ne 
One disadvantage which has been suggested is the difficulty of 
distinguishing such crepe from many specimens of ordinary slow 
curing crepe, except from first latex pale crepe. This is easily 
surmounted, however, by labelling boxes, as is done at present for 
different grades and styling the rubber “ slab ” crepe or some other 
fancy name. As a disadvantage it is not worth the consideration of 
either scientific or practical men, to use a distinction to which 
I object. 
The third method, viz,, shipping in the form of dry block, 
presents one or two advantages, especially from the producer’s point 
of view. In the preparation of dry block, the rubber has to be 
creped thin, wormed on a* special cutting machine, vacuum or hot 
air dried in this form and then pressed into blocks. Assuming 
we are leaving the coagulum for seven days, crepeing can be carried 
out on the 8th day and the rubber prepared ready for shipping 
on the 9th day. A great saving in factory space is thus effected and 
also in packing space. It is recommended that the blocks ba made 
about If to 2 inches thick. Rubber prepared in this manner has 
been examined in our laboratories nearly two years ago and found to 
give excellent results. 
There is, of course, no improvement of quality in such block, 
the question being entirely one of economics. 
The disadvantages, of course, of preparing the rubber in this 
form are very similar to those in the case of preparing and 
shipping as thin crepe, except that drying space and packing space 
is saved. 
I trust that the facts stated above will, especially at the close of 
the present war, when manufacturers are able to return to more 
normal conditions and to carry out experiments, stimulate further 
interest on the part both of the producer and manufacturer in a 
problem which has not only proved very fascinating as a piece of 
scientific research, but which is, in my opinion of supreme 
importance. 
It may be useful to state in conclusion that manufacturers have 
expressed considerable interest in the results obtained and on all 
sides have added confirmation to the results obtained at the 
Agricultural Department. 
One other fact, to which reference has been made before, in 
connection with the advantage of preparing “slab” rubber, is that 
lump or cup and bucket coagulation can be mixed with first latex 
rubber, since this rubber if left for the maturation period before 
crepeing is essentially “ slab ” rubber. This means, therefore, an 
increase of first grade rubber, and should prove especially valuable 
on those estates where natural coagulation is abnormally great. 
H 
