TAPPING RUBBER TREES 
It flows for only a short time. When the tapper comes 
around the next day to'get his cup of juice, he finds the 
flow has stopped. With his sharp knife he shaves a thin 
layer off the side of the gash he cut the day before. This 
starts the flow of latex again. This goes on day after day. 
Each day the tree has yielded some of the juice from 
which rubber is made. 
The problem is to wound the tree in such a way as to 
get as much latex out of it as possible and still not to in¬ 
jure it. The object is to get the greatest possible amount, 
not this week or this month but year after year as long as 
the tree may live. If it is bled too much, it may be weak¬ 
ened and fall off in its yield of rubber. 
By cutting only a thin layer from the wound every 
day, it may take years to work down one side. When the 
base of the tree is finally reached, the tapper goes around 
to the other side and begins all over again. By the time 
he has worked slowly down that side, the old wounds have 
entirely healed and he may begin all over again. 
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