Frb, i, 1900.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
567 
To the Editor. 
NEW METHOD OF HARVESTING RUBBER. 
[Lettpr addressed to the President of the Cham- 
ber of Agriculture, by M. Josselme, of Cochin 
China.] 
Sir, — I venture to address to you this simple 
note after reading an article by M. Bourdarie, 
which appeared on April 20, 1899, in your Review 
under the title, " The Cultivation of Rubber 
Plants." I wish to reassure M. Bour- 
darie and those who have the same anxiety re- 
garding the difficulties of harvesting and who 
consider it requires about one man per day per 
tree. This statement decided me to make known 
the simple method I have devised, and which 
reminds me, though it did not so strike me at 
first, of the simple process adopted in the "landes" 
of the Gironde for harvesting the resin. This 
method, which I showed two years ago to Dr.=. 
Yersin and Jacquet in Assam, while cutting into 
some stems of Manihot Glasiovii, saves all mani- 
pulation and allows of one single person to make 
at the same time the harvest of a number of 
trees. This is the way: — Small bags, or rather 
little pockets, of calico of the poorest quality 
and provided beforehand with two furniture brads, 
or any other means of fixing them, are rapidly 
affixed in the evening, the side next the tree 
being drawn tight. The next morning at dawn, 
or at the time of fixing the bags, a cutter fol- 
lowing the first operator performs the incisions 
passing rapidly on from tree to tree. For the pro- 
cess I should prefer to the hatchet the large wood 
scissor called by the Ananiites "fish's tail," driven 
in with one stroke to the required depth. 
The sap flows into the pocket, the watery 
I iquids are filtered through the cloth and evapor- 
ate, while the plastic substance remains in the 
bag and coagulates rapidly. It is easily detached 
from the tissue and nothing prevents one from sub- 
mitting it before it hardens to any fumigations or 
antiseptic processes that may be necessary. True, 
by this process one would only obtain what niiglic 
be called rubber in tears, but it would be more 
difficult to use fraud in this rubber. 
The initial trouble in coUeetine" would be much 
lessened in this way and thct is a main point. 
Hitherto I have made only small experiments 
as my trees are but young. Need I say 
that the same pocket moved up or down will 
serve for many incisions on the same tree? . , 
I may add that the coarse calico lets through 
a milky sul)Stance as well as a clear liquid 
especially now while the rains are on. This varies 
with different trees and with the season, — Be- 
lieve me, etc., etc., J. .JOSSELME. 
(From the Revue des Cultures Coloniales of 
Dec. 15.) 
THE CACAO MARKET : 
GIFTS OF CHOCOLATE AND COCOA FOR SOLDIERS. 
London, E. C, Jan. 19. 
Dear Sir,— One of the signs of the great 
inc'-ease in the demand for cocoa and chocolate 
is the large share of attention it receives in the 
trade journals of late ; in one of them alone (the 
" Confectioners' Union " for January) three special 
articles and nineteen paragraphs are devoted 
entirely to it, two of the paragraphs notifying 
the intention of two new firms going into the 
business of Cocoa Manufacturers. 
Whilst new buyers are springing up on every- 
side, asking for samples from the Mincing Lane 
Brokers, it will be just as well for both buyers 
and sellers if it were brought home to tlieni, 
rather more forcibly than appears to be the 
case at present, that samples cost money. Thie 
little paper bags used down " the Lane " for 
cacao samples hold about half pound each if filled, 
So if a dozen buyers ask for samples it meaQs 
four to six pounds of cacao, at present values 
costing from 3s to .5s, ani,! from all I see and 
hear, more than six pounds are sometime." 
wolved up by professing buyers to whom the broker 
who at present is forced by the custom of trade to 
give them out, although he knows the chances 
are against his getting any adequate return for 
tlie loss to his merchant, in the shape of orders, 
or spirited bidding, which so much sampling 
would warrant, at the sales. As the cost of 
samples come out of the shippers' profits, I think 
it is worthy of their attention, now that 
there is undoubtedly a much larger demand 
from genuine buyers who must be . encouraged 
than formerly, for satnples, to see that this 
right is not abused and that the samples 
they have to sup[)ly free do not go t6 
help fill some bag which is then sold by the 
collector either down " the Lane " as " duty paid" 
cocoa, or may be is included in a direct sale to a 
manufacturer. 
This iveek same as the previous one has been 
a good one for sellers. Fine Ceylons are still 
much wanted, 90s being paid in the sale for by no 
means Ceylon's record best, and should any such 
quality be ofiered just now— -I mean beans with a 
nice even light cinnamon break free from whitish 
or darker beans, and with a bright " silky " out- 
side skill — I believe, the competition would cause 
it to realise lOO-s, for by the great changes ia 
values I am of opinion, buyers have orders " f'o 
buy on " limits much more elastic than usual. 
Some lots this week sold at prices out of pro- 
portion, simply owing to two or three buyers 
competing for the same lot, with the result that 
whilst some lotsshovved only Is to 2s rise, another 
went at a good 5s higher than presale valuations. 
This week 1,649 bags of Ceylons were offered, 
of which 1,305 bags sold, smalls and common 
native oos to 68s 6d, fair to good native 69s to 75s. 
Middling to good red estate qualities 78s 6d to 833 
6d, fine 84s 6d to 90s- 
The demand for Trinidads is also very good, sale 
rates varying from 80s to 82s 6d for good to fine 
red, and now anything approaching good red seems 
fairly easy to sell at SOs. The stocks of this 
growth are very low, being only 16,657 bags. 
Grenadas at the sales went firm with an occa- 
sional rise of 6d and Is, the best selling at 73s and 
73^ 6d against 72s 6d last mail. 
As I anticipated, the idea of the Queen making 
a i^ esent of Chocolate to her soldiers has already 
lieen copied, one lady having sent 3,500 ,^-lb. tins 
..f Cocoa to be distributed amongst certain regi- 
ments at the front ; this cocoa was supplied by 
Mess:s. Clarke, Nicholls, & Coombs, Ltd., a well- 
known confectionery house, and one of the two 
firms I mentioned who are going in for cocoa. 
I see by the papers, the Volunteers going to the 
front are particularly advised to take a quantity 
of chocolate in case of emergency, and being short 
of provisions, so on all sides the usefulness of 
cocoa is being recognised.— Yours truly, 
HAROLD HAMEL SMITH. 
