June 1, 1903.] 
TflE TROPICAL 
AGRIOtJLfURIST. 
839 
aam of ^iHOl Ga 4d. Oat of this sum the Directors 
leoomineiad payment of the Pi-efereuoe Dividend for 
the year at the rate of eight per cent, subject to 
deduction of income-tax. This Dividend will absorb 
;£2296, leaving i:2ilOr> 63 id to be canied forward. 
After payment of thia Dividend there will remain 
seventeen per cent of arrears of Dividend on the 
Preference Shares. The Tea Crop amounted to about 
632,000 lb, averaging G 15-16d per lb gross, as com- 
pared with 476,000 lb, averaging 7 3i-32d for the 
preceding year. For the current season it is estimated 
that the crop will amount to 590,000 lb. The average 
rate of exchange wns la 4 3-32d per rupee, as compared 
with Is 4id for 1901 and Is 4 S lGd for 1900. The 
Company has now 1470 acres of Tea in bearing, and 
45 acres of young tea, making a total uf 1515 acres 
under Tea. The Directors having ascertained that 
Mr. W. G. Lang is willing to join the Board (to 
fill the vacancy which occurred in 1900), his election 
will be proposed at the Meeting at which this Report 
falls to be presented. Mr. Pitman, in order of 
rotation, retires from the Board at this Meeting, 
and is eligible for re-election. An Auditor for the 
current year falls to bo appointed. IVIr. Findlay B. 
Anderson, the present Auditor, offers himself for re- 
election. By Order, E. A. Davidson, Saoretary. 
THE HAPUTALE COMPANY, LIMITED. 
REPORT 
to be presented to tke fifteenth ordinary general 
meeting of the Company, to be held within the regis- 
tered Office of the Company, 4a St. Andrew Square, 
Edinburgh, on the twenty-first day of April, 1903, at 
12'45 o'clock afternoon. 
There is submitted herewith the crop account for 
season ending 30th June, 1902, together with a State- 
ment of profit and loss account, and the balance- 
sheet showing the financial position of the Company 
at 3lst December, 1902- Itnill be seen that the crop 
account shows a surplus of £3,809 Is Id. After cre- 
diting profit and loss account with this sum, and with 
rents, &c., ifcc, received, and after applying the sum 
of £700 in reduction of the value at which the estates 
appear in the balance-sheet, there remains at the 
credit of profit and loss account the sum of £3 993, 53. 
Out of this sum the Directors recommend the payment 
of a Dividend on the Preference Shares at the rate of 
four per cent, subject to deduction of Income-tax. 
This Dividend will absorb £2,308, IQj ICd., leaving 
£1,G89 14s 2d. to be carried for ward. After payment 
of this Dividend, the arrears of Dividend on the Pre- 
ference Shares will amount to thirteen per cent as at 
3l8t December, 1902. 
The Tea crop amounted to 350,000 lb averaging 8 
9 32d per lb gross, as compared with 8 9-lOd for 1901 
and 9 23-32d for 1900. For the current season the 
estimate is about 350,000 lb. The average rate of 
Exchange was Is 4 5-64d per rupee, as compared with 
lB4 3-32dfor 1901 and Is 4 3- 16d for 1900. The Com- 
pany has now about 1394 acres under Tea, of which 
1019 acres are in bearing. The Directors having 
ascertained that Mr W G Lang is willing to join the 
Board (to fill the vacancy which occurred in 1900), his 
election will be prc^osed at the Meeting at which this 
Report falls to be presented. Mr Pitman, in order of 
rotation, retires(from the Board at thia Meeting, and 
is eligible for re-election. An Auditor for the current 
year falls to be appointed. Mr Findlay B Anderson, 
the present Auditor, offers himself for re-election. — 
By Order, E A Davidson, Secretary. 
EUBBER TAPPING AT THE STRAITS- 
During the past few woeks, a number of liisli 
Government oHicial.=i, planters from the Native 
States, and other persons interested in the de- 
velopment of the Peninsula, huve been makiiif; 
a regular moiuiug rendesvous ol the Ecoaoniical 
Garderjs at Gluny Koail. The eau.se of this has 
been the remarkably interestiuf; tlenioaMtrationa 
nt the result of s.Kporiineiits lasting many months 
m the matter of extracting the latex, or aan 
Irom tiie Para rubber trees that have been planted 
there for e.'cperimsntal purpo.«e. In view of the 
fact that within the next few year.s, Para rubber 
IS expected to rank next to tin as the staple 
product of the Straits, anythinn; affecting its culti- 
vation of harvesting beconiiea a niattei-'of prime 
public importance. The main item of interest 
about the demonstrations rests in the fact that 
Mr. AD Machido, who has carried out tlie 
experiment.?, and now cheerfully demonstrates the 
results thereof every morning, has found it possi- 
ble to "milk" a tree every second day for 
SIX months in every year without in the lea.st 
hurting it or impairing its growth, and at the same 
time he can secure the greatest possible amount 
of tlie valuable latCcV from which tiie lubber is 
subsequently formed. Heretofore the system in 
vogue has been to make large gashes in the bark 
of the tree and catch the latex, or white sap, a.i 
it (lowed tlierefrom, in tin cups or other re- 
ceptacles. In the more advanced plantations, 
the plan followed has been to make a so called 
" herringbone " gash, with contributory smaller 
gashes leading into it, looking like the bones of 
a fish as shown in the cut below. The spine, or 
main gash in this system would mea.sure from eight 
to about fifteen inclies long, by from a quarter 
of an inch to three-quarlers-of-an-iuch wide, 
according to the size of the tree, and the side 
gashes would be -proportiouateiy larger or smaller. 
Mr Machado, however, has discovered that the 
best results are obtainable from a series of little 
incisions— mere nicks— measuring 2 inches long 
by only i inch wide, four of which only equal 
one narrow incision of 8 inches by -J inch in the 
bark of the tree. Such a series of tiny wounds 
is utterly harmless, and it produces a supply of 
toeoj^as ample as does the great " heiring- 
bone ■' cut which was often capable of seriou.sly 
injuring, and even of killing a tree. The proof 
of the pudding being in the eating, it is as well 
to state at once that fiom 100 trees, averaging 
from 12 to 15 years of age, and planted much 
too closely togetlier to admit of their bein" 
properly developed Mr Maclia lo draws an average 
of about 3 lb. ol dried rubber daily, and he 
expects the supply to be maintained for six 
months— working half the trees each day during 
that period. Then the trees will be given a rest 
for six months, while another 100 will be tapped, 
and then the original 100 will be tapped .again. 
In response to queries on the subject Mr 
JMachado has furnished the following data as 
regards his experiments and the results thereof :— 
Tapping operations were begun on the 4th March, 
but it was not till the 20th Much that 100 trees 
were regularly tapped with 4 incisions to each tree. 
Each incision is IJ inches long by J of an inch 
wide. Four incisions would mean in length G inches 
of a cut to each tree, barely mt)re then a scratch 
one may say. One noticeable feature is that some 
trees yield much more copiously than others, and 
tliisniay be due to the p.isiiion of the trees asreg.xrds 
shade, soil and nioitturo. Irrespective, however, of 
»hese important f.ictors, tliere can be no doubt that 
some tree.s are physically more productive than 
others, for much the same reason that one man is 
stronger than another and soon. The 100 trees 
operated upon accuiiy a triangle 17(3 twCC by 210 
