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77ie Supplement to tlut Tropical Agriculturist 



from the base to a height of 20 ft. to 30 ft. at one 

 tapping. It is not advisable to tap beyond 30 ft. 

 at one tapping. Trees which were heavily tapped 

 twigs died. Wounds made on the Funtumia tree 

 did not heal up so quickly as did the wounds in- 

 flicted on the Para and Ceara rubber trees by 

 tapping. This might be accounted for by the 

 scanty crown of foliage -which the former pos- 

 sessed, when compared with the latter species. 



On the whole, the yields obtained were very 

 disappointing, experiments proviug the yield of 

 mature trees to be about 5 oz. to 6 oz. of dry 

 rubber per year, tapped to a height of 30 ft. The 

 amount of caoutchouc in Funtumia latex was 

 about - 33 per cent. Funtumia latex coagulated 

 readily by boiling; but the method generally ad- 

 opted was coagulation by chemicalsand hot water 

 iu long wooden troughs. Funtumia elastica was 

 an exceedingly slow grower, and he doubted if it 

 was of any importance to Uganda from a plant- 

 ation point of view. The growth of plants in the 

 forest was very slow, and although they made 

 much more progress in the open, their rate of 

 development was disappointing. Planting on 

 a considerable scale was commenced some 

 three years ago, and the area at present under 

 rubber cultivation was about 3,200 acres. Of 

 this approximately 2,200 were under Para, 9 

 under Ceara and 1U0 were planted with Fun- 

 tumia and Oastilloa. An estate could be worked 

 so that coffee would form an article of export 

 before the rubber reached a tapnablo size. 

 Labour was locally abundant, and as transport 

 facilities were improved it would bo more 

 plentiful. The Baganda were an easily-taught 

 race, and there would be no difficulty in teach- 

 ing them to become first-class labourers and 

 tapDors. Although Ceara rubher had been grown 

 in the country for ten years, it was ordy within 

 the last year that it had been recognised as a 

 valuable rubber-yielding tree. The method of 

 tapping adopted was that of pricking, after 

 removing the dry outer bark, and smearing the 

 tree with a coagulant. The " half-herring- 

 bone " system was experimented with, and 

 the results obtained were highly gratifying. The 

 yield of Ceara trees varied remarkably in in- 

 dividual trees. The tree particularly lent itself 

 to speedy results from seed selection, owing 

 to the comparatively early age at which its 

 latex-yielding capacity could be tested. He 

 considered that there was a great feature for 

 Para and Ceara rubber. Para he recommended 

 as a permanent crop, while for a quick return 

 he preferred Ceara. 



The conference was resumed on Tuesday. Dr. 

 Torrey presided. 



The first paper read was by Dr. Tromp de 

 Haas, the subject being 



"tapping experiments on para trees. ,: 



In the course of his remarks Dr. Haas described 

 some of the experiments undertaken for the 

 purpose of deciding which was the best 

 method of tapping, daily or every other day. 

 The conclusions he came to were that a larger 

 aantity of rubber was collected by every-day 

 tapping, but experiments would have to be 

 continued before they could get anything like 

 reliable results. 



In the course of discussion, Mr. Petch said 

 that from experiments made by Mr. Wright in 

 19U6aud by Messrs Bamberand Lock, which were 

 carried on for two years, more rubber was 

 obtained from every day tapping, but it did 

 not follow that everyday tapping was the best. 

 By tapping every other day more rubber was 

 obtained per day than if they tapped every day, 

 but they did not get twice as much. Tapping 

 on the four years system, they might complete 

 the whole of their bark in two years, and then, 

 presumably, they would have to give the trees 

 two years rest. With alternate-day tapping 

 they would be able to tap during the whole of 

 the four years, and therefore at the end of that 

 time they would take more rubber by alternate- 

 day tapping. It all depended on hew long it 

 took to complete one cycle of tapping round 

 the tree. 



Mr. Mitchell— read a paper on 



80ME DISEASES OF HEVEA BRAS1LIENSIS, 



in which ho stated that the most important dis- 

 ease was fomes. Very few estates in Malaya 

 were free from it, and many had suffered very 

 much. It occurred mostly in trees from one to 

 four years old. It was also to be found in nur- 

 series and in old trees. The physical nature of 

 the soil did not affect it, though loose land 

 allowed the fungus to grow there. 



Mr. Gustavb van den Kerkhove- contri- 

 buted a paper on 



' THE OFFICIAL MEASURES TAKEN : ADULTERATION 

 OF THE INDIGENOUS RUBBERS," 



in which he stated that about i896 the adulter- 

 ation of some kinds of Congo rubber, especially 

 the rod and black Kasai, had taken dangerous 

 proportions. Out of ten twists three were adul- 

 terated and contained a certain quantity of 

 palm kernels and stones. It was absolutely ne- 

 cessary that this evil should be stopped, and 

 the most severe instructions were sent to the 

 producing places, as well as in Europe and 

 America, with the result that the twists were 

 now examined with great care. These wise 

 measures soon showed good results. The same 

 state of things existed in French Guinea in 

 1897. Competition between the different foreign 

 firms, especially in Conakry, had reached such 

 a degree that the most inferior gums found a 

 buyer at tremendous prices At the beginning 

 of the year 1901 the French Government decided 

 to prevent the export of the lower qualities of 

 rubber. The interdiction was carefully observed, 

 and no rubber left for Europe without having 

 been submitted to a careful examination, and, 

 considering the tremendous amount of the rub- 

 ber exports in French Guinea, it was easy to 

 imagine the enormous amount of work required. 

 One kilogramme of rubber was often composed 

 of about ten balls, which all had to be handled 

 separately, so that the authorities had to ex- 

 amine millions of pieces one by one. One of 

 the most dreadful frauds consisted in mixing 

 with the latex mealy or even gummy sub- 

 stances having the appearance of rubber, and 

 without the least commercial value. A simple 

 s*nd practical manner of discovering the said 

 fraud, without recurring to sectioning the 

 balls, consisted in dropping the ball on to the 



