Old MacDonald Had A Farm
E-I-E-I-O
And on his farm he had a Rubber Tree
E-I-E-I-O
With a Rubber Rubber here
And a Rubber Rubber
there
Here a Rubber, there a Rubber
Everywhere a Rubber Rubber
Old MacDonald had a farm
E-I-E-I-O
That’s right folks. You see rubber products everywhere as
far as the eyes can see. Sole of the shoes, end of pencils, car tyres, wires,
pipes, balloons, balls, gloves, rubber bands, door stoppers and lots more.
The Rubber industry has provided livelihoods to many people,
especially the Indian community in Malaysia.
The rubber latex is collected by making an incision into the bark
and collecting the fluid in vessels. This process is known as
"tapping" rubber. The latex is led into the cup by a galvanised
"spout" knocked into the bark.
Initially the half shell of coconut was used as the
collection container for the latex. Then it was glass bowls, subsequently
glazed pottery, thereafter aluminium and finally it is now plastic cups.
The cups are supported by a wire that encircles the tree.
This wire incorporates a spring, stretching as the tree grows.
The first cut is called “buka Jalan” open the road. There is
an art to cutting the rubber tree. It cannot be too deep as to cause the trust to
be damaged and it cannot be too shallow as not to produce latex.
Tapping normally takes place early in the morning, when the
internal pressure of the tree is highest. A good tapper can tap a tree every 20
seconds on a standard half-spiral system, and a common daily "task"
size is between 450 and 650 trees.
Sample of a plastic cup used to collect the latex (sticky, milky colloid fluid). Picture from the internet
A recent addition to my private collection. Glass vessels
used to collect the latex. They were utilized in Malaya during the 1920’s,
before embarking to pottery vessels.
The antique dealer that I had purchased the items from, informed
that he stumbled upon the items in a chicken barn in one of the village houses,
near the railway station in Bahau, Negeri Sembilan. It was used by the owner’s
son as feeding bowl for his chicks. To the untrained eyes it was an unwanted
item that could be used as a feeding bowl but the dealer knew what they were
and it’s value
Dry latex is still clearly visible, after all these years
3 varieties of glass vessels, comprising of 1 dunlop, 1 dunlop logo and 1 CWC logo
According to sources CWC is no longer operational
