Arizona republican., 1922-02-12

ployment on the plantation. but as
rule find it difficult to perform the
delicate tapping operation. Java
nese men are more suited 10
tapping work than the Chi
nese but the Javanese women are
generally considered the best of all.
1t is in the heavy work of clearing
the Jungle for planting that the Chi
nese are most at home. This work is
usually done by contractors who en-
ploy Chinese to a large extent. Ine
trees and under growth are usually
cut down in the wet season, the de-
bris being piled up ready Tor pufh-
ing when the dry season sets IN.
Taking out the stumps and digging
drainage bitches are counted as part
Of the clearing operation.
When the ground has been cleared,
the surface is worked over number
of times with tool called "chan-
kol9. shaped much like an adZe. Then
the trees are planted in rows. usually
in the form of small seedlings, from
100 to 200 being planted to the acre.
To keep down the weeds is one OF
the great problems on the plantation.
In the moist, tropical regions weeds
grow at pace that would discourage
a New England gardener. The GUS
tomary method of combating the
weeds is to chankol the entire plant
alton once a month. In so large a
plantation as that of the United
States Rubber Company with its
| seventy square miles of trees this
| is a heavy expense item. Some sue
/ cessful experiments have been tried
with nimosa, a ground creeper that
covers the surface with a thick mat
and chokes out weeds.
To combat the natural disincli-
nation of the natives OF the tropics
| 10 perform manual labor, practically
all work on the plantation is task
| work" Each worker starts off each
morning with a certain amount OF
4 work to be done, and as soon as he
has finished he is through for the
| day. A chankoler is given so many
| Yards of surface to cover, the Taper
/ is assigned a certain number of trees,
everything is on the stint basis.
This method OF allotting work has
proved very satisfactory. Most of the
/ workers are anxious to get through
| for the day as soon as possible and
there is an air of hustle in the early
morning hours. All the laborers are
/ in the field as q rule by five-thirty
or six o'clock and by 1880 the
heaviest part of their work is done.
Because of the tropical conditions
that prevail a regulation OF the Dutch
Government in Sumatra requires that
an hours rest be granted the work
men after six hours work.
The tappers are through with their
tapping work by noon time. The
| tapper's task is usually $50 trees.
Il BY s o'clock or $3.50 these trees have
4 all been tapped. and the work of col
lecting the latex from the cups. be-
4 gins Metal milk cans arc used, and
when this work Is finished each
Il worker takes his cans to the collect
ing sheds and the latex Is weighed.
That ends the mornings work. In
the afternoon there are smaller Jobs
to be attended to, such Is wedding,
cleaning utensils, and sharpening
knives. BY o'clock in the afternoon
even the slowest workers have COM
pleted their tasks.
The laborers follow the custom OF
the region in eating but two meals
a day. Before starting to work, OF
between jobs in the early morning
they will grab a hasty snack. The
first real meal of the day comes dur
ing the rest period following the tap
ping work. The heavy meal Is taken
at night. The principal articles OF
food are rice, fresh and dried fish,
A and bananas.
Il The language spoken is Malay. No
matter what the native tongue OF a
worker may be, he is able to under
4 stand Malay also, for everything per-
tanning to his work is carried on in
4 that language. Among themselves
H the Javanese usually speak their own
tongue. This is also true of the
Chinese and often the latter are slow
in learning Malay.
Americans and Europeans going to
/ the plantations acquire a working
knowledge OF the Malay tongue as
soon as they can. Once able to make
themselves understand in Malay they
find themselves equipped to get about
easily among the natives. It Is q
simple matter to learn enough in q
few in a few months to answer the
usual requirements.
TO come back to the rubber tree
itself, it is worthy OF note that in the
past decade with its tremendous de-
mand for crude rubber tree cultiva-
ton. BY intensive study many inter-
esting and commercially important
things have been learned about plant