Jan. 1, 1901.] 
THE TROPICAL AGPJCULTUEIST. 
THE OHARDUAR RUBBER PLANTA- 
TION, ASSAM. 
RESULTS OF TAPPING, 
Mr. J A McKee, Conservator or Forests, Assam, 
has recently published a report jriving the results, 
of tapping operations carried out in compartments 
3. 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, etc., of the Charfluar Rubber 
Plantation in the past season of 1899-1900. 
AREA AND OUTTURN, 
2. An area of 474 acres, containing 6 810 trees, 
was worked over, yielding 4,502 lb. of clean and 
dry rubber, as per detail belo-v, and it should 
be noted that the trees in compartments 3 and 
4 were tapped for the second year in succession, 
having been also operated on in 1898-99 :— 
Clean 
rubber 
yielded. 
Acres, 
Trees. 
lb. 
Compartment 3 
1-66 
25 
24 
Do. 4 
... 94-31 
1,499 
863 
Do. .5 
... 126-84 
1,849 
1,176 
Do. 6 
... 77-25 
1,116 
889 
Do. 7 
... 80-39 
1,060 
980 
833 
Do. 8 
... 73-73 
657 
Roadside trees 
... 20-00 
281 
60 
Total 
... 474-18 
6,810 
4,502 
COMPASISON WITH THE TREVIOUS SEASON'S 
OUTTURN. 
3. The above figures give an average outturn 
of 9 5 lb. of clean rubber per acre and -66 of a 
pound of clean rubber per tree. In the previous 
year, the figures of outturn were very similar, 
being 9 4 lb. per acre and "52 of a pound per tree, 
the outturn per tree beiiig reduced by the 
Bomani Hill Plantation containing 8 acres, in 
which the trees are planted much more densely, 
and are, therefore, smaller than at Charduar, 
the actual density being 92 trees per acre in 
the former compared with only 14 per acre in 
the latter. It is, however, noteworthy that the 
Bomani Hill area yielded 9-5 lb. of clean rubber 
per acre, or about the same quantity as the 
average outturn for the whole area of 322 acres 
worked over in the season of IStS 99— a fact 
which tends to prove (the trees being of equal 
age) that a densely-planted area does not yield 
more rubber than one sparsely planted — while, on 
the other hand, ifc must have cost more to plant 
out originally and to establish as a going concern 
— see also remarks in paragraph 15. 
OUTTURN OF TREES TAPPED TWO SEASONS IN 
SUCCESSION. 
4. Compartments 3 and 4, which were tapped 
for the second season in succession, yielded prac- 
tically the same outturn as in the previous year, 
the figures for compartment 4, containing 1,499 
trees, being '60 and -58 of a pound of clean 
rubber per tree for the first and second year 
respectively, while the few trees (25) tapped in 
compartment 3 this last season yielded -gO of a 
pound per «tree, as compared with -70 of a pound 
per tree obtained from the entire compartment 
in the past year, the greater outturn this season 
being doubtless altogether due to the fact that 
the trees operated on were specially selected ones. 
METHOD OF TAPPING : DIFFERENT TOOLS USED. 
5. Mr. Copeland, the Deputy Conservator of 
Forests, under v hose careful personal superin- 
tendence and management all the operations were 
57 
carried out, reports that; tapping was conihienced ia 
the iirst week in December, or six weeks earlier 
than in 1898, the object being to escape the rain, 
■which, liowever, does not seem to have been 
effective, rain having fallen off ancf: on during the 
whole tapping period. It is also reported that 
three different tools were employed on the work, 
compartments 6, 7 and 8 being tapped by Ne- 
palese and Assamese, in the old and usual man- 
ner, with kukris and dhaos, whereas compartments 
3, 4 and 5 were tapped by. Garos -with half-inch 
carpenters' gouges introduced for the first time 
as an experiment. The gouge was worked with 
a small maliet and is reported to be the best of 
the three methods, as it does not damage the tree 
so much as the dhao or kukri, shallow wounds, 
obly bark-deep, being made, instead of the deeply 
incised and jagged wounds caused by the last- 
mentioned tools. In this connection, it is impor- 
tant to remember that the rubber cells are located 
in the inner bark layers, and tliab to obtain the 
latex flow, it is unnecessary to wound any portion 
of the cambium. It is, therefore, expedient that 
the tapping tool employed should be capable of 
being controlled and guided to a greater extent 
than is practicable with a dhao or kukri, which 
can be used only with a forcible, and, oftener 
than not, a damaging cut, 
6. The plantation was inspected by the Conser- 
vator as recently as the 13th of the present month, 
when ifc was observed that bark was already 
forming over the gouge cuts, that is to say, 
within eight months of the tapping operations, 
and ifc seems safe to predict tlrtit these kinds of 
wounds will be thoroughly heal-'d twelve months 
after their first infliction. The dhao cuts, on the 
other liand, take longer to heal, and compart- 
ments 1 and 2 that were tapped in January 
1899, are only now recovering from the opera- 
tion. Roughly speaking, it may be stated that 
these kinds of cuts take six months longer to 
heal than those made with the ^gouge. 
COMPARISON OF RAW OUTTURN OBTAINED BT 
DIFFERENT TOOLS. 
7. The outturn of raw, uncleaned rubber ob- 
tained by the different methods was slightly in 
favour of the dhao and kukri, compartments, 6, 
7 and 8 yielding '79 of a pound per tree, as 
compared with -65 of a pound per tree yielded 
by compartments 3, 4 and 5. But the slight 
difference of outturn in favour of the dhao is more 
than counterbalanced by the greater damage 
caused to ohe trees while it is reported by Mr. 
Copeland that the loss in weight caused by tlie 
extraction of foreign matters is in favour of the 
gouge — the actual ratio based on the results of 
carefully weighing the first two days' tappings 
being as three to 5, Unfortunately, the clean 
rubber obtained from the different compartments 
was subsequently not kept separate, when it 
became impossible to correctly differentiate be- 
tween the clean outturn resulting from the use 
of the dilferent tools, and the figures exhibited 
under this head in Statement A attached are 
considered to show results too favourable to com- 
partments 6, 7 and 8, at the expense of compart- 
ments 3, 4 and 5. 
NEW TOOE RECENTLY DESIGNED. 
8. In this connection it may be noted that, 
with the help of Messrs, Ahmufcy & Co., Calcutta, 
a new kind of gouge has lately been made, which 
promises to turn out better for the work than 
either of those above mentioned. 
