What are the gum yielding trees in your surroundings ? What procedure should you follow to collect gum from trees ?
A. 1) Gum yielding plants : Neem, Acacia, Eucalyptus, Sapota, etc.
2) Though some gum will flow naturally from cracks in the bark of acacia and neem, we have to stimulate the flow by removing thin strips of bark an operation that requires some skill.
3) Gum is collected about four weeks after stripping and can be repeated every few weeks thereafter severed months.
4) Break the bark away from the sap (live) wood about 3 foot from the ground and about 10 inches wide, by chopping the bark away with an axe or sickle.
5) We have to fit collecting bucket tightly to the sap wood so that when gum begins to seep out, it will drip into it.
6) Break some shallow notches in a ‘V’ shape, with the point of the ‘V’ directly above
the centre of the bucket. .
7) Leave the bucket attached to the tree until the gum begins to seep out and drains into it.
8) Remove any nails or other metal things when we finished from the tree and take down the gum collection bucket.