XXXVI 
TAPPING RUBBER TREES 
I SN’T IT ODD that the rubber tree produces two kinds 
of sap, one of which makes it grow and the other of 
which yields rubber for the use of man! 
The sap of all trees flows up through the tender spring 
wood, just under the outer bark, carrying nourishment 
to every leaf and twig. This peculiar rubber tree has an¬ 
other liquid that flows through a different set of channels. 
It is like the arrangement in the houses of man. The gas 
comes in through different pipes from those that carry 
the water. Not even the scientists are yet quite certain 
as to the purpose the tree has in producing this rubber 
juice. Practical men, however, have found a use for it. 
Natives in the woods of South America hack deep 
gashes in the rubber trees to cause them to “ bleed ” this 
white juice, which is called latex. On the plantations 
around Singapore, in the Indian Ocean, more care is 
taken. There the trained tappers know how to make the 
latex flow without cutting deeply enough to tap the sap 
wells that are in the inner bark. 
A groove is cut down the side of one of these trees. It 
leads to the cup that sits on the ground beneath. Three 
or four feet up the tree two gashes six inches long are cut 
across the grain. They lead out from the groove in the 
shape of a V. They cut into the cells that hold the latex. 
The latex begins to flow and drain down the groove into 
the cup. 
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