NORTH CAROLINA 141 



gather turpentine higher up, with the help of a small 

 ladder. The great quantity of the wood is the reason 

 why the trouble is not taken, new trees being worked 

 in preference. According to its strength, 2, 3, and 4 

 boxes are cut in one tree ; this is done in mid-winter, 

 for in summer the wounding of the tree would be fatal. 

 The resinous sap, or turpentine, begins to flow in April 

 and continues until into the month of September. 

 Twice a month, and commonly in the new and full 

 moon, the outflow is ' dipped/ or scraped, from the 

 boxes, and as often the boxes are chopped a-fresh, or 

 1 re-chip'd,' else dust or the hardened turpentine itself 

 would clog the openings of the sap-vessels and check 

 the flow. One man can readily care for 3000 boxes, 

 and that number is generally assigned one negro, the 

 negroes doing the most of this work. At the best and 

 warmest season one negro can easily fill 15-20 barrels 

 of turpentine a day. In rainy and cloudy weather the 

 outflow is less, and nothing is done. It is reckoned 

 that from 3000 boxes more than 100-120 barrels in 

 the average should be obtained in a summer. For 

 these 3000 boxes some 12-15 a cres of forest should 

 suffice, according as the trees stand close or far apart, 

 and are strong or not. A barrel of turpentine, 32 

 gallons, is now worth 16 shillings or 2 Spanish 

 dollars. 



Tar is coaled from the wood of this and other sorts 

 of pines ; but old wind-falls and dead trunks of the 

 pitch-pine are greatly preferred, the pitch-pine being 

 the most resinous, and hence losing nothing if long ex- 

 posed to the air and weather, merely the watery sap 

 evaporating and the resinous part remaining behind. 

 This dead wood used for tar-burning is called ' light- 



