification of it which is announced from Ceylon; but until 

 a considerable number of the plants in the larger plantation are large enough 

 to be tapped, it will, I consider, be sufficient to go on as we are doing. I beg 

 to append extracts from my last inspection notes of the Mergui Plantation 

 relative to the preparation, drying, and packing of the rubber, and the account 

 sales of the last two consignments, from which it will be seen that our rubber 

 fetches excellent prices. The price of Fine Para opened at 5s. Id. in 1905, and 

 in the second week of March stood at 5,§. 5d. 



(Extract from Inspection Report on Rubber Plantation at Mergui.) 



THE PREPARATION OP RUBBER. 



3. The preparation of the rubber has beeu vastly improved by the 

 Manager (Mr. J. W. Ryan), but still leaves room for further improvement. 

 For example, the biscuits are of various shapes and sizes, some being very 

 thin and shrivelled up. It is desirable that all should be as nearly as possible 

 alike. Moulds of several kinds have been tried, but they do not give better 

 results than the ordinary soup-plates. Plates of the same size and make should 

 be used, so that the pancakes may be the same. A measure or ladle should 

 be used, for putting an equal quantity of latex in each plate so as to obtain 

 cakes of equal thickness, say eight to the pound. 



THE MARKING OP THE PANCAKES OR " BISCUITS " 



may be, and to some extent is, done by hand by pressing each cake with one 

 of the plates originally intended to be used in the moulds. This is a slow and 

 expensive method which will be improved upon when the yield increases. The 

 cane hammocks on which the pancakes are hung to dry are allowed to 

 sag too much, so that the cakes of soft rubber become deformed and unsightly 

 If the cane will not bear stretching tight it will be better to use wire-netting, 

 say of two inch mesh, on which the cakes of rubber will lie flat. The pancakes 

 when removed from the plates or moulds are very soft and of a creamy white 

 colour. I noticed that the liquor which moistens them is sticky and gives the 

 cakes a sticky coating apparently of some gum-resin, which is very apt to get 

 mouldy in damp weather. This must be remedied either by diluting the latex 

 before it is poured into the plates or by throwing the pancakes into clean water 

 and washing them when they are taken out of the moulds. It will also be a 

 good plan to subject them afterwards to pressure, so as to squeeze out moisture 

 and imprint the Government mark upon them before putting them on the 

 racks to dry.— The Indian Forester. 



TO TEST THE ELASTICITY AND RESILIENCE OF RUBBER. 



Mr. J. B. Carruthers' Invention. 



An apparatus specially designed by the Director of Agriculture for testing 

 the elasticity and resilience of rubber, constructed by Messrs. Baird and Tatlock 

 from Mr. Carruthers' drawings, is now being experimented with at the laboratory of 

 the Department of Agriculture. The object of such a machine is to subject the piece 

 of rubber to be tested to a measured and exact strain, and one which increases 



