28 1 
Hevea is usually tapped every second or third day with rests 
every dry season. Some estates tap as above for 15 
Tapping, tappings and then rest the trees from three to five 
months. For instance they will tap an area one day 
and another the next day. If the trees are planted wide enough 
apart this can be kept up indefinitely, tapping each tree from 30 
to 45 times a year. Tapping is usually done in the morning before 
the heat of the day. Some of the larger plantations tap all day 
or until two o'clock. The flow is better in the early morning. To 
tap, a farrier's knife, a carpenter's gouge or some special tapping 
tool, is used to cut the bark. A lateral cut in the bark is made, 
care being taken not to cut through the cambain ; it is made in 
such a way that the latex runs down in a groove until it reaches 
a tin or aluminum cup which is placed at the foot of the tree. 
See Photo No. 13. 
There are a number of ways in which the cuts are made, the 
simplest being a "V" as in Photo No. 14. 
The system as shown in Photo No. 13 is called the herringbone 
system. There are a number of modifications of this system such 
as the half herringbone svstem shown in Photo No. 10, in which 
the lateral cuts are all made to run into a vertical cut. Some 
times the slanting cuts will go half way round the tree, one side of 
the tree being tapped this way until all the bark has been cut 
and then the other half is tapped, the lateral cuts running into 
the vertical cut on the opposite side of the tree. Sometimes 
both sides of the tree will be tapped by this system at the same 
time, as in Photo No. 10, a cup being placed on either side of 
the tree under the vertical cut. Again two sides of the tree will 
be tapped at the same time on the half herringbone system with 
the lateral cuts only extending a quarter of the way round the 
tree, so that the two sections on opposite sides of the tree will 
be tapped at the same time, while the intervening sections will 
not be tapped until all the bark has been cut on the first sections. 
Photo No. 16 shows the coolies marking a tree on that portion 
of the bark that has not been tapped at all. The space between 
the cuts is measured and a light cut made just deep enough to 
show the tapping coolie where to tap. Each time a tree is tapped 
a little mark is made on it so that there is a record kept as to how 
many times a tree has been tapped. 
In the grove shown in Photo No. 11, where the average yield 
is 3 pounds per tree, the half herringbone system of tapping was 
being used on both sides of the tree, the laterals going quarter of 
the way round only. Each tree was tapped every other day for 
15 tappings, and then the trees were rested for three months, so 
that during the year 45 cuts were made on each side of the tree. 
