238 
l th l rU . bber 'r SoW l0cally ' thebest sheet and biscuit 
obtammg the best market price. A small consignment sold 
London for the highest price reached at that day’s sale. 
in 
THE YEAR'S WORK AND PLAN OF RESEARCH, 
Apart . from some minor experiments 1,200 trees were tapped at 
different times throughout the year. These were arranged in 10 
groups, ranging from 50 to 200 trees, and of these, 3 groups were 
tapped on I period only, 5 groups on 2 periods, and 2 groups on 3 
periods (the average period being 30 days). Full details of all the 
work have been recorded and this record shows:- Comparative 
results of different methods of tapping at different seasons during the 
year; quantity of latex obtained and amount of resulting dry rubber ; 
increment of growth of all the rubber trees ; the ratio of growth when 
too closely planted ; effect on bark by different methods of tapping. 
It will be seen that tapping on alternate days shows an advantage 
of nearly 4% over tapping daily; also that we advocate the single 
herring-bone method of tapping following basal tappings. The disad- 
vantage of close planting is also pointed out. 
A long series of experiments were tried in curing freshly collected 
latex with the aid of smoke with a view to improving the quality of 
the raw material ; a further series of experiments were conducted on 
the effect of smoke on freshly prepared biscuits and sheets of raw 
rubber, and it will be seen that the strength and appearance of such 
smoked rubber has been favourably reported on. 
From the details recorded the following summary of the year’s 
woik has been tabulated and this statement shows the progress made 
in comparison with the report published in 1905 and 1906, * 
It will be noted that the average yield per tree per annum is 
comparative only as the periods of tapping vary from 30 to 90 days 
for the whole year against monthly to bi-monthly periods on estates. 
There are many reasons for lightly tapping the garden trees, for 
instance (a) the yield of Para trees in Malaya has already proved^ 
better than the sanguine estimates of old days (b) the crop of seeds 
has been, and is still, of the first importance in the best interests of 
the industry in this country and heavy tapping is detrimental to 
seed production. 
An appendix is attached shewing the financial results for the years 1907 and 1908, but owing 
to the shortness of the staff - there being only one European Officer for most of the time - it was 
not possible to record complete details. 
