A FOREST TOUR AMONG THE DUNES OF GASCONY. 303 
small quantities, so as not to cause their death (Gemmage & vie = 
Tapping to live). The first of these methods is adopted in all thin- 
nings of trees aged twenty-five years and upwards, and also in the 
seed-felling (of which there is only one), as well as in the final 
felling. The operation is commenced five years before the trees are 
to be cut down, and is continued for four years, the trees being 
removed during the fifth. The principle is to take all the resin that 
the tree can give, leaving it exhausted at the end of the fourth 
year: and to effect this, many cuts or wounds are made at the 
same time, their number depending on the size of the tree. Some- 
times there are three or four; but, in the case of large trees, 
there are as many as ten or a dozen, and sometimes even more. 
One result of this treatment, is to cause an abundant growth of 
seed ; and this fact has great importance when the last repre- 
sentatives of the crop are about to be removed, for it ensures the 
springing up of a full crop of seedlings. The effect is similar 
to that produced on fruit trees, by injuries inflicted on the branches, 
roots, or bark, with a view to obtain an increased crop of fruit. 
Trees which show signs of failing from any cause, commence to 
produce their successors. 
The second method, under which the life of the tree is to be 
preserved, is employed only for those trees which have been 
selected to form part of the final crop (arbres de place). They 
are not tapped until they have a girth of from 44 to 48 inches, 
which is usually attained when they are from thirty to forty years 
old; it is considered risky to take resin from them at a younger 
age. At first only one cut is opened, and it continues to run for 
five years, when another, on the opposite side of the tree, is com- 
menced, Then, half way between these two, a third and a fourth 
cut are opened in succession, and so on ; if two cuts are opened at 
the same time they should be at different levels, but the number 
should never exceed two. 
The above is the improved system now in vogue. But in 
former years it was not the custom to tap the trees to death, and 
the forest we visited was particularly interesting, as enabling us 
to see what the effects of the old practice were. Here we saw 
some trees of great age, showing as many as thirty-six wounds, 
and doubtless there were many more the traces of which we could 
not detect. Such trees are probably at least from a hundred and 
fifty to two hundred years old. They present a most remarkable 
appearance, the lower 15 ft. of the stem being swelled out into a 
VOL. XI., PART III, ¥ 
