728 Forestry Quarterly 



1. {Barrasquit d'espourga.) Used by the tappers to bark the 

 pine that is to be tapped. This preUminary operation is made at 

 the beginning of each working year by scraping the bark from the 

 top down in order to get rid of the hard dry pieces of outer bark. 

 This enables the chipping of the soft inner bark and sapwood with- 

 out dulling the instruments. This area barked is 30 to 35 centi- 

 meters (11.8 to 13.7 inches) wider and 10 to 15 centimeters (3.9 

 to 5.9 inches) higher than the proposed face. Usually the first 

 year's barking is made with an ordinary chopping ax. The 

 second year they use either the ax or the "barrasquit " with a short 

 handle. The third and fourth year the "barrasqmt d'espourga" 

 is used; the length of the handle is governed by the height of the 

 face. A very similar local instrument is called the "barrasquit de 

 barrasque," only it is used for removing the scrape. 



2. {Palette or palinette.) A sort of flat trowel used for removing 

 the soft gtmi from the pots. The handle is about the length of an 

 ordinary gardener's trowel. The gum is collected in an "es- 

 couarte," a wooden pail or box, holding about 20 litres (5.2 gallons) 

 and is used for carrying the gum to the collection tanks or barrels. 

 These hold 230 to 350 litres (60.7 to 92.4 gallons), and are sunk in 

 the ground and protected by a wooden cover to prevent evapora- 

 tion. 



3. (Hapchot, new model called "bridon"). This is the chipping 

 axe, and is used for cutting thin slivers of wood from the face (when 

 it is freshened). It is swung from right to left with a downward 

 motion. The left hand is placed uppermost against the iron 

 of the instrument. The length of the handle varies with the 

 height of the face the first, second, and third years, but for the 

 fourth and fifth year (fifth year now generally abandoned) the 

 operative must use a crude sort of ladder formed of a notched pole 

 with the "rasclet" described under "4." 



4. (Rasclet.) The curved end of the instrument (the right side of 

 figure 4, plate IX) is for chipping high faces during the fourth and 

 fifth years of working the trees. The straight end (left of figure) 

 is used for cutting into inclined faces (because of leaning trees) 

 where it is necessary to insert a piece of wood to prevent the resin 

 from dripping to the ground. 



5. (Pousse-crampon or place-crampon.) This is for inserting 

 the gutter above the cup. The gutter is embedded about 1 

 centimetre (.4 inch) into the wood by two or three blows of a 



