Gums, Resins, 



196 



[September, 1911, 



this sort has yet been found. The guard 

 should be so constructed as to run in 

 the bottom of the cut and not on the 

 outside of the bark, as is the case 

 with the only locally made knife of 

 this sort that has been produced. 

 Such a guard would not need to be 

 adjustable, as it would always run in 

 the bottom of the old cut, regulating 

 the new cut to the same depth as the 

 old one. Then ; due care having been 

 exercised in making the first cut, the 

 others could be regulated by it. In the 

 use of such a knife, by the time it 

 reaches the bottom of the bark you get 

 the maximum amount of cut. I think 

 that possibly this knife might be 

 adjusted by altering the guard. The 

 guard itself takes up one-sixteenth or 

 one-twentieth of an inch. The Bowman- 

 Northway paring knife has a guard on 

 this principle, but is made for Hevea 

 trees, where the bark is thicker and the 

 parings thinner than with us. 



Wanted— a Knife. 

 " I have no doubt but that a knife 

 suitable to our uses can be produced. 

 I think that perhaps some mechanical 

 inventor here can produce one. We 

 now have coming from the Par East all 

 the knives they have, I mean, one of 

 each of all the knives they have. They 

 stick to the knife with the gouge. They 

 have a bent-in gouge. They have one 

 or two push-and-pull knives. I brought 

 one with me which makes a new cut and 

 the guard runs on the outside of the 

 bark. In order to make a paring of an 

 ordinary cut, we have to make a " V " cut 

 or else a "U " cut that is very narrow. 

 We are at present using the Yates- 

 Burgus or " Burgus " knife, which, being 

 a push-and-pull knife and making a very 

 clean, sharp cut and both right and left- 

 handed, has shown itself to be a very 

 good all-round knife, after slight 

 alteration to make the cut more nearly 

 " V " shaped in place of the wide"U" 

 cut, which serves on the thicker barked 

 Hevea. This knife has no guard, or 

 gouge, but, since our paring is to be 

 followed by the prickings, we do not try 

 to go very near the cambium, and on 

 trees of proper tapping size; the cut can 

 be rapidly made without injury. Of 

 course, we started paring and pricking 

 at the same time, so that a man could 

 do his paring with that knife and then 

 turn around and do his pricking. If 

 you pull, you can gauge the depth to 

 which you go. 



" A very good pulling knife for making 

 first or original cuts in the vertical 

 tapping system has been developed 

 locally along the line of the modified 



farrier's knife, used in the experiments 

 of last year. A few of these have been 

 made by Mr. Sylvester, and should do 

 good work in making this style of cut. 

 As a rule, the Japanese prefer to draw 

 it, while the Portuguese or Hawaiians 

 will push it. I brought this knife back 

 with me at the same time I brought the 

 gouge that they are using, and we 

 observed both. The knife lies about 

 flat on the cut and makes a clean, 

 sharp cut, while the gouge is a bit bevel- 

 ed and is apt to drag. 



" We would be glad if some enterpris- 

 ing person would produce a knife that 

 could be made to produce a cut from 

 four to six inches apart, that could be 

 fairly well controlled as to the depth of 

 the cut and width of the paring made. 

 Such a knife would reduce the cost of 

 paring considerably. It seems to me 

 that we should find someone that could 

 produce a tool with which we can make 

 more than one cut at the same time. If 

 we could secure sinh a tool - a knife that 

 one man can handle — it would save us a 

 great deal in the cost of paring. 



" A pricker perfectly adapted to all 

 the conditions has not yet been found, 

 but, of course, one will be evolved in 

 time. We are at present using a tool 

 designed for an entirely different pur- 

 pose, but which does very good work, 

 following the paring in the system now 

 employed. 



Coagulation Problems. 



" The most interesting problems to be 

 solved in the future of rubber planting 

 are those in connection with improved 

 methods of coagulating the latex and 

 curing the rubber, and those bearing 

 upon the possible relation of fer- 

 tilizers to the latex yield. 



" Not only have tapping knives been 

 invented and successfully used, that we 

 have never seen and probably have 

 never heard of, but several machines 

 and processes have been invented for 

 smoking either the latex or the rubber. 

 Smoked plantation rubber is quoted at 

 about ten cents per pound higher than 

 the best unsmoked. This additional ten 

 cents per pound may some time mean to 

 us the difference between profits and no 

 profits, and in any case will mean addi- 

 tional income at comparatively little 

 cost. Besides this, the first factory is 

 just being planned, and for this alone 

 two machines which are unquestionably 

 essential have been ordered— a washing 

 machine and drying apparatus. To 

 equip this factory to the very best ad- 

 vantage, it will not be sufficient to have 

 observed one or two successful factories 

 in operation ; one should know all the 



