22 JOURNAL OF THE 



There are two kinds of opaque Rosin, viz. : water-opaque, in 

 which the opacity is due to admixed water, and spirit-opaque, or 

 *'Coachey" Rosin, in which the opacity is due to admixed "spir- 

 its." Both are whitish and non-transparent. 



Let us now consider more in detail the Turpentine, or crude 

 gum. Supp«>se we have a small forest of 10,000 trees, which 

 have never been worked for Turpentine. The first thing to be 

 done is to "box'' them. The "box" is made on the sid^, preferably 

 on the south side, of the tree from 4 — 6 inches above the ground, 

 bv cutting into the tree from above, sloping the cut across the 

 grain of the wood, and then meeting this cut with another at an 

 angle of 5° — 10°. The chip taken oif leaves a cut on the side 

 of the tree, holding about two pints, and known as the "box." 

 If the winter is mild and open this operation is begun during 

 the month of December, and carried on through January, Feb- 

 ruary, and into March. Ten thousand (10,000) trees constitute 

 a "crop," and one man cuts the boxes. At the first approach of 

 warm weather the Turpentine begins to exude from between the 

 bark of the tree and the wood, runs down the incline and into 

 the box, from which it is taken with wooden or iron scoops and 

 put into barrels, preparatory to being carried to the still. 



If the weather be favorable the trees will yield Turpentine 

 for seven months the first year, beginning with April and ending 

 with October. During that time about 18 inches ol' the bark of 

 the tree are removed, so that at the end of the first year we have 

 cut the box and removed 18 inches of bark. From 7 to 9 col- 

 lections are made from each tree during the season, and as each 

 box holds 2 pints, we get from 7 to 9 quarts per tree in a season. 

 We have 10,000 trees, so that we should have at the end of the 

 first year from 17,500 to 22,500 gallons of Turpentine, all of it 

 " virgin," i. e., of the very best quality. It is common to estimate 

 the yield of 10,000 trees for rhe first year at 250 — 300 barrels of 

 " virgin." The standard weight of a barrel of Turpentine is 280 

 pounds, which includes the weight of the barrel, but, in reality, 

 these barrels seldom weigh so little as 280 pounds, ranging from 

 280 — 325 pounds. If we have selected the bushy top, thin 



