Part II] 
F. A. Wright : Further Note on Thitsi. 
7 
If no Oleo-resin has exuded from a notch, as frequently happens, 
it is generally abandoned. A notch from which the Oleo-resin has 
exuded is further operated on as follows after the first collection has 
been made :—A cut is made with the chisel across the upper or wide 
end of the Y-shaped cuts originally made, and a roughly triangular piece 
of bark with a base of from 6 to 9 inches and a height of from 6 to 8 
inches is completely removed so as to expose the wood (see photograph). 
A thin shaving of bark is then pared off the edges of the two V-shaped 
cuts jnade in the first instance so as to reopen the resin-ducts. The 
bamboo tube is then driven into its old position, and the Oleo-resin 
which flows into it collected at the end of a further period of from 7 to 
10 days after which, as a rule, the notch is abandoned. It should be 
noted that every time a tapper comes round to collect the Oleo-resin 
from the tubes one, two or more fresh notches &re made on the tree, and 
specially so in the case of trees from which the Oleo-resin readily flows. 
Where portable ladders are used—and this is the rule rather than 
the exception—tapping is very rarely done at a greater height than about 
25 feet from the ground, and is confined almost exclusively to the bole 
of the tree. A favourite spot for a notch is on the bole immediately 
below the point where a fair-sized branch joins it. 
The number of notches made on a tree depend generally on its size 
and T^to’-producing capacity. The greatest number of notches of 
the year which I have counted on a tree is 32. This was in the western 
parts of the Ywangan State in the Myelat. The tree had a girth of 10' 
4" at breast-height and a clear bole of 28'. I have been informed by 
experienced tappers, however, that as many as 50 notches are some¬ 
times made in a year on a good TAto’-producing tree with a girth of 
from 11 to 12 feet. 
Throughout the Myelat and Lawksawk States where Thitsi occurs 
at all plentifully trees generally are excessively tapped, even poles down 
to 15 inches in girth at breast-height not being spared. In the 
Lawksawk* State I have counted as many as six notches of the year 
on a pole of 16 inches girth. As the average area of wood exposed by 
a notch is, as a rule, about 25 square inches, and as it takes from about 
5 to 7 years for a notch to completely heal over, the amount of injury 
sustained by a tree from excessive tapping can readily be appreciated. 
Large numbers of dead Thitsi trees are met, more especially in unclassed 
forests, and their death may be attributed to one cause and one cause 
only—excessive tapping. 
Thitsi tapping is carried out from about the 15th of June to about 
the 15th of February and is at its height during July, August, September 
and October. No tapping is done from about the 15th of February 
[ 81 ] 
