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PRICKING RUBBER TREES FOR LATEX. 
A note on a new process of obtaining latex from a tree, by prick- 
ing instead of cutting, appears in the Times of Malaya, November 27, 
1909, and is given below. Attempts to obtain latex in this manner 
are by no means new. The idea was that the tree would be less 
injured than by cutting it. Experiments in this direction were made 
in the Botanical Gardens in Singapore over ten years ago, but the 
amount of latex obtained was too small, unless the tree was injured. 
An ingenious local inventor, without having ever seen a Para rubber 
tree, came to the Gardens with an invention consisting of a plate of 
kerosene tin so perforated that small portions of the tin projected 
like thorns from the back ; at the basal point, the plate was triangular, 
was fitted like a cup, so that the latex would flow into it. This plate 
was to be hammered against the tree so that the teeth projected into 
the trunk, and the latex flowing through the holes ran into the cup. 
On being applied to the tree, the amount of latex produced was not 
sufficient to enter the cup, and it ceased flowing almost immediately. 
Further it was found that the plate which fitted one part of a tree 
would not fit another, and so that one had to be made for each part 
of each tree and the ingenious idea had to be abandoned. 
In Southern India, experiments were made with the tapping of 
Ceara rubber, by the use of a pricker. Ceara rubber trees are always 
troublesome to tap, and the idea was to simplify the business by 
pricking. It was found however that the pricking, if carried to such 
excess that a good flow of latex was obtained, was often fatal to the 
tree from the injury to the bark. We have no information as to the 
new invention referred to beyond what we give our readers below 
but realising that close puncturing of the bark of a rubber tree is apt 
to make a sore, and cause the death of a tree, one would be a little 
cautious in this form of tapping. One of the advantages pointed out 
in the process is that three-year-old trees can be tapped by it. But 
is this an advantage? While the price of rubber of any kind keeps 
up as it is doing now, one cannot woncler even if seedlings are tapped, 
but this is by no means good for the trees or for the industry. 
NEW RUBBER PROCESS. 
“ Recently a planter in Ceylon invented anew process for extract- 
ing the latex from rubber trees. Instead of employing a knife or of 
making V-shaped or spiral incisions into the bark, he employs a 
pointed instrument which pricks the tree without doing it much harm. 
The new system produces a larger quantity of latex, and has the 
advantage that it can be used on young trees of three years old. It 
is interesting to learn that a Colombo firm have undertaken the 
working of the invention and offered to teach its use to planters for 
a fee of Rs. 500, the fee to be returnable in case of failure. A large 
number of planters have already availed themselves of the offer, and 
it is thought that the production of rubber in Ceylon will this year 
exceed all expectations. Apparently, it is too early yet to pass any 
definite judgment on the new process. The advantages claimed for 
it are simplicity, economy of labour and of cost of production, that it 
