When a tree is 50 centimetres in circumference
at a height, of 1 metre from the ground,
that is, 5 years after it has been put in the plantation,
you can begin to tap the tree.
To start the tapping, take a metal ribbon
attached to a wooden lath 1.10 metres long.
This metal ribbon
is at an angle of 30 degrees to the horizontal.
Roll the metal ribbon round the tree.
With an awl (an iron point), make a cut along the ribbon.
The cut ends when you have gone right round the tree.
The beginning of the cut and the end of the cut
are on the same vertical line.
With the awl make a vertical channel
from the lower edge of the cut.
The cut and the channel must be deepened.
This is done with a gouge, a tool
that is used by pushing it so as to remove bark.
Push the gouge several times
along the cut and the channel,
taking away a very little bark at a time.
You do this so as to cut the bark
as close as possible to the cambium,
but without damaging it.
As the bark is about 6 millimetres thick,
the cut must be 4.5 millimetres deep.
The vertical channel is 25 centimetres long.
At the lower end of this channel, put a gutter.
Below that, put a cup called a latex cup.
Tie it to the tree.
The latex flows along the cut, into the channel,
and at last, through the gutter,
it drops into the cup.
The latex that flows when you first make the cut
is not good for harvesting,
so for several days you do not harvest any latex,
but all the same you must come and cut the bark.