374 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRlCULTUEiST. [Dec. 1, 1902. 
surrounding the cambium the former number is, of 
course, insignificar'tly small. Moreover, we must bear 
in mind ihat the latex is held in the milk ducts by 
capillary force, and in order to obtain a flow of it 
from any incision we largely depend upon the pres- 
sure exerted upon these milk-ducts by the turges- 
cence of the cellulose tissues of tfie tree. It will 
read ly be seen that a vertical incision largely re- 
lieves this pressure, and consequently the flow of 
latex obtainable by such an incision will not even 
be proportional to the number of milk-ducts, however 
Bmall, which have been cut into. 
HOBIZONTAl CUIS. 
On the other hand, very little reflection will show 
that in applying a horizontal incision, not only do 
we open all the milk-ducts running throush the area 
defined by that incision, but moreover the pressure 
due to the above mentioned turgescence is not in 
the least interferred with, and afsists materially ia 
producing a most copious flow of latex. It would, 
therefore, appear to follow that while vertical cuts 
are entirely useless, at any rate, as far as Castilloa 
clastica is concerned, horizontal cuts produce the 
maximum flow of latex, and a system of horizontal 
cuts therefore offers the best prospects for an 
effectual tapping of the trees. This, no doubt, is 
s'^, but the circuuistance must not be overlooked 
that a horizontal cut is not very satisfactory for 
tbe gathering np of the exuding latex, this particularly 
ia conjunction with the fact that a Castilloa tree 
cannot be drained by a single small horizontal cut 
as is, for instance, the ease with Hevea, but requires 
a whole seiies of cuts. This renders it desirable 
that instead of tapping Castilloa with a number of 
Bmall cuts a continuous cut would be preferable 
and one which drains practically the whole area 
of the trunk. There is only one cut of this descrip- 
ton, and this is the one known as the spiral cut 
which, indeed, has always been largely employed 
by the native collectors exploiting Castilloa trees. 
^ I have, indeed, satisfied myself that the flow of 
latex obtainable from a spiral cut applied at an 
angle of not more than 45 degrees produces excellent 
results as far as the flow of latex is concerned. 
There is also the repeatedly advocated system of 
an ascending series of V-shaped cuts, the apices of 
which are connected by a vertical cut which serves 
as a channel down which the milk is enabled to 
flow. In the first instance, I consider this vertical 
cut objectionable, as, while it defaces tha tree, it 
does not contribute to the yield of latex obtained. 
Moreover, in the case of the Castilloa trees at Las 
Cascadas this vertical cut would be quite useless 
as the latex yielded by the trees issues from the 
cuts as a thick cream which does not flow, so that 
in this case the V-bhaped cuts would only about 
have the effect of a double system of crossing spiral 
cuts. 
The next question to be settled was the tool with 
which the above-named spiral cuts are to be applied. 
The instrument in universal use for this purpose 
throughout Central America is the " machete," a 
Bort of cutlass. This formidable tool requires very 
dexterous handling in order to produce a regular 
cut, and even in the hands of the most experienced 
" hulero " produces and enormous mass of woody deh'is 
which clings to the cuts, and subsequently are 
taken up with the latex. Tbe extraordinary mass 
of wood and bark in the Central American rubbers 
is entirely due to the tapping being performed wi'h 
the machete. There is certainly no difticulty of re- 
moving from the latex these particles of wood and 
bark, but it goes without saying that if it should be 
possible to avoid this or auy other contamination 
at the outset it ia much to be preferred to any, 
however effectual, process of subsequently removing 
it from the latex. 
A NEW TOOL. 
For this reason a narrow plane has been recom- 
mended iot the tapping of the (resB, but there are 
several drawbacks to it, It certainly gives a perfectly 
continuous cut, and one free from the above-named 
debris but it very soon gets clogged. The layer of 
bist to be cut through in order to obtain the full 
yield of latex is very considerable, and necessitates 
the blade of the plane protruding very considerably 
a circumstance not calculated to faciliates its use. 
The thickness of the layer of bast to be cut through 
not only varies not inconsiderably from tree to tree, 
but it varies also in the same tree at different 
heights of the trunk. A plane gives under these con- 
ditions very little chance of adapting the denth of 
the cut to the deptti of the layer of bast, and con- 
sequently, according to the setting of the plane 
either the layer of bast is not entirely penetrated, 
or the cuts pass more or less deeply into the wood 
istelf. 
I therefore made experiments with a triangular 
cutting tool, the cutting edge of which is formed 
by one of the (rounded) angles, and after several 
modifications, I arrived at a form which answers 
the purpose admirably*. To cut or tap the trees 
with this instrument requires some experience but 
certainly very much less than the machete. The cuts 
are absolutely clean and continuous, and their width 
is naturally regulated by the cutting angle and the 
depth of bast to be cut through. This is exactly 
as it should be. For trees of different age, or of 
different diameter, tools with different cutting angles 
may be employed. 
It has often been proposed to provide the instru- 
ments used for tapping with guards so as to prevent 
their penetrating into the wood. This is, no doubt, 
a very praiseworthy notion, but unfortunately one 
which it will be found practically impossible to 
adopt for the already stated reason that the thick- 
ness of the layer to be cut through varies within 
such wide limits as to render the proposal quite 
impracticable. 
The just described tapping tool doss not, of course, 
prevent the penetration of the cuts into the wood, 
though I may at once state that its liability to do 
so is certainly much less than with any instrument 
operated by striking, such as the adze, or machete. 
But in the experiments I conducted at Las Ciscadas 
I gradually came to the conclusion, rather heretical 
in view of the nature of the numerous statements, 
on this point, that the tapping to begin with has 
surprisingly little effect upon the well-being of the 
tree, and further that cuts penetrating into the 
wood of Castilloa elastica, although they may retard 
the healing up of the wounds, are not necessarily 
injurious to the free. They certainly do not affect 
its physiological functions, but only represent a 
danger as they offer a chance to certain insects to 
lay their eggs into the wood, so that substquentlj 
the Irees may suffer from, or even succumb to the 
ravages of the larvae and insects (wood-burrowing) 
beetles) emanating from these eggs. But this danger 
is easily avoided by painting the cuts after the col- 
lection of the latex and " scraps " with an antiseptic 
paint. It also appears that this simple and inex- 
pensive treatment assists materially in the healing 
of these cuts, as all the cuts thus treated began to 
heal up already within a week after the tapping, 
{To be concluded.) 
VANILLA. 
Cultivation in the Seychelles. 
{Concluded from Page 160— Sept. 1902.) 
CUBING THE rODS POE MARKET. 
There are many different modes of preparing vanilla, 
but for brevity's sake one alone will be described i 
it is probably the simplest, and appears to be as 
successful as any other. About 400 of the longest 
pods are placed in a basket and plunged into hot 
* I shall revert to this subject in a snbseijueut papcr^ 
