79 
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 Far 
East all the knives they have, I mean, one of each of all the 
knives they have. They stick to the knife v/ith 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-around knife, after slight alteration to make the cut more 
nearly 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 in- 
jury. 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 
gouge 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 ex- 
periments 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 
beveled and is apt to drag. 
"We would be glad if some enterprising person would pro- 
duce 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 wndth 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 such a tool — a knife that one man can handle 
— it would save us a g^reat deal in the cost of paring. 
*'A pricker perfectly adapted to all the conditions has not 
vet been found, but, of course, one will be evolved in time. 
We are at present usine a tool designed for an entirely dif- 
ferent purpose, but which does very ,2:ood work, following the 
paring, in the system now employed. 
