San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1879-03-15
India Rubber.

,be India.rubber trees. We CLEAN afew
facts therefrom:
an the investigation Of this subject
travelled over vast extent of wide for
sst country, much divided by miry hol.
laws and tidal gapos, which stretched
.,onp the banks of the river Grama.
Although it is three times as large as
the Thames at London bridge, it is not
10 he seen on any ordinary map. In the
,ecion alluded to there were hundreds
If trees wrought by different collectors,
each of whom had separate piece Of
land to work on.
aThe collectors begin to work immed-
;ately at daybreak, or as soon as they
can see to move about among tho trees.
They say the milk flows moro freely
and in greater quantity at early morn.
do not attach much importance to this
statement, but I have recorded it. An
other, and more probable reason is, that
as the rain often falls about two or three
o'clock in the afternoon, the tapping
must be done early as, in case of n show
or the milk would be spattered about
and lost. The collector, first of all, at
the beginning of the dry season, goes
around and lays at the base of each tree
a certain number of small cups of burnt
clay. At the lesser trees only three or
four are put, but at the larger ones from
eight to twelve are deposited. The
footpaths leading from tree to tree are
likewise cleared of sapling growths, and
the bridges over the gpes formed at
each place by the trunk of tree are,
where necessary, replaced. IL .1...
son proceeding to his work the col
lector takes with him o small Ak, for
tapping, and a wicker basket containing
a good sized ball of well wrought clay.
He usually has, likewise, a bag for the
waste droppings of rubber and for what
NAV adhere to the bottom of the cups.
These promiscuous gatherings are
termed 'sernamby,' and form the negro
head of the English market. The cups,
as already stated, are made of burnt
CLAW, and are sometimes round, but more
frequently fiat or slightly concave on
one side, so as to stick easily, when with
a small portion of clay, they are pressed
against the trunk of tree. The con-
tents of fifteen cups make one English
imperial pint.
Arriving at the tree, the collector
takes the ok in his right hand, and, strik-
ing in an upward direction as high as
he can reach, makes a deep, upward
sloping cut across the trunk, which al:
ways goes through the bark and pene-
trates an inch or more into the wood.
The cut is an inch in breadth. Free
quently small portion of the bark
breaks off from the upper side, and &C.
casionally thin splinter of wood is al
SO raised. Quickly STOPPING down he
takes cup and pasteing asmall quantity
of clay on the flat side, presses it to the
trunk, close beneath the cut. By this
time, the milk, which is of dazzling
Wilderness, begins to exude, so that, if
requisite, he so smooths the clay that it
may trickle directly into the cup. Alta
distance of four or five inches, but at
the same height, another cup is luted
on, and so the process is continued I'M
til a row OF cups encircle the tree at Il
height of about six feet from the
ground. Tree after tree is treated in
like manner, until the tapping for the
day is finished.
"On the following morning the oper-
alton is performed in the same way, on
ly that the cuts or gashes beneath which
the cups are placed are made from six
to eight inches lower down the trunk
than those of the previous day. Thus,
each day brings the cups gradually low
er, until the ground is reached. The
collector then begins as high as he can
reach and descends as before, taking
care, however, to make his cuts in sep
arate places from those previously
made.
Going from tree to tree at sort OF
running pace, the collector empties the
contents of the cups into large Gala
bash which he carried in his hand. As