232 SYLVA AMERICANA. 



August are the most productive months. When the circulation 



is abated by the chills of autumn, the operation is discontinued, 



and the remainder of the year is occupied in preparatory labors 



for the following season, which consist, first, in making the boxes. 



This is done in January and February : in the base of each tree, 



about three or four inches from the ground, and of preference on 



the south side, a cavity is formed, commonly of the capacity of 



three pints, but proportioned to the size of the trunk, of which it 



should occupy one fourth of the diameter ; on stocks of more 



than six feet in circumference, two, and sometimes four, boxes 



are made on opposite sides. Next comes the raking, or the 



clearing the. ground at the foot of the trees from leaves and 



herbage, by which means they are secured from the fires that 



are often kindled in the woods by the carelessness of travellers 



and waggoners. If the flames gain the boxes already impregnated 



with turpentine, they are rendered useless, and others must be 



made. Notching is merely making at the sides of the box two 



oblique gutters, about three inches long, to conduct into it the 



sap that exudes from the -edges of the wound. In the interval 



of a fortnight, which is employed in this operation, the first boxes 



become filled with sap. A wooden shovel is used to transfer it 



to pails, which in turn are emptied into casks at convenient 



distances. To increase the product, the upper edge of the box 



is chipped once a week, the bark and a portion of the alburnum 



being removed to the depth of four concentric circles. The 



turpentine thus procured is the best, and is called pure dipping. 



The chippirigs extend the first year a foot above the box, and as 



the distance increases, the operation is more frequently repeated, 



to remove the sap coagulated on the surface of the wound. The 



closing of the pores, occasioned by continued rains, exacts the 



same remedy ; and it is remarked that the produce is less 



abundant in moist and cool seasons. After five or six years the 



tree is abandoned ; the upper edge of the wound becomes 



cicatrized, but the bark is never restored sufficiently for the 



renewal of the process. The scraping is a coating of sap which 



becomes solid before it reaches the boxes, and which is taken off 



in the fall and added to the last runnings. Large quantities of 



