764 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May 2, 1904. 
possibility of completing tlie whole treatment ue- 
iicessaryto a degummed fibre in the best, easiest and 
quickest way by working the srreen stems locally, 
and then further by working, baling and shipping 
of a big quantity of bark, gum, elc. This latter 
alone is important enough it we remember that 
green Ramie stem in the field contains only 
about one per cent of fibre.— I remain, youra very 
truly, H. C. BLUNTSCHLI. 
THE Y4TIYANT0TA CEYLON TEA 
COMPANY LIMITED. 
Colombo, March 28. 
Dear Sib,— We are advised by telegram 
from London that, at the Annual General 
Meeting of this Company, the Directors will 
recommend that a final dividend of 6 per 
cent be paid, making 9 per cent for the 
year, that £1,000 be written oil for depre- 
ciation, and £2,941 IDs carried forward to 
the current year's account. — Yours faithfully, 
WHITTALL & CO., Managing Agents. 
TEA COMPANIES AND EUBBEE. 
March 28. 
Dear Sir,— It is very interesting and en- 
couraging to see how one Tea Company after 
another is disclosing its interest in Jrtubber 
in its yearly or half-yearly meetings. It may 
be pleasant to the Shareholders to discover 
suddenly that they have " struck ile," but it 
is not easy to approve the policy which kept 
dark from them their proximity to the lu- 
rainant— or is it lubricant? Surely, it ought 
to be the ABC of Joint Stock Companies 
that the Shareholders should know all about 
their property. In thac view, it is difficult 
to approve the fet^cing with a Shareholder 
who wished to know how far apart the rubber 
was planted. But about the most amusing 
feature in the rubber situation, is the way 
your contemporary, the " Times of Ceylon," 
has been turning round. First, there was 
the cold douche ; on its failure, a guarantee 
of dividends for eternity was claimed, with- 
out any response from mortal capitalists ; 
next, there was a blowing hot and cold, 
without disturbing any one's equanimity ; 
and now, behold, it's all for rubber, witf 
a close hug of "L D." 
TEMPORA MUTANTUR. 
RUBBEE TAPPING ON CULLODEN 
ESTATE, KALUTAEA. 
IMPORTANT EXPERIMENT?. 
CuUoden, Neboda, iOth April, 1904. 
Sir,— The results obtained from tapping 
four of the oldest Para Rubber trees on this 
estate, will no doubt be of interest to you 
and your readers, and I propose to give you 
briefly all particulars as regards the condi- 
tions under which the trees are grown, 
method of tapping adopted, &c. The fir.st 
rubber planting on this estate consisted of 
12 plants— place of origin is somewhat obs- 
cure—which were planted in bamboo pots in 
1884 in flat, rather gravelly land which had 
been planted with tea the previous year. 
Out of these 12 plants, 7 survived the attacks 
of the numerous enemies to which the young 
plant is liable, "(and have 'grown into .m.agni- 
acent trees. They were planted originally in 
a row 26 feet apart, but in subsequent years 
all the surrounding land has been planted 
with rubber. These 7 trees have been tapped 
regular'ly since 1891. every known method of 
tapping having been tried on them at some 
time or another. The circumferences of the 4, 
trees selected for my recent experiment, 
which for reference I have distinguished by 
alphabetical letters, are as follows : — 
Ground Level (3) Feet up stem 
A 10 ft. 8 ft. 
B 10 ft. 7 ft. 6 in. 
C 8 ft. 3 in. 5 ft. 11 in. 
D 11 ft. 5 in. 4 ft. 8 in., 4 ft. 4in„ 
6 ft. 4 in. 
D tree divides into 3 main stems at 2 ft. 
from ground-level and the measurements 
given are of each stem at 3 ft. from the 
ground. This tree in 1895 gave very nearly 
7 lb. dry rubber. A divides into 2 main stems 
at 3 ft. 6 in. from the ground, and B. and C. 
are single stemmed trees branching at 7 ft. 
10 in. and 18 ft. from the ground respectively. 
Tapping was commenced on January 5th 
from ground level to 6 ft. up the stem and 
continued for 30 days. The method adopted, 
which was decided on after a long series of 
experiments carried out by Mr C O Macadam 
on Heatherley estate, was as follows:— On 
the first day single oblique cuts were made 
about 6 in. apart all over the stem with the 
ordinary V-shaped knife, in common use 
in this district ; the lower edge of the cut 
thus made was lightly pared with a i-in. 
carpenter's gouge every alternate day, until 14 
parings had been made, the trees sometime 
previously having been cleaned up and the 
rough outside bark shaved off. When the 
operation was finished, the cuts averaged 
about 2 inches in width. With an improved 
tool for this part of the work, which I hope 
shortly to place on the market, very much 
finer paring can be done, and at the end 
of a tapping the cuts should be little more 
than one inch in width, and any risk of 
permanent injury to the tree should be 
reduced to a minimum. At the end of this 
tapping the trees were full of latex. When 
the tapping of the lower section was finished, 
the same method was continued for another 
month from the 6 ft. level to 12 ft. up the 
stem. The second operation was somewhat 
disappointing, .as the weather had turned 
very dry and the trees had commenced to 
winter, and possibly better results might 
have been obtained it the tapping of the 
upper section had been delayed a month or 
six weeks. 
The results obtained so far are as follows : — 
Lower Section Upper .Section Total 
A 9 lb. 4 oz. 5 lb. 14 lb. 4 oz. 
B 11 „ 4 „ 12 oz. 15 „ 12 „ 
C 5 ,,8 „ 1 „ 12,, 7 ,, 4 „ 
D 12 „ 8 „ 4 „ 16 „ 8 „ 
53 lb. 12 oz. 
Average per tree 13 lb. 7 oz. 
It is my intention to tap these same 
trees again in a similar manner in August- 
September, and the lesults of the second 
tapping will be communicated to you in due 
