ON THE CORSICAN FIR. 



227 



)0- yfo'" 



summer months, compared with the more or less oxidised mass 

 gathered in November, is as 3 to 2. In Austria the income 

 derived from tins source varies from 2kl. to 6|d. per stem per 

 annum, according to soil, exposure, climate, appearance of tree, 

 enjoyment of light, &c. The larch is also forced (by a process 

 of boring) to yield turpentine (the 

 Venetian turp of trade), but the receipt 

 is approximately only Id. per stem per 

 annum, and the quality of the timber is 

 materially affected thereby. 



The products of the tree thus obtained 

 may be enumerated as follows: — Colo- 

 phonium, oil of turpentine, turpentine, 

 white pitch, and cobbler's wax. Tar and 

 creasote are gained at the charcoal kiln, 

 100 cubic feet of wood yielding about a 

 firkin of tar; lamp-black is manufactured 

 by a separate process. This resin con- 

 tains more oil of turpentine than even that 

 oi Finns maritima, for whose cultivation 

 so much has been done in France; in 

 rough numbers 20 lbs. of oil of turpentine 

 and 70 lbs. of colophonium are extracted 

 from 100 cwt. of the raw material. 



During the American war the demand 

 for such articles was so great that prices 

 doubled themselves; since then they 

 have fallen, but the supply annually 

 brought into the market is still very 

 large. 



In his visits to the forests it is not 

 improbable that the forester may find 

 that younger trees, or such as were not 

 by the proprietor intended to yield sup- 

 plies of resin, have maliciously been 

 wounded as above described. Even 

 though he suspect the party or parties thus fraudulently endeavour- 

 ing to realise an income, however small, from forests not their own, 

 yet only by chance will he be enabled to detect the offenders in 

 the act of appropriating the resin; but by a cheap and simple 

 means he will soon succeed in putting an end to such practices. 

 Having discovered trees, or areas, thus improperly made use of, 

 let him at home dissolve some quicklime in water, and, repairing 

 to the forest, coat over the wounds with this solution by means of a 

 common paint-brush. On being gathered such resin in no way 

 appears different from that which has not in this manner been 

 tampered with, but once in the hands of the merchant, and 



Fig. 2. 



