INDIA-RUBBER.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2661, 26 May 1908, Page 7

INDIA-RUBBER.

India-rubber or Caoutdhouc is obr tained as an exudation chiefly from the Para India-rubber tree which grows freely in tropical climates. The chief supply is still obtained from South America, but the cultivation of the rubber tree is spreading rapidly in Africa, the East Indies, and tho West Indies. In the Federated Malay States the cultivation of this tree is proving a godsend to the coffee planters. Twenty-five years ago Sir Hugh Low, the British Resident of Perak, introduced several young plants of the Para rubbertree from Brazil as an experiment. This proved so successful that thousands of trees have been planted, and prosperity has returned to the country. The young trees are raised in a nursery, and planted out when a year old. It was at first considered that seven years between planting and tapping would be necessary, but to-day trees are tapped at five and even four years of age. Tapping consists in making incisions in the bark. A small tin cup is placed at the foot into which the milky fluid drains. This is collected in buckets from time to time, and the buckets when full are taken to the store, where the process of coagulation is gone through. The white fluid is first thoroughly washed and then poured into shallow trays, where it quickly solidifies into thin slabs. After being passed throi'gh a mangle to remove the moisture the slabs are hung up to dry, and are then ready for shipment. —"World's Work."